Supporting our music industry to rebuild and recover

^{Melbourne Music Week Photo: Jess Middleton}

106 live music venues across the state, including Northcote Social Club, Queenscliff’s Blues Train and Castlemaine’s Theatre Royal, will share in grants totalling $9 million through in the first tranche of the Victorian Live Music Venues program.

The grants will support venues, which have been closed since March, to cover urgent overheads and put COVIDSafe measures in place. They will also assist venues to reopen and host events, providing employment opportunities for artists, promoters, technicians and more, offsetting costs while patron caps are in place.

Under Victoria’s roadmaps for reopening, indoor live music venues can reopen at the Last Step with density quotients and patron caps in place. Patron caps will be lifted when the state moves to COVID Normal.

A state-first planning policy will further protect Victoria’s live music venues during the pandemic and beyond.

Proposed new permanent planning controls will allow councils across the state to identify significant live music precincts and consider the social, economic and cultural importance of live music venues as they make decisions on local planning permits.

This will mean that when a site that is home to a live music venue is slated for redevelopment, councils will have strengthened power to protect the music venue as part of any new proposal.

Musicians, music businesses and music industry workers will also receive support through a series of new initiatives.

A new grants program, the Victorian Music Industry Recovery program, will offer grants between $4,000 and $50,000 to support artists, managers, promoters, bookers, road crew and other workers to keep creating new music, undertake professional and business development activities and develop new COVIDSafe ways of working.

Recognising that summer is usually a bumper period for the music industry, the Victorian Music Industry Recovery program will support activities taking place from December onwards.

It includes will dedicated streams for First Peoples and Deaf and Disabled applicants. Applications will open at noon on Monday 21 September and close at 5pm, Thursday 22 October 2020.

A further $1.2 million has been allocated to ten music organisations and peak bodies to deliver professional and business development programs to a diverse range of Victorian music industry professionals.

This vital music industry support is part of the Victoria Government’s $90 million investment to help the state’s creative industries through the impacts of the pandemic.

The full list of music venues supported through tranche one of the Victorian Live Music Venues program and the industry partnership projects is listed below.

Find out more about the Victorian Music Industry Recovery program.

