The program taking early career musicians to the next level is back, fostering the development of new local talent.
GRID Series (Grass Roots Indie Development) returns to Geelong for another round of professional development for local artists.
Teaming four select musicians from the Greater Geelong region with an all-star team of mentors, producers, and filmmakers, the series strives to empower early career artists who live outside inner-city music hubs through one-on-one mentoring with an industry leader, collaboration with a producer to create a new track, recording sessions, live performance opportunities and the creation of a short film documentary.
The recipients for support in 2025 through the GRID Series Geelong are Madeliene Cope, Tonite, FARAH and Emilia Fol.
Keep up with the latest music news, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
Madeliene Cope
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Madeliene Cope is an indie/folk artist based in Leopold who is completely in control of her craft. With influences like Ry X, Ben Howard and Dustin Tebbutt, Mads’ music takes listeners on a journey, telling stories from her day-to-day life including feelings of love and loss, confidence, and self-worth.
Tonite
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Tonite is a conscious MC who leans into soul elements with melodic rhymes and deep hooks. He believes Knowledge is power and his Māori/Croatian roots and energy runs deep within the music. From old school rhythms and a new era of intricate lyricism, Tonite explores the Timelessness Of Nature, Illustrated through Energy.
FARAH (Isabella Khalife)
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Singer, songwriter and guitarist Isabella Khalife from Highton has a voice reminiscent of incense. A master melody shaper, FARAH tells emotion-filled stories inspired by the array of beautiful and heartbreaking experiences life gives us.
Emilia Fol
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Spanish-Australian singer-songwriter Emilia Fol creates a unique fusion of Spanish folk and soul. Deeply inspired by the art, music and poetry of her culture, she preserves and radiates the timeless traditions down through generations.
Each artist is accompanied by a hype person for the program; a friend, family or community member, to work behind the scenes and support them as they develop and plan for the future.
This round’s team of producers and mentors are award winning songwriter and producer Joel Ma (Mo’ju, TZU), critically acclaimed songwriter and producer Beatrice (Haiku Hands, Kardajala Kirridarra), Sweetie Zamora (Director of Labels and Project Management at Remote Control Records), Anika Luna (triple j Unearthed Community Producer), and director of Broken Leg PR Monique Matosic.
This cohort follows on from a successful 2024 program which saw the likes of Baraka The Kid, Wild Gloriosa, Ridzyray, Daisy Kilbourne and LENNi complete the program, all going on to see significant strides in their careers including securing support slots for major touring artists, receiving Music Victoria Awards nominations and putting out new music.
Keep up to date with the GRID Series Geelong program here.
