Australia Council funds 61 music projects as part of $7.2m in grants

Over 60 music projects have scored a funding boost from the Australia Council, as part of $7.2 million worth of grants for 270 arts projects.

These included multi-artform projects, theatre, Aboriginal & Torres Straits Islander Arts, Arts & Disability initiatives, community arts and cultural development, visual arts, dance and literature.

The grants were the first of three rounds for 2017.

The $7.2 million was divided into $2.7 million to support projects by 158 individual musicians and artists; $0.9 million to support 36 groups of musicians and artists; and $3.6 million to support 76 music and arts organisations.

MusicNSW and Victoria’s The Push, briefed with building up the grassroots music sector in their respective states with workshops, gigs and panels, received $22,000 and $15,337 respectively.

Music non-profit Heaps Decent, which takes local and international touring acts to run music workshops with disadvantaged and marginalised kids, scored $32,000.

Other groups included the Semaphore Music Festival in Adelaide ($15,000), the world music Wantok Music Foundation ($67, 769), the Buried Country project for Indigenous country music ($46,600) and the WA Youth Jazz Orchestra ($41,338).

The choice of music acts covered most genres, and were a reasonable mix of emerging, popular, avant-garde and well known.

Music acts included Katie Noonan ($40,000), Methyl Ethel ($19,908), Kieran Welch ($20,000), Andy Bull ($19,620), Gold Class ($14,714), Gordi ($26,583), Ruby Boots ($13, 274), Julia Jacklin ($10,327), Tia Gostelow ($20,100) and Adrian Pertout ($10,720).

Music acts will also benefit from events and associations including the Next Wave Festival ($100,000), Blacktown City Council ($83,000), the Melbourne Fringe ($65,000) and the Australian Performing Arts Entertainment Association ($18,537).

An analysis by the Australia Council of the latest round found 21% of funding went to applicants in regional and remote areas, and 30% of recipients had an international component to their project.

33% of the successful ones in Arts Projects said engagement with, and participation by, the audience were the primary outcomes of their projects.

Of the 115 peers assessed this round, 22% were from regional and remote areas; 19% identified themselves as being culturally and linguistically diverse; and 19% identified as being Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people.

Australia Council CEO Tony Grybowski said he was pleased with the diverse range of activity in the round, and that it attracted a large number of new applicants.

“The Council’s grants program supports all facets of the creative process, enabling Australian artists to undertake professional development, create new work through individual and collaborative processes, and present their work to audiences in all parts of Australia and across the globe.

“The findings of the Council’s third National Arts Participation Survey will be released in late June and they tell a compelling story about the role of the arts in the lives of Australians, one that reinforces the importance of this type of investment.”

Last week the Australia Council also announced $3.2 million in funding which has been invested through Playing Australia ($2.0 million); Contemporary Touring Initiative ($577,000); Visual Arts and Craft Strategy-individuals ($445,000); and the Contemporary Music Touring Program($190,000).

The list of all recipients is online here.