Venues and Festivals - Page 2

Hope Assistance Local Tradies (HALT) offers its service to the music and arts Industries.

HALT is a grassroots, suicide prevention charity promoting Mental Health awareness in blue collar industries. They aim to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health and provide tools and resources to have a tough conversation with a mate and to seek help.

This is typically delivered via lived experience talks in the workplace, sporting club, hardware stores and the like. HALT also delivers Safe Talk training.

HALT is extending the invitation to the music and arts industries. They have musicians, visual artists and performers within their team. If you have a venue, production, business or group, HALT would love to come and talk to you. No group is too small.

HALT is federally funded and is able to offer these talks and resources at no charge to you.

Find out more about HALT.

Click here to set up an ABN for your music industry business/practice through the Australian Business Register's website.

Click here to view Patrick Donovan's write-up about Live Music Planning Law Protection in Australia, supported by Music Cities Community and Sound Diplomacy.

Support Act's Guide to Mental Health and Wellbeing is a regularly updated resource of evidence-based information, articles, videos, plus app and book recommendations, specifically curated for those who work in music.

You can access the guide here: https://supportact.org.au/resources/mental-health-resources/

Whether you want to learn how to give or get help, look after your own wellbeing or hear how others in the music community have overcome challenges, this guide is for you. If you need additional support contact the Support Act Wellbeing Helpline now on 1800 959 500.

From the crowd, working in the music industry can look like a pure dream. But the more we talk about mental health and wellbeing, the more we learn that artists, managers, roadies, and the people in their lives often find themselves facing just as much struggle as they find and face success. The hours, the expectations, the stakes, the pay, and the habits together can make for a pretty tumultuous day job. Support Act’s second series of Tune Ups, is a high-impact, intimate and revealing video series on mental health.

Check out the full list of episodes here: https://supportact.org.au/tune-ups/

Sound Check is a web series begun by Support Act in mid-2020 in response to the crippling impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The series aimed to encourage positive mental health and wellbeing amongst the music industry, and features conversations with experts in mental, physical and social wellbeing, and a selection of artists, crew workers and music industry pros impacted by the industry shutdown.

Check out the full list of episodes here: https://supportact.org.au/resources/sound-check/

An equitable and inclusive music industry is one that provides access to all areas where music is created, performed and promoted, to all people, and ultimately makes us stronger.

The initial aaa (Access All Areas program) kicked off in 2018, and was a collaboration of the music industry, LGBTQIA+, community and women’s health stakeholders to advance opportunities for gender equity, diversity and safety in music industry settings in Melbourne’s north and west. It also explored how gendered violence and under-representation is shaped by structures such as colonisation, racism, ableism and more, to impact particular people in unique and compounding ways. Initiated and led by cohealth's prevention team, specifically Karen Ingram and Meredith Drinkell, the project included research, training and extensive resources for the music industry.

The above video starts to explore the issues and sheds light on why we need to keep working to address it. It touches on the gender and racial bias found in the music industry and aims to amplify the voices of people who are under-represented the most.

In 2021, due to a change in cohealth's strategic priorities, it was determined that the aaa initiative would be best served at a music industry organisation to enable sustained and impactful change. Music Victoria was identified as well-placed to carry Access All Areas into the future, and have agreed to continue to pursue its fundamental purpose - to make the music industry more equitable and inclusive.

In 2022, Music Victoria was delighted partner with Support Act to see a key component of the original program - the tailored music industry Bystander Intervention Training be further refined and developed to now be rolled out nationally for free to the music industry.

SIGN UP TO DO THE TRAINING HERE: https://supportact.org.au/events/access-all-areas/

To find out more about the work we are doing in this space towards cultural and structural change in music industry settings please get in touch with simone@musicvictoria.com.au.

1. A new State Planning Policy recognising the importance of live music, that will have effect in every planning scheme in every municipality:

Objective

To recognize the social, economic and cultural benefits of live music and encourage, create and protect opportunities for the enjoyment of live music.

Strategies

Identify areas where live music entertainment is encouraged or where there are high concentrations of licensed premises or clusters of live music venues, and implement measures to protect and enhance the social, economic and cultural benefits that such areas offer to the community.
Implement measures to encourage the retention of existing, and the development of new, live music entertainment venues.
Implement measures to ensure live music venues can co-exist with nearby residential and other noise sensitive land uses, and which recognise the principle that the primary responsibility for noise attenuation with respect to live music venues rests with the agent of change.

