20 participants will receive coaching services to boost their business needs.
Music Victoria’s Live Music Professionals programme is a completely free business coaching initiative aiming to build stronger live music businesses throughout Victoria.
Now in its third year, project manager Sarah Deborre tells us the backstory and primary aims of Live Music Professionals.
“It came about as part of this Music Works package that Creative Victoria announced a few years ago,” she says. “So the funding comes via the Victorian state government. Music Works was put in place to fund a number of different music based programmes and projects, one of them being Live Music Professionals.”
Applications close at 5pm on Monday May 13, after which a panel of industry experts will select the 20 participants for this year’s programme. The successful applicants will then be coached in key areas to boost their business needs. The programme aims to bring together people who are isolated, and not just geographically.
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“We’ve got participants that are in metro Melbourne that are feeling isolated because they just might not know any other people doing that job,” Deborre says. “They might not have a support network of other band bookers that they know they can chat to or bounce ideas off. So the programme is really all about connecting people as well as fulfilling their skills gap.”
There are two streams from which people can apply – the venue stream, open to those involved in a venue that supports live original music; and the independent promoter stream, which pertains to those putting on regular events without exclusive ties to a venue.
“We’re looking at someone that kind of knows what they’re doing,” Deborre says. “Whether that’s having booked at least a certain number of gigs as an independent promoter – so promoters could be putting on different gigs in venues across multiple areas or they could be running a festival every year – or in regards to band booking, that they’ve been doing it for at least 12 months in an establishment.”
Live Music Professionals isn’t specifically aimed at bookers and venue managers in regional Victoria, but there is a strong push to maintain live music in regional areas.
“We do that by providing the people that are responsible for those venues or festivals with business skills that they might not have,” says Deborre. “I think there’s more and more support for music in regional areas. I think it’s really important for our music community in general, especially for bands and artists who are wanting to play shows outside of Melbourne. Without venues or festivals in those areas, there’s going to be nowhere to play.”
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Successful applicants will participate in one-on-one coaching sessions with established industry professionals, attend a specially tailored two-day conference, partake in group workshops, and network with dozens of industry allies.
“Each participant will have three different coaches throughout the programme that they get to spend an hour with. We will select our participants and then find out what they need and their needs will determine what kind of coaches we have.
“Then we have this two day regional conference. I organise a trip away for everyone and we do two days of intensive workshops and masterclasses around different topics. We have keynotes and different inspiring speeches from people. Then we have lots of great group dinners and lunches and lots of opportunities to network.”
The majority of Live Music Professionals participants over the past two years have seen their fortunes prosper, says Deborre.
“The main thing that always comes out of this programme and similar programmes is the networking and the teams that come out of it. Then there’s also the aspects of people’s businesses improving too. We’ve had quite a number of people reporting on increasing ticket sales and so forth because of the skills they’re learning and then putting into place within their business.”
Applications for Live Music Professionals are open until 5pm on Monday May 13. It’s free to apply for independent promoters, venue owners, band bookers and venue managers operating in Victoria. Head to musicvictoria.com.au/lmp for more info.