Grant recipients

Victorian Live Music Venues program – tranche one venues

170 Russell, MELBOURNE

24 Moons, NORTHCOTE

303, NORTHCOTE

Athenaeum Theatre, MELBOURNE

Bar Open, FITZROY

Bar Oussou, BRUNSWICK

Baxter's Lot, FITZROY

Beavs Lounge Bar, GEELONG

Bendigo Hotel Collingwood, COLLINGWOOD

Bloom Bar & Lounge, GEELONG

Bull and Mouth Hotel, HORSHAM

Cafe Gummo, THORNBURY

Chasers Venue, SOUTH YARRA

Circus Bar, SOUTH YARRA

Dogs Bar, ST KILDA

Elwood Lounge, ELWOOD

Empire Club, NARRE WARREN

Evelyn Hotel, FITZROY

Fitzroy Rainbow Hotel, FITZROY

Gods Kitchen, MORNINGTON

Grand Hotel Mornington, MORNINGTON

Hop Temple, BALLARAT CENTRAL

Hotel Warrnambool, WARRNAMBOOL

Howler, BRUNSWICK

Inflation Nightclub, MELBOURNE

Jimmy O'Neill's Whiskey and Alehouse, ST KILDA

John Curtin Hotel, CARLTON

Kanela Flamenco Bar, FITZROY

Kay Street Entertainment, TRARALGON

Labour in Vain, FITZROY

Laundry Bar, FITZROY

Lomond Hotel, BRUNSWICK EAST

Loop, MELBOURNE

Lulie Tavern, ABBOTSFORD

Mantra Studio Kitchen Bar, YARRAVILLE

Max Watt's Melbourne, MELBOURNE

Melbourne Central Lion, MELBOURNE

Memo Music Hall, ST KILDA

Nevermind Bar, HAWTHORN

New Guernica, MELBOURNE

Nighthawks Bar, COLLINGWOOD

Northcote Social Club, NORTHCOTE

Oak Tree Tavern, THE BASIN

Onesixone, PRAHRAN

Ontop Bar, ORMOND

Open Studio, NORTHCOTE

Paris Cat, MELBOURNE

Pawn & Co, Prahran

Paynesville Wine Bar, PAYNESVILLE

Piano Bar Geelong, GEELONG

Pig and Whistle, Main Ridge, MAIN RIDGE

Pistol Pete’s Food n Blues, GEELONG

Platform One, MELBOURNE

Pride of our Footscray Community Bar, FOOTSCRAY

Ragtime Tavern, PRESTON

Rising Sun Hotel, SOUTH MELBOURNE

Ronnie's Blue Bar, PRAHRAN

Rubix Warehouse, BRUNSWICK

Small Time, BRUNSWICK

Sooki Lounge, BELGRAVE

Soundbar, CAPEL SOUND

Stay Gold Melbourne, BRUNSWICK

Swamplands Bar, THORNBURY

Tempo Rubato, BRUNSWICK

The Archie's Creek Hotel, ARCHIES CREEK

The Blues Train, QUEENSCLIFF

The Bridge Hotel, CASTLEMAINE

The Butterfly Club, MELBOURNE

The Colonial Hotel, MELBOURNE

The Corner Hotel, RICHMOND

The Dart and Marlin, WARRNAMBOOL

The Eastern, BALLARAT EAST

The Gasometer Hotel, COLLINGWOOD

The Gem Bar & Dining Room, COLLINGWOOD

The Grace Darling Hotel, COLLINGWOOD

The Jazzlab, BRUNSWICK

The King Hotel, MELBOURNE

The Leadbeater Hotel, ABBOTSFORD

The Main Bar, BAKERY HILL

The Merri Creek Tavern, NORTHCOTE

The Night Heron, FOOTSCRAY

The Old Bar, COLLINGWOOD

The Post Office Hotel, COBURG

The Prince Bandroom, ST KILDA

The Red Hill Hotel Chewton, CHEWTON

The Retreat Hotel, BRUNSWICK

The Rooks Return, FITZROY

The Royal Melbourne Hotel, MELBOURNE

The Setts Mildura, MILDURA

The Third Day, NORTH MELBOURNE

The Toff in Town, MELBOURNE

The Workers Club, FITZROY

The Yarra Hotel, ABBOTSFORD

Theatre Royal Castlemaine, CASTLEMAINE

Tokyo Hustle, MELBOURNE

Tote Hotel, COLLINGWOOD

Trades Hall Ballarat, BALLARAT CENTRAL

Tramp Bar, MELBOURNE

Tramway Hotel, FITZROY NORTH

Uptown Jazz Café, FITZROY

Volta - Arts & Culture, BALLARAT CENTRAL

Wesley Anne, NORTHCOTE

Westernport Hotel - San Remo, SAN REMO

Whole Lotta Love, BRUNSWICK EAST

Wool Exchange Entertainment Complex, GEELONG

Yah Yah's, FITZROY

Strategic Partnership Projects

APRA AMCOS
In consultation with Multicultural Arts Victoria and songwriters from a range of cultural backgrounds, APRA AMCOS will design and pilot a new model of culturally safe, supportive and inclusive development programs for culturally diverse songwriters.

Arts Access Victoria
In partnership with the music industry, Arts Access Victoria will deliver a series of digital professional development workshops open to Victorian music artists and business people with disabilities with a focus on creating music and supporting new pathways to audiences.

Association of Artist Managers
The AAM will present two of their successful professional development programs for Victorian artist managers:

• Co-Pilot, a mentorship program that matches emerging artist managers with established and successful managers. This round will focus on emerging managers from groups currently underrepresented within Australian artist management.
• Grow a program to provide ongoing guidance and support for managers as they navigate the dramatic changes to the sector, their artists’ employment opportunities and their own businesses.

Australian Festivals Association
For targeted recovery initiatives that will provide resources, research and training opportunities for festival managers and workers. This work will also include a project to connect festivals with local First Nations mentors.

Australian Independent Recording Label Association (AIR)
In partnership with industry experts, AIR will deliver a three-part webinar series focussing on neighbouring rights, financial literacy and releasing music as an indie artist.

Bakehouse Studios
Ordinarily a site for recording and rehearsals, some 400 musicians visit and work at Bakehouse each week. Funding will assist Bakehouse to continue to support the music industry including working with underrepresented artists and acts.

CrewCare
CrewCare will deliver an innovative training program focused on wellbeing to upskill over 500 crew members within the Victorian live music industry. The program will be delivered in partnership with music industry organisations, Arts Centre Melbourne and RMIT.

Music Victoria / Regional Arts Victoria
For a project focused on music industry recovery in regional areas. The project will include the employment of three Regional Music Workers for 12 months in three regions across the state. These local music workers will work to develop projects and initiatives to support local music networks and activity as well as acting as broker to establish connections with music representatives in other parts of the state, local governments, arts bodies and other relevant stakeholders.

Songlines Aboriginal Music Corporation
Songlines will deliver three projects that will support First Nations music industry representatives to respond to the issues caused by the pandemic.

• First Nations Music Voice: Songlines will work to create connections across the First Nations music sector in order to develop strong collective aspirations and desires which will then be presented to government and funding bodies.
• Songlines First Nations Wellbeing Hubs: a series of wellbeing hubs that facilitate connections between musicians and industry professionals and creating links to support services to foster resilience within the First Nations music sector and encourage the industry to make wellbeing a key part of future ideas and business concepts.
• Songlines Song writing Sessions: Support to regional and metropolitan based artists to create new works in collaboration with peers and mentors.

The Push Inc
The Push will deliver two projects for young Victorians:

• Push Records - a youth-led record label that will work with artists to release their music, while upskilling young people in music business skills. This project will include a mentoring with established record labels.
• What is the future of Music? - an online campaign and ideas exchange event that will provide a platform for young people to share their ideas to create a plan for music industry recovery.