2008
2008 PROJECT OUTCOMES
THE JB SEED 2008 ROUND – TOTAL FUNDING $125,830.50
MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP INITIATIVE // TOTAL FUNDING $35,000
Jackie Marshall is a self-managed emerging singer-songwriter who released an album ‘Fight ‘n’ Flight’ in 2006. She has completed a series of performances for the ‘Women In Voice’ Concert Series and has supported acts including Missy Higgins. Bulimba, QLD.
Andrew Brown manages Townsville rock band The Red Book Comics who are preparing to record and release their second EP and complete a national tour later this year. Townsville, QLD.
Malina Hamilton-Smith both performs in and manages Sydney alternative pop rock electro band Super Massive, recently awarded Best Alternative Artist at the 2007 MusicOz Awards. Neutral Bay, NSW.
- “This is an exceptionally good course, it has really consolidated my knowledge and experience thus far and provided me with a wealth of resources to take away and confidently move onward with. It has been immensely enjoyable. I am very grateful to have been selected to participate because at this point in my career it has been highly relevant and useful. I would really like to congratulate all involved in the creation of the JB Seed Management Workshop, it’s amazing! Thank You!”
Jesse Lubitz both performs in and manages Melbourne folk roots duo TinPan Orange. The band recently released their second album ‘Death, Love and Buildings’, featuring Renee Geyer. St Kilda East, VIC.
Saritah Newman has been managing her solo career as a soul roots artist for the past five years. In this time she has performed both in Australia and overseas, and will begin recording her second full length album shortly. Mt Claremont, QLD. Jesse Lubitz both performs in and manages Melbourne folk roots duo TinPan Orange. The band recently released their second album 'Death, Love and Buildings', featuring Renee Geyer. St Kilda East, VIC.
Saritah Newman has been managing her solo career as a soul roots artist for the past five years. In this time she has performed both in Australia and overseas, and will begin recording her second full length album shortly. Mt Claremont, QLD.
- "Thanks to the JB Seed I feel fully empowered and inspired to apply new knowledge and develop my career thus taking my music to the world. It is what I am here to do… For this experience I am truly grateful."
Paul Boon plays an active role in the musical and artistic life of Broome, WA. He manages electro acoustic band Monokira, folk blues artist Harry Jakamarra Gray, and Groovylips and The Yang, the band in which he also performs.
- "This has been an extremely overwhelming experience but has solidified what I have been doing in my business and have given me incredible direction for the future. Thank you JB Seed team!"
Lach Hall has managed six-piece reggae roots band De Jah Groove, in which he also plays, for the last three years. The band has recorded their debut album and completed a national tour. Malvern East, VIC.
Rae Howell manages her own nu-chamber cinematic project the Sunwrae Ensemble. The group will be launching their third album 'Autumn Never Fail' with a tour scheduled for April/ May 2009. North Fitzroy, VIC.
Sare Lang plays bass in, and co-manages alt-acoustic band Skipping Girl Vinegar. The band completed its debut album 'Sift The Noise' earlier this year. Wattle Park, VIC.
- "Thank you JB Seed. I feel totally spoilt and privileged to be amongst such an incredible initiative that feeds into the music industry in a generous, open and self less way. I hope I can do the same."
Brad Murray runs his own indie record label, Wireless Records, whilst also managing two Melbourne-based bands, Spun Rivals and Radiant City. Both bands have performed extensively and recently released EPs. Carlton North, VIC.
- "Thank you so much, you are all an inspiration to me, I feel honoured to have received this opportunity. I am also amazed that you all give SO much to this industry and that you gave up your time to help me and all of us – which is something rare and special in this industry. Again, thank you for this opportunity."
Bianca Jade has managed her own blues-folk band for three years. Bianca has recently supported The Black Sorrows and KD Lang and is working on her first full-length album. Mosman Park, WA.
Bruna Chiovitti has managed Abbe May & The Rockin' Pneumonia for the past year. The band was awarded WAMi's 'Best Female Vocalist' in 2007 and 2008 and 'Most Promising Act' in 2008. White Gum Valley, WA.
Eva Popov, a contemporary folk musician, has been managing her career for the last five years. Earlier this year she won Triple J's Fuse Music Competition and is set to release 'Photos of the Sun', the follow-up to her debut album. Preston, VIC.
Helen Ransom, of Perfect Crime Music, co-manages Adam Cousens and Linc Le Fevre & The Insiders. Adam Cousens' 'Running Over Rooftops' was awarded Best Song at Tasmania's Amplified Awards earlier this year. New Town, TAS.
Matt McMullen manages three rock 'n' roll bands, The Slim Pickins, The Belle Ends and Long Gone Midnight. The Slim Pickins will embark on a tour of the east coast this year, and each of the bands is looking forward to releasing new material in the near future. Fremantle, WA.
- "I cannot believe your generosity – in spirit, thought and time (and $$). This workshop was very much what I needed at this point where I found myself a little stuck. The people you guys have drawn into your vision are amazing and equally as generous with their information and experience. I feel privileged to have been involved and inspired again. It was equally as awesome to now be connected to twenty other good folks from around the country. My genuine and sincere thanks."