2. Four key changes to the pre-existing planning provisions relating to live music (in Clause 53.06 of all planning schemes):

An additional Purpose “To encourage the retention of existing and the development of new live music entertainment venues.”
Councils can identify areas with one or more live music venues in them – ‘live music precincts’, where live music will be encouraged and protected
Inside identified precincts, any proposed new residential use needs to take account of any existing venue, and the possibility of new venues (this extends the Agent of Change principle to a whole-of-precinct approach)
When anyone makes an application to establish, alter or demolish a live music venue, or to establish a new noise sensitive use near a venue or in an identified precinct, consideration must be given by the applicant and Council (or, in extraordinary circumstances the Minister) to the impact of the proposal on opportunities for live music.

3. Will the provisions save live music businesses from being evicted by landlords, or prevent landlords from selling the building?

Not necessarily. It is extremely difficult for town planning laws to operate so as to require land to be used or developed in a certain way. While planning can prohibit, discourage or encourage certain outcomes, you can’t force someone continue to use their land as a live music venue (or anything else for that matter).

4. How will the provisions work in practice?

They are likely to be of real value to live music venues who are trying to establish, or expand their existing operations. That is they have a positive effect rather than a negative or defensive value.
The value lies in having a direct statement in the Scheme that opportunities for live music, and the economic and social values of live music are factors that must be taken into account by a decision maker.
When this is combined with the changes to State policy, we have a planning scheme that provides considerably more support for live music venues, and expressly recognises that they have great value for the community.
This in turn makes it significantly more likely that a planning decision maker will issue a permit for a new venue, or allow it to expand or allow its hours of operation or numbers to be increased.

5. How will this benefit live music?

It is a very strong statement from government that live music is a planning priority of the state, giving it the same weight as factors such as affordable housing, heritage or industrial land supply. As with the reform in 2011 legislating the Liquor Act to insert an object recognising the contribution of live music, the benefits – both intended and unintended – will be wide-ranging and extensive, because it will make sure that live music is considered in all relevant planning strategy and land use decisions.
It will allow Councils to identify areas with a concentration of venues and other night-time economy uses and allow them to set consistent, enforceable rules for venue owners, operators, developers and residents to protect amenity while encouraging economic activity.
Effectively, the planning system will better deal with the opportunities and challenges of higher density living in activity precincts with live music venues in them.
Implementing this approach will require a Council to identify a proposed precinct and take it through a planning scheme amendment process, so it will take a fairly committed Council to do it. But once in place, venues will have far greater planning support and protection.
It will ensure that planning decisions-makers have to stop and think about the potential loss of a venue (or benefits of a new one) as a specific issue in any relevant development application. This is important. While it’s not a ‘ban’ on redevelopment of venues, it sends a message that the importance of a venue must be given weight. In practice, it’s likely to be a bit like heritage – the more significant the venue, the more weight it will be given in a planning decision.

6. How will it benefit artists, fans and music industry professionals?

More venues means more performance opportunities for artists, and live gigs for production crews and fans. Councils are likely to establish precincts were many artists live – and these precincts could include other services such as recording and rehearsal spaces, record stores, co-working spaces and radio stations.

7. Does it stop proposals to close or demolish existing venues?

No. This is beyond the power of planning controls to achieve. But it makes everyone stop and consider the impact of that loss and will encourage options to retain or replace venues in redevelopments eg. The Espy.

8. Do Councils have to identify precincts?

No. But it gives them power to do so, and the Minister is likely to issue guidance on how to do it. Music Victoria will work with supportive Councils to introduce precincts.

9. What are examples of other Live Music and Arts Precincts?

Fortitude Valley in Brisbane, Southport on the Gold Coast, Northbridge in Perth and Amsterdam all have live music precinct overlays, but this is believed to be the first statewide. The Melbourne Arts Precinct in Sturt Street is based on a similar model.

10. How do these changes relate to other regulations?

EPA is currently reviewing the regulations relating to noise from indoor and outdoor music venues. Music Victoria has strongly advocated for acknowledgement of active precincts that could have different noise objectives and measurement techniques. Now that the planning system provides for this, we can go back and lobby EPA to align the noise regulations.

The Australian Festival Association has worked in conjunction with the Alcohol and Drug Foundation (ADF), Australian Red Cross Save-A-Mate (SAM) program and Harm Reduction Victoria’s DanceWize program to develop this training portal. The content here draws on a range of other services and resources from around the world and within Australia too.

View the portal here.