Molly Meldrum statue, feminist festival, birth of punk series among recipients of Creative Victoria grants

A bronze statue of broadcaster and record producer Ian “Molly” Meldrum, a feminist festival, songs about the city of Geelong and an audio-visual series about the birth of Melbourne punk.

These are some of the projects green-lighted by Creative Victoria‘s Rockin’ The Laneways program which celebrates Melbourne’s music legacy.

The recipients are:

• City of Yarra, Richmond ($40,000) – a bronze statue of Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum by Melbourne artist Louis Lauman, as part of the revitalisation works to Wangaratta Street Park, located behind major live music venue The Corner Hotel, as well as a mural for the park that will tell the story of local music.

• The Rah! Rah! Festival ($17,450) – a new contemporary feminist music and arts festival to spotlight the past 25 years of female-generated rock and punk music from Melbourne-based musicians.

• Melbourne Music Guide ($25,000) – to be put together by Zen Arcade which will, over 200 pages, showcase the great music capitals’ artists, key record stores, community radio stations and venues, for tourists and locals.

• Social history of Melbourne punk ($25,000) – by documentary maker Tim Stone with digital artist Aya Hatano and Quincy Mclean and Helen Marcou of Bakehouse Studios.

  It will collect first-hand stories from artists, musicians, producers and punters who were there at the birth of Melbourne’s punk scene.

  Their research will form a series of animated videos that will be accompanied by talks and spoken word events.

• Connecting Song ($15,000) – a mentoring program by the City of Greater Geelong with Mark Wilson (Jet), Mick Thomas (Weddings Parties Anything) and Sarah Carroll (Ukulele Queen of the Bellarine) to mentor three unsigned musicians to produce original songs inspired by Geelong.

  The three songs and video clips will be recorded and screened at Geelong After Dark 2018.