2017

BUSH BANDS BUSINESS

The Seed Fund will continue to partner with MusicNT Bush Bands BUSINESS, a three-day skills and professional development intensive for Central Desert bush bands. Mentors guide stagecraft, musicianship, contracting, licensing, publicity and touring tips workshops. Over 60 workshops and rehearsals take place as well as a full dress rehearsal for the Bush Bands BASH concert in Alice Springs, which takes place at the end of the intensive.

The Seed Fund will deliver music industry professional mentors to Alice Springs to take part in Bush Bands BUSINESS because we believe in supporting remote musicians who face a different set of challenges in their professional development than their urban counterparts. 

The 2017 Seed Mentors were:  

Brian Ritchie – AD MOFO festival and bass player with the Violent Femmes (TAS) 

Paula ‘jonesy’ Jones – Director and Publicist for Jones PR and National Event Publicist for Groovin the Moo (NSW)

"Bush Bands is a great building block for talented remote bands to get a grip on the overall business of music. It also gives worth and respect, not only to the musicians involved but also to their families and friends back in community. As mentors we listen, observe, encourage, connect and share and we too learn from this rewarding experience. After three intensive days of workshops and rehearsals, accomplished, emotive and confident are words that come to mind in describing the buzz for performers as they take to the stage for Bush Bands Bash.”

Drew Goddard – Guitarist from Karnivool (WA)

“Bush Bands Bash is a premier opportunity for remote musicians and bands to connect and to gain knowledge about the many facets of the Australian and International music industry from experienced mentors and industry stalwarts alike, and to connect and share the stage with other bands. Every year, participants come from every state of Australia, converging in an incredible location near Alice Springs to experience and discover, via exposure to the best new music that the Northern Territory and its surround remote central traditional nations has to offer. The week's workshopping ends with a widely publicised festival in the town where all the bands play live sets, showcasing their music to a big live audience. There is a continued need for remote areas to be included in an industry that is still very much concentrated in cities and coastal regions of Australia and still in many ways a disparate entity. One discovers from the outside coming in that the music of Central Australia has it's own musical lineage of stories, song and dance passed down through the generations. Now 10 years in, Bush Bands is consistently playing a very important part in creating pathways to and from the heart of the country, connecting people and regions and providing opportunities to a part of Australia that a unique identity and one that is teeming with natural talent.”

Outcomes from BBBiz 2017

This year 8 bands and 3 Divas (57 musicians) representing 9 language groups from Central Australia and the Top End attended the BBBiz skills camp. 13 Mentors and 18 staff, kitchen crew and community engagement workers supported them.

The connections and support the artists have received during the BBBiz skills camp will be vital in their future and assist them in furthering their career in the music industry.