Parramatta preps for inaugural Sound West conference and festival

UPDATE (28/2/2022): SOUND WEST Music + Tech conference has been rescheduled to August 23 – 28 2022. 

Parramatta will be the beating heart of Australian music for a week in 2022, when the first Sound West fest rolls around. 

Hip-hop star L-Fresh The Lion, APRA AMCOS CEO Dean Ormston; radio host, wheelchair athlete and NEC ambassador Dylan Alcott; and Ministers Stuart Ayres and Geoffrey Lee led the launch line-up Wednesday (Nov. 3) for Sound West, a festival of music, art and ideas that that’ll shine the spotlight on the City of Parramatta.

Spanning five days from March 30, 2022, Sound West will feature performances from established and emerging artists, offering-up the chance to perform at large and “unique” venues including Parramatta’s CommBank Stadium.

Within that program will be a two-day tech and music industry conference, framed around keynotes, panel sessions, workshops, mentoring and networking.

Dean Ormston

Parramatta Lord Mayor Steven Issa, Ayres, (Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney, and Minister for Industry and Trade) and Lee (Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education) were among the guests at yesterday’s curtain raiser, held in the Cumberland Room, within the new 30,000-seat CommBank complex.

This region,” says Ayers, “is going from strength to strength through industry development, investment in research and innovation, and a rich cultural foundation that makes for a dynamic city to live, work, visit and host events.”

The event “is the first of its kind in Australia and will bring together brilliant minds, industry leaders and music enthusiasts to share ideas, network and enjoy the creativity of home-grown artists,” he enthuses.

Sound West, notes Paul Fletcher MP, Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, benefits from a $375,000 injection via the Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) fund, established during the pandemic to help re-start festivals, concerts, tours, events and more.

In a statement, Fletcher confidently predicts next year’s show will “shine a light on the talented and culturally diverse musicians of Western Sydney.”

Paul Fletcher

Sound West is also supported by an alliance of organisations from government and enterprise, including NSW Government via Destination NSW, City of Parramatta, Western Sydney Business Connection, Western Sydney Business, NEC Australia, The Edge (ARN) and SAE Creative Media Institute.

Other supporters confirmed at launch include Apple Music, APRA AMCOS, ARIA, Warner Music, Universal Music, Live Nation, TikTok, Shopify, The Area Movement, The Music, Purple Sneakers, ACCLAIM, COMPLEX, Music Feeds, Tone Deaf, Park Royal Parramatta, OzTIX, and TIO’s sister titles The Brag and Rolling Stone.

Read more here. 

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.