Hello Forte readers,
It was great to see such massive regional representation at last month’s Music Victoria Awards. There were plenty of regional winners too – Nagambie’s Tropical F*ck Storm took out Best Rock/Punk Album, and Warrandyte’s The Teskey Brothers were the biggest winners on the night, taking home 4 awards including Best Band and Best Album. Congratulations to all of the regional acts and venues that were nominated.
Next year, Geelong will be hosting The ExChange International Folk Music Conference, a three-day gathering of the Australian Folk, Roots, and Indigenous music community aimed at folk music bookers, industry and artists.
Taking place from March 2-4, 2020, this event is a national convening and boutique micro-conference focused on industry networking, strategic sector planning, international market development, and showcases for export-ready artist showcases. The goals of the event are industry partnerships, professional development, business networking, music export opportunities, sector strategy, and overall elevation of Australia’s independent folk music community.
With the event being presented by Folk Alliance International, executive director Aengus Finnan notes “this event is the culmination of many years of partnerships with Australian industry, as well as artists the likes of The Waifs, BlueHouse, Jordie Lane, Yirrmal, and Emily Wurramara. We’re proud to present this edition with our friends at Port Fairy, and hope that by bringing the ExChange and its international delegates to Australia, deeper long-term relationships will be established and in turn lead to more sustainable careers for export-ready artists.”
Agents, managers, record labels, media, and festival/venue directors are invited to register at www.folkexchange.org to attend to and participate in trade panels, professional development workshops, industry peer sessions, national and international artist showcases. We hope to see many of you there.
Thanks for reading and we’ll see you in the new year,
The MV Team
Regional Member Moment – Torquay Hotel
The Torquay Hotel is one of the Bellarine’s legendary live music venues, and they have a stellar gig guide lined up for the summer months. Catch Spiderbait, Yacht Club DJs, The Murlocs, Ruby Fields, and many more! Keep an eye on their website for all the details.
Regional Gig of the month
Augie March – On The Quiet Tour, Theatre Royal, Castlemaine
Friday 20 December
After their massive east coast tour in August, Augie March are doing a short run of extra dates including playing at Castlemaine’s Theatre Royal. Speaking on playing these more intimate, smaller shows, the band had this to say: “We love playing this style of show, the songs get their due but there’s little, if any loss of power, it’s just a different kind. Renewable is perhaps the best way to describe it. And we’ll look to generate more of it in the coming years alongside our traditional set ups.” You can purchase tickets by heading here.