Rowan Brand co-founded Delusion Records in 2007. Since then he has represented pop rock band Freedom 1 who have supported Switchfoot and Cosima DeVito. Chester Hill, NSW.
Mei Lai Swan is a self-managed singer, songwriter and cellist based in Alice Springs. Mei Lai released her debut EP 'The Morning Tree' last year and performed throughout the Northern Territory, Victoria and Queensland; she is currently working on her debut album. Alice Springs, NT.
Maggie Collins manages six-piece Brisbane-based outfit The John Steel Singers. The band was named Triple J Next Crop Artist in 2007, and has performed extensively including with The Panics and Built To Spill. Paddington, QLD.
Leah Flanagan manages her Darwin-based band, whose debut album is soon to be released. The band has played at a number of major festivals and recently opened the Darwin Festival. Wulagi, NT.
Susan Clarke has managed two acoustic alt-folk acts over the past year, Xave Brown and Sue Cunningham. Xave released his second album 'Whalebone Beach' this year, three tracks from which have been used and performed live for the Chrissie Parrott Dance Project. Denmark, WA.
Noah Marley is a member of and co-manages Flow And Plenty. The band has a busy performance schedule and released an EP earlier this year. Rosanna, VIC.
Chloe Goodyear manages Eastern-Euro gypsy seven-piece Doch and eight-piece jazz band Miguel. Both bands have performed extensively and Doch released their third album 'Bride in a Red Dress' last year. New Farm, QLD.
Kelvin Lui manages the Indigenous Intrudaz, winners of the prestigious JB Seed Indigenous Recording for 2008. Inala, QLD.
PROFESSIONAL & SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
Harry Jakamarra – Intensive Mohan Veena lessons.
Harry Spent two weeks of intensive Mohan Veena tuition (an Indian instrument similar to a classical guitar) with a renowned Mohan Veena guru in India. The lessons focussed and developing a further understanding of Raga’s, their musical forms, structures and place within Indian culture as well as advanced techniques for playing the Mohan Veena.
Zoe Miller
The Live School course at SAE was a fantastic course that was really pratical- with enough theory to get me started and interested in the whole audio engineering world. I exceeded the objectives I had for this class- I loved learning about Live as it is a program with a very elegant design. It is so flexible and mutli-dimensional so it will help me a lot. It will be espeiclaly useful for recroding on the fly with young people and creating re-mixes. I took some really comphrehensive class notes so I can easily refresh my memory when i need to. Pro-school 101 and 110 was extreemly heavy on the theory but showed that Pro-Tools is an extreemly powerful program. I learnt a lot from talking with other people in the class and the teacher. In fact one of the people there refeered me to a mastering guy who mastered everything for the hip hop project! I exceeded the objectives I had for this class ten-fold, I made contacts, learnt about gear I need to buy and I have a comphrehensive understanding of the program. Now I no longer have to deal with third party prducers and rely on people to provide beats, while at the same time I have made great contacts with other producers, like Nick Toth, as mentors.
Ria Soemardjo – Vocal Rhythmic Improvisation lessons in Melbourne.
“The lessons varied in focus, but generally always included practical exercises in stepping, clapping and vocalizing in different polyrhythms. These particular exercises were based on the Taketina process that Tania has trained in, and are designed to build skills in perceiving different rhythms simultaneously. The exercises also help to deepen the sense of rhythm in the body – so that any playing or improvisation can then flow spontaneously. The sessions also included exercises combining vocalizing while using simple percussion including the Korean drum, shakers, rattles , bells etc. The exercises became more and more complex as my ability to stay in rhythm improved. We were able to introduce unfamiliar polythythms, while taking into consideration the types of rhythms I play in traditional Javanese music, and in my original music”.
Rogerthat – 2008 Professional Development
The band begun worked with Mat McHugh (Beautiful Girls)in a series of song writing workshops. He spent time suggesting ways in which the songs could be made more direct, as well as providing ideas for instrumentation and arrangements. This provided valuable preparation for the meetings and sessions to come. We feel that the workshop with Mat improved our song writing and gave us new ideas and inspiration for the future. The bands new EP tangerine Bird is a huge improvement from our last project, thanks to Mat’s input.
Chris Williams
Chris attended the Dartington International Summer School – Advanced Composition School with internationally renowned composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. While at the intensive course, he composed a piece entitled “By a thousand names o flower” for a small chamber group performing at the workshop. “I learnt a lot about the construction and development of musical ideas, as well as being given the chance to learn from the musical thought of the five other talented composers (from around the world) chosen for the course”. “The array of lessons learnt during my project was amazing, covering the entire range of proffessional composition from instrumentation, orchestration, development all the way to rehearsal technique, part production and more abstract notions about the composers role and responsibility in society”.
