The Australia Council for the Arts is the Australian Government’s arts funding and advisory body

Thursday 10 October 2013

Supporting music to the tune of $1.3m A country singer, an experimental music festival and a chamber music company are some of the artists and organisations to benefit from more than $1.3 million in the latest round of funding from the Australia Council for the Arts.

Australia Council Director Music Paul Mason said the grants would help musicians create new work, perform live and tour nationally and internationally.

“We received applications from all over Australia in a diverse range of genres, including chamber music, rock bands, jazz and Baroque opera, and the standard was extremely high.

“The recent increased funding to the Australia Council has allowed us to fund more artists in all of these categories, which is great news for Australian music.”

Artists funded include Queensland country music singer songwriter Graham Rodger (Paterson, Qld), Rudely Interrupted, a Melbourne rock band consisting of members living with disadvantage and disability, and Adelaide composer Graeme Koehne.

“Graham Rodger will use his grant to tour remote parts of southwest Queensland, Rudely Interrupted will use their funds to write and record new material, and Graeme Koehne will compose the score for a dance theatre work based on David Malouf’s short story The Empty Lunch Tin,” Mr Mason said.

“Other artists to benefit include Chamber Music Adelaide for artists’ performance fees, Darwin Indigenous singer songwriter and former Saltwater Band member Manuel Dhurrkay to record a solo album, and Adalita to tour nationally. “Several artists have been supported to perform at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York later this year, including Hermitude, Courtney Barnett and Oh Mercy. “A number of festivals were also funded, including the inaugural eclectic and experimental music event New Weird Australia, which will be held in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney in March 2014, and The West African Festival to be held at Sydney’s Darling Harbour in November. The Australia Council’s music grants support composers, musicians and organisations to create new music and present it to audiences. The grants aim to reflect and promote the diversity, excellence and energy of contemporary Australian musical culture.

The applications were assessed by industry peers, including Deborah Conway (Vic), Holly Throsby (NSW), Lawrence English (Qld), Damien Armstrong (NT), Gabriella Smart (SA) and Johannes Luebbers (WA).

The following number of applications were received and funded:

New Work - 171 applications, 44 funded.

Presentation and Promotion - 82 applications, 23 funded.

International Pathways – 35 applications, 11 funded.

International Showcase/Managers – 25 applications, 9 funded.

Contemporary Music Touring Program – 36 applications, 12 funded.

For more information on Australia Council music grants go to: http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/artforms/music

Media contact Karen Smith 02 9215 9030 | 0498 123 541 k.smith@australiacouncil.gov.au

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