Isabella Manfredi takes out 2019 Mushroom Music Publishing Grant

The Preatures’ frontwoman Isabella ‘Izzi’ Manfredi is the seventh recipient of Mushroom Music Publishing’s Recording Grant.

The grant was established in 2013 by Mushroom to help Australian artists fund their recordings, and the 2019 grant awards Manfredi $10,000 to help create her debut solo album.

Rising to prominence as a founding member of The Preatures in 2010, Manfredi is the principal songwriter with the band.

“The last two years for the band and I have been marked so much by change, loss, and the desire to evolve,” she said.

“Mushroom have supported me personally through a huge evolution in my writing. I am just so grateful for this Grant and the opportunity to make my own record.”

Manfredi with The Preatures

She became a leading figure in the Australian #MeToo movement in 2017 and 2018.

Having spent much of 2018/19 travelling with and writing for The Preatures, her solo project is about to be boosted thanks to the Mushroom grant.

Mushroom head of A&R and creative Erol Yurdagul said an artist as diverse as Manfredi was well deserving of the grant.

“Izzi is an exceptionally talented and diverse songwriter with an important point of view to share.

“We have loved being on this ride with her and assisting in exploring her songwriting. We can’t wait to hear the record she makes.”

The 2018 grant was won by Hatchie, who released her debut album Keepsake through Mushroom’s Ivy League Records in June 2019.

Other previous winners include Fraser A. Gorman (2013), D.D Dumbo (2014), Dorsal Fins (2015), The Laurels (2016) and Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever (2017).