Hello Forte readers,
This month, Music Victoria have been immersed in the Geelong region running workshops and consulting with local industry and musicians on the current music landscape.
We delivered a Venues Day in partnership with City of Greater Geelong, where local live music venues came together to share opportunities and challenges with each other, and learnt from a fantastic bill of speakers throughout the day. Shaun Adams from The Espy was the MC for the day, and we heard a keynote speech from Al O’Neill of River Rocks Festival, and an incredible bill of speakers followed talking all things audience data and development, booking regional/CBD venues, all ages gigs and grants, production and live music legislation updates.
We returned to Geelong the following week to run a Meet The Locals event in partnership with APRA AMCOS. We had an established panel of speakers, label owners and musicians comprising of Billy Gardner (ANTI FADE Records, The Living Eyes), Jo Syme (Hotel Motel Records, Pieater, Big Scary), and Owen McKern (Program Manager at PBS FM). The panel was moderated by Sara Glaidous (Writer Services Representative at APRA AMCOS) and Ash Bartlett (Membership & Professional Development Manager at Music Victoria), and there was plenty useful advice shared with musicians and emerging music industry professionals in the room. It was wonderful meeting local musicians and hearing firsthand about the current state of play of the Geelong music scene – we look forward to continuing the conversation!
We will be returning to the Geelong region in 2020 with two workshops for musicians delivered in partnership with City of Greater Geelong.
Finally, ‘This Must Be The Place’ Queenscliff is just around the corner, taking place on 23 November as part of Queenscliff Music Festival. A fantastic lineup of speakers has been assembled, consisting of Neil Morris (Victorian Music Development Office / DRMNGNOW), Ro Flack (Ditto Music), Chris O’Neill (APRA AMCOS), Al Parkinson (Apple Jack Music) & Steven Nichols (Spinning Half/ The Workers Club Geelong). We hope to see many of you there! Check out the event page here.
‘til next time,
The MV Team
Regional Member Moment:Bendigo Bank
Bendigo Bank is the retail banking arm of the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Group, and Australia’s fifth largest retail bank. It’s also the only Australian bank which is a Music Victoria member – demonstrating its support and passion for the Victorian music industry. We’re proud to once again welcome Bendigo Bank as a sponsor of the annual Music Victoria Awards. The three winners of this year’s Best Regional/Outer Suburban award categories will each receive a $3,000 cash grant from Bendigo Bank towards the development of their music career. To learn more about Bendigo Bank, and its products and services, visit its website here.
Regional Gig of the month: Blaze Festival, Barwon Club, Geelong (Saturday 7 December)
Featuring an all-Victorian line-up, the Barwon Club’s Blaze Festival looks to showcase some of the state’s best in underground metal and punk music. It also features local thrashers Desecrator, heavy metal act Dreadnaught plus ska-punk group The Resignators. Be sure to keep an eye out closer to the date to catch the announcement of the main headliner. You can see the full line-up and purchase tickets here.
