Member for Buninyong Michaela Settle and Member for Wendouree Juliana Addison announced survival grants for five local live music venues and new initiatives to protect music jobs on stage and behind the scenes.

These grants and initiatives will help local music venues, businesses, musicians and other music industry workers get back on their feet and ready for a robust COVID Normal future.

Volta, Trades Hall Ballarat, The Eastern, Hop Temple and The Main Bar are among 106 recipients across the state that will share in grants totalling $9 million in the first tranche of the Victorian Live Music Venues program.

The program supports venues, with a capacity of 50 to 1,200 people, that have a solid reputation for presenting original live music and demonstrate best practice in business operations.

The grants will support Volta, Trades Hall Ballarat, The Eastern, Hop Temple and The Main Bar which have been closed since March, to cover urgent overheads and put COVID-safe measures in place.

They may 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.

Local musicians, music businesses and music industry workers may also be eligible to apply for grants through the new Victorian Music Industry Recovery program.

The $3 million program offers grants of between $4,000 and $50,000 to support artists, managers, promoters, bookers, road crew and other workers to create new music, undertake professional and business development activities and develop new COVID-Safe ways of working.

Recognising that summer is usually a bumper period for the music industry, the program will focus on activities taking place from December onwards. It includes 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.

The full list of music venues supported through tranche 1 of the Victorian Live Music Venues program is available at creative.vic.gov.au. Guidelines for the new Victorian Music Industry Recovery program are also available on this site.

Quotes attributable to Member for Wendouree Juliana Addison

“This support for iconic Ballarat venues will protect our grassroots live music scene, save jobs and music businesses. We are ensuring that our local live music will continue to nurture and promote Ballarat artists well beyond this pandemic.”

Quotes attributable to Member for Buninyong Michaela Settle

“Ballarat has always been known for its live music scene, these grants will support our scene and the bands can play on. I’m looking forward to seeing these venues open soon; fostering local musos and creative jobs.”

Quotes attributable to Matt Stone, co-owner of the Eastern Hotel

“This grant has saved us, we would not have survived without it. We can now focus on reopening and bring the community back together. We are very excited by the future and would like to thank everyone who has been involved to bring this together.”