Applications for Creative Victoria's Live Music Restart Program - Festivals & Events have opened, with funding of between $250,000 and $1,000,000 available to support the delivery of a single live music festival or event (3000 capacity in-person or more) or a series of live music festivals/large scale events, in Victoria.

If you are an experienced event organiser with an established Victorian live music festival or event, hear directly from Creative Victoria as we work through the application process together spelling out requirements and key selection criteria to be addressed.

The Live Music Restart Program - Festivals & Events ('the program') is intended to support the return of large, complex live music festivals and events in Victoria (with a capacity of 3000 or more in-person attendees) delivered by event organisers with a proven track record of delivering these types of events.

The funding round will open 3pm 21 July 2022 and close at 3pm on 18 August 2022.

Applications for Creative Victoria’s Music Works grants have opened, with grants of between $4,000 and $40,000 available for a range of music projects.

Join us and the team from Creative Victoria for our online info session on the Music Works Grants (June 2022 Funding Round).

In this session, hear directly from Creative Victoria as we work through the application process together spelling out requirements and key selection criteria to be addressed.

The Music Works Grants program accepts applications from Victorian-based contemporary music industry professionals. This may include artists/bands, managers, promoters, labels, and other music industry businesses and organizations across all genres and career stages. Applications close on June 30th, 2022 for activities commencing from October 1st, 2022.

For more information on the Music Works Grants, including Guidelines, Assessment Criteria, etc head to:

https://creative.vic.gov.au/grants-and-support/programs/music-works

The Commonwealth and Victorian Governments have announced jointly-funded packages of grants to support thousands of small and medium-sized businesses through the next six weeks at which point Victoria is expected to reach 80 per cent vaccination.

The funding package of up to $2.27 billion announced today will support businesses most affected by restrictions as Victoria reaches the 70 per cent, then 80 per cent fully vaccinated thresholds on the state’s Roadmap to Deliver the National Plan.

At these key markers, forecast around 26 October and 5 November respectively, dining, entertainment, retail, sport, recreation and other sectors will progressively and safely open.

The package announced today provides businesses with further certainty that support will continue in line with Victoria’s Roadmap. This will see more than 160,000 businesses receive support, ranging from retailers and gyms to hairdressers and hotels – mostly through automatic deposits into their bank accounts.

Of these, around 124,000 eligible businesses will receive automatic Business Costs Assistance Program grants ranging from $1,000 to $8,400 per week, rising according to payroll, until the end of October. Businesses that remain closed or severely restricted over the first two weeks of November will also receive automatic payments for that period.

More than 9,000 eligible cafes, restaurants, hotels and bars across Victoria will receive automatic Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund payments of between $5,000 and $20,000 per week until the end of October.

Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund payments will continue for the first half of November, set at reduced rates to reflect lower restrictions in place at that stage under Victoria’s Roadmap.

The package will also enable a further 30,000 businesses to receive a one-off $20,000 payment through the Small Business COVID Hardship Fund, taking the number of recipients to 65,000.

 

Business Costs Assistance Program Round Five

Funding of up to $1.26 billion will provide for automatic payments to recipients of the Business Costs Assistance Program across October and into the first half of November.

Businesses will be eligible to receive two fortnightly payments between 1-29 October on a rising scale.

Eligible non-employing businesses will receive $1,000 per week, increasing to $2,800 a week for an annual payroll of up to $650,000, $5,600 a week for a payroll of $650,000 - $3 million and $8,400 a week for a payroll of $3 million - $10 million.

Businesses that remain closed or severely restricted between 70 and 80 per cent double dose will receive an automatic payment for the period from 29 October to 13 November.

The full list of eligible ANZSIC codes for the Business Costs Assistance Program will be available on the Business Victoria website tomorrow.

Businesses that have previously received or been approved for a Business Costs Assistance Program Round Two or July Extension grant will be eligible for these payments.

 

Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund

More than 9,000 licensed hospitality businesses that have previously received grants under the Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund or July Extension programs will receive further automatic payments in October.

Weekly payment amounts are stepped according to premises capacity: $5,000 for a capacity of up to 99 patrons or where patron capacity is not specified, $10,000 for a capacity of 100 to 499 patrons, and $20,000 for a capacity of 500 or more.

Between 70 and 80 per cent double dose, payments for licensed premises in metropolitan Melbourne will be reduced by 25 per cent, and in regional Victoria by 50 per cent as the economy continue to progress to greater levels of freedom.

The Licensed Hospitality Venue Fund payments will total up to $407.5 million for the six-week period.

 

Small Business COVID Hardship Fund

Some $600 million has been added to the Small Business COVID Hardship Fund, taking the total program to $1.3 billion.

The existing $700 million funding pool has been fully subscribed and the new allocation means 65,000 businesses will now be supported with one-off grants of $20,000.

The Fund supports businesses that have suffered significant losses due to the pandemic, including businesses legally allowed to operate but restricted in their ability to generate revenue, but have previously fallen between the cracks in terms of government support.

 

Read the full announcement from the Victorian Government here.

Business Victoria has opened round two of the Live Performance Support Program for suppliers and presenters. If you were contracted to work on a live performance event that has been postponed or cancelled, we encourage you to apply for this funding.

If you’re thinking about applying for Business Victoria's Live Performance Support Program Round Two, register for one of our free online information sessions! We'll cover changes from the last round of funding, program guidelines (including eligibility and how to apply) and answer all your questions.

Click the links below for more info and to register.

REGISTER FOR THE SUPPLIER STREAM
Session 1: 20 August at 2pm
Session 2 : 3 September at 2pm

REGISTER FOR THE PRESENTER STREAM
Session 1: 20 August at 4pm
Session 2: 3 September at 4pm

We received great feedback from our last round of info sessions and we hope these next sessions help many more of you submit funding applications!

Background:
Business Victoria has opened round two of the Live Performance Support Program (Presenters) for events affected by recent lockdowns and health restrictions. Victorian event presenters, including producers, promoters, venue owners and artists who promote their own shows, are encouraged to apply.

If you’re thinking about applying for the program under the presenter stream, this free online information session is for you.

This session will cover:

• changes from the last round of funding

• program guidelines, including eligibility and how to apply

• funding amounts available ($7000 or $5000 for one event, and a further $5000 for a second event)

• any questions you have.

We received great feedback from our last round of info sessions and we hope these next sessions help many more of you submit funding applications!

Please RSVP your attendance and don’t exclude yourself.

Find out more about the Live Performance Support Program (Presenters) here.