Aboriginal songwriters invited to build music skills at Starting Ground Redfern

Taking place over June 23 and 24, the Starting Ground workshop is an opportunity for musicians from the Sydney region (including Western Sydney, Wollongong and Newcastle) to develop their careers under the guidance of award-winning artists and music industry professionals.

Mentors include APRA AMCOS ATSI (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander)Ambassadors singer/songwriter Leah Flanagan and Brendon Boney, one half of folk/pop duo Microwave Jenny.

The pair will be joined by music producer Neal Sutherland, who has worked with The Presets, Bertie Blackman, Megan Washington, Rob Mills and many more. Rob Scott from Source Music will provide music industry insight along with APRA AMCOS ATSI National Representative Michael Hutchings.

The hands-on workshop will cover songwriting and live performance along with music production, business management, touring, radio and marketing.

This will be the fourth Starting Ground workshop, with successful events held in Tamworth in November 2015, Byron Bay in March 2016 and Dubbo in May 2016.

“The regional workshops showcased some exceptional new talent, and gave Aboriginal artists access to a great team of professionals who helped them develop their business and musical skills,” said Leah Flanagan, who has led sessions at all three events.

“They’ll now be able to share that insight with their communities, and continue to build on what they learned. It’s also been great seeing the mentors take a lot away from the workshops as they hear first-hand about the challenges faced by musicians with limited access to the wider music industry,” she said.

Michael Hutchings is looking forward to the Redfern event, and said he hopes to see Aboriginal musicians from further afield join the workshop.

“We’d love to see songwriters from Western Sydney, Wollongong, Newcastle and surrounding areas atStarting Ground, and I encourage them to get in touch and register,” he said.

Contact Michael Hutchings at APRA AMCOS to register:[email protected]| 02 9935 7874
Places are limited – please book early.

Starting Ground is an initiative of the APRA AMCOS ATSI office and funded by the NSW Government – ArtsNSW through its three-year Aboriginal Arts and Cultural Strategy.