Creative Australia and Music Australia have announced a major funding boost for live music.
The organisations have announced more than $500,000 allocated to support 20 contemporary Australian artists touring across the country throughout 2024 and 2025.
The Contemporary Music Touring Program will help bring original Australian music to more than 150 locations, from remote regional communities to major cities. The initiative spans diverse genres including pop, blues, reggae, experimental music, and children’s R&B.
The Contemporary Music Touring Program
- Hamed Sadeghi (NSW) – Northern Rhapsody Australia Tour 2024
- Stuart Nuggett (NT) – The Jingili Song Project – 2025 Tri-state Tour
- Troy Brady (QLD) – Betting on Blak: Jungaji National Album Tour 2025
- Tenzin Choegyal (QLD) – Whispering Sky: Spacious Sound and Joyful Spirit
- Erik Griswold (QLD) – Unnamed Road
- Rubiks Collective (VIC) – A Book of Hours Australian Tour
- Luminescence Chamber Singers (ACT) – Red Dirt Hymns – Regional Tour 2025
- Jorge Leiva Cock (VIC) – La Descarga Fiesta de Corazon Album Tour
- Quentin Angus (Based Overseas) – Quintet Album Release Tour 2025
- Peter Knight (VIC) – TL;DR Album Launch Tour
- Speak Percussion (VIC) – Percussion, Conversation, Degustation Tour
- Close Counters (VIC) – Lovers Dance Academy – Aus Album Tour
- Clarissa Bock (NSW) – The Mastery EP Tour
- David Leha (NSW) – Radical Son Regional Tour 2025
- Georgia Hovell (VIC) – Georgia Fields East Coast String Quartet Tour
- Stephanie Linsdell (VIC) – Lalka’s The Willfire EP Tour
- Music in Exile Ltd (VIC) – 5th Anniversary Fundraising Events
- Ashley Groenewald (NSW) – Ash Grunwald National Tour
- Zindzi Okenyo (NSW) – Zindzi and the Zillionaires: National Tour
- Adelaide Festival Centre (SA) – Adelaide Guitar Festival On the Road – Winter 2025
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A significant portion of the funding comes from Music Australia, which has contributed $300,000 to the program, including $50,000 specifically earmarked for tour promotion through Australian music media channels.
Alice Nash, Executive Director of Arts Investment at Creative Australia, emphasised the program’s broad reach: “This investment will bring live performances to audiences right across the country. From remote regional towns to major cities, these tours reflect the incredible diversity of Australian music and its power to bring communities together.”
The funded tours showcase Australia’s rich musical diversity, from Hamed Sadeghi’s Northern Rhapsody to Stuart Nuggett’s The Jingili Song Project. Notable recipients include established blues artist Ash Grunwald and children’s entertainer Zindzi Okenyo with her Zindzi and the Zillionaires: National Tour.
Music Australia Director Millie Millgate highlighted the importance of the media promotion funding: “This uplift aims to help artists amplify their upcoming tours through Australian music media, increasing discoverability and strengthening the fabric of Australia’s contemporary music ecology.”
The program supports various innovative projects, including Speak Percussion’s Percussion, Conversation, Degustation Tour and the Adelaide Guitar Festival’s winter regional outreach program Adelaide Guitar Festival On the Road.
Indigenous music features prominently in the funding round, with Troy Brady’s Betting on Blak: Jungaji National Album Tour 2025 and David Leha’s Radical Son Regional Tour receiving support.
The initiative also recognises the importance of classical and experimental music, with support for groups like the Luminescence Chamber Singers’ Red Dirt Hymns Regional Tour 2025 and Rubiks Collective’s A Book of Hours Australian Tour national performances.
This investment represents a significant commitment to sustaining Australia’s live music industry and ensuring that diverse musical experiences reach audiences beyond major metropolitan areas. The program particularly emphasises supporting tours to regional and remote communities, helping to maintain cultural connections across the country’s vast geography.
Read more about Creative Australia on their website.
