Labor pledges $24.7m to Victoria’s music industry

17 November 2010

by Christie Eliezer

The Labor government in Victoria has pledged $24.7 million to the state’s music industry if re-elected on November 27.

Said to be one of the biggest music packages ever offered by a state government, it includes setting up a new contemporary music headquarters, boosting music venues, and funding skills -programs as Victoria Rocks and FreeZACentral to help more aspiring musicians.

Premier John Brumby (pictured) made the announcement at the Arts Centre on Sunday afternoon. Speakers included Arts Minister Peter Batchelor, Liberation Music’s Michael Gudinski (who talked of the need to support music that was not made for commercial gain), the Hoodoo Gurus’ Rick Grossman and singer songwriter Monique Brumby.

The latter (who is no relation to the Premier) recounted how being the recipient of touring and recording grants had boosted her career. She later told The Music Network, “The flow on effect to the rest of the music industry — to venues, magazines and others — from a musician getting a grant is tremendous.”

The $12 million Australian Music HQ will be home to new advocacy group Music Victoria, AIR, The Push and FreeZA. It will have a performance space and online resources.

In a move to consolidate Victoria’s live music scene, Music Victoria secured an extra $750,000 for the next three years. It will develop a code for venues to make them safe and well managed.

“We all know how hard venues and musicians are doing it at the moment, so this is exciting news,” Music Victoria CEO Patrick Donovan told The Music Network. If the Brumby government is returned, it will provide $1 million to get the live music code together. There will also be one-off grants of up to $10,000 for venues to improve areas such soundproofing, acoustics and sound systems (“and hopefully, band rooms!” Grossman pipped up), and small event grants of up to $1500.

The government-run Victoria Rocks program gets a further $10 million to provide free musical instruments, and help more acts and managers deal with the international market through its new Music Passport initiative.

The FReeZACentral program gets a further $2.68 million, so it’ll operate a further four years. The Face The Music conference and Australasian World Music Expo gets more funding, and a new event will be set up to promote songwriting In words that many in the local industry waited years to hear, Premier Brumby acknowledged, “We recognise the huge contribution contemporary music makes to this state.”

The Liberal Party is expected to announce its arts policy later this week.