Bryce Jacobs
I have just returned from a very successful trip to the United States as a part of the composer Christopher Young’s (Spider-man 3, Sword Fish, The Grudge, etc.) residency named Tilden House, which was established for young composers to help enable them to make a start in Hollywood through the assistance of a supportive network of Chris’s personal team. Whilst in the US, I attended composition and orchestration workshops including the orchestration course offered by some of L.A.’s leading orchestrators and composer I used every available moment to meet with composers and studios, offering any assistance I could in their compositional environment to prove myself in each and every hard working way possible. I also attended many recording sessions for major upcoming films and television shows at many of the leading film and recording studios in Hollywood.
There is too much talent in Australia to be left unnoticed. I believe what I have achieved already is an incredibly solid foundation to build the rest of my mid to long term plans and goals on.
SOCIAL ACTIVISM THROUGH THE ARTS // TOTAL FUNDING $35,911.50
Maningrida Project/Black on White (Grant amount $3,000) North Sydney, NSW
Belinda Mason and Mervyn Bishop will travel to Maningrida, Northern Territory to conduct photography workshops with five Indigenous participants nominated by the Maningrida Jobs Education and Training Aboriginal Corporation. The goal of the workshops is to develop attendees’ photographic skills and to empower them to produce an exhibition of images documenting their own culture.
Performers for Peace (Grant amount $1,800) West End, QLD.
Delene Cuddihy will organise a series of Street Theatre workshops to be run by Anna Yen called ‘Performers for Peace’. Participants will be drawn from the female memberships of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, other peace and conservation organisations, student bodies and the general Brisbane community. The workshops will culminate in performances, as tools for community education and political protest, in Brisbane and Rockhampton.
Express your Reality (Grant amount $5,000) Northcote, VIC
Dustin Barter will produce at least three issues of a multimedia zine entitled ‘Express Your Reality’ which is envisaged as a tool for creating intercultural dialogue between viewers and contributors on social issues. The zine will invite visual and written contributions from artists, photographers, illustrators, poets and creative writers. The artworks will then be exhibited in Melbourne and Sydney and the completed publications will be distributed through zine networks, schools, train stations, community centres, bars, cafes and online.
Step-Up (Night Café) (Grant amount $4,961.50) Milton, QLD
Katie Gregg will engage with marginalised young people who frequent the Red Cross Night Cafe in the Brisbane CBD to record a hip hop album. Through the project, entitled ‘Step-Up (Night Cafe)’, Katie seeks to raise awareness and knowledge of mental health issues and to reduce the stigma attached to seeking help; in this way she hopes to promote positive mental health via hip hop expression.
ROXSTOP: Community Education & Action Kit (Grant amount $4,150) Mullumbimby, NSW
Treena Lenthall will produce a community education and action resource kit that can be used to lobby politicians and union representatives, and raise public awareness about the proposed expansion to the Olympic Dam uranium mine near Roxby Downs. The resource kits will contain a number of informative documents including the short film ‘All That Glitters Is Not Gold’ and practical tips on how and who to lobby.
Sonic Elevation (Grant amount $3,000) Footscray, VIC
Carolyn Parry will facilitate a creative dance workshop entitled “Sonic Elevation” with seven Indigenous youth from far north Queensland. The workshop/ exchange programme will see Carolyn Parry, Lamaroc and another acrobatic instructor foster the participants’ talents and work towards a final public performance at ‘The Crom’.
Lullabies Our Mothers Sang (Grant amount $2,000) Kensington, VIC
‘Lullabies Our Mothers Sang’ is a project developed in response to a community request to explore the theme of parenthood from the perspectives of being someone’s child and a mother. Paola Bilbrough, in collaboration with other artists, will craft a documentary film surrounding the stories of thirteen women from the Horn of Africa about how their past rituals and relationships with their parents contribute to their lives now. The film will be screened at Melbourne’s Big West Arts Festival and the Sun Theatre, Yarraville and will be submitted to independent television networks, the Melbourne Fringe and other festivals.
Art of difference (Grant amount $5,000) Albert Park, VIC
Cusader Hillis will stage the ‘Art of Difference’, a major Arts Symposium at Gasworks Arts Park, Albert Park, Victoria. The programme of forums and interactive workshops will provide a platform for people from disability communities to meet, exchange ideas, debate, experience and discuss arts with the Symposium’s creators. There will be opportunities to discuss key issues facing disability arts practice and meet potential collaborators.
Fatherhood Festival Taree (Grant amount $5,000) Bobin, NSW
Peter Glencross, on behalf of Manning Uniting Church Building Community Lines, will coordinate the Fatherhood Festival Taree, a week of activities to be targeted especially at disadvantaged families in the greater Taree City Council area. The project seeks to improve family wellbeing by focussing on fathers and celebrating their important roles both in the family and the community and will culminate in a Fathers’ Day event to entertain, motivate and provide services and education to enhance parenting skills.
Political Street Theatre (Grant amount $2,000) Prospect, SA
Edwin Kemp Attrill is an emerging actor and director who will develop an original series of four street theatre performances entitled ‘Hit hard, and get out fast’ with the focus on creating debate and awareness within the community on human rights abuse, the degradation of the environment and the anti-nuclear cause. The pieces will raise maximum political awareness through the use of bold colours, high energy live music and circus skills, and will be performed in the Adelaide CBD, at political rallies, marches and protests and other arts events.