By Georgia Parsonson
The next round of the Queensland Government’s Live Music Support Program allows live music venues throughout the state to apply for funding support from today.
Leeanne Enoch, Minister for the Arts, said that the funding opportunity is part of the Palaszczuk Government’s efforts to ensure Queensland’s economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We know how hard the live music sector has been hit due to COVID-19, so today we’re announcing that live music venues will be able to apply to the next round of Live Music Support program funding,” Minister Enoch said.
“The Live Music Support Program is an extension of support offered to live music venues in 2020-21 and will help offset operational costs for eligible venues, as well as programming and artist fees.
“With this new investment, the dedicated two-year Arts and Cultural Recovery Package, announced last year to sustain the sector during these uncertain times, will now deliver almost $30 million in critical support across Queensland’s arts and cultural sector.”
The COVID-19 pandemic strongly impacted the Music and Entertainment industry. It affected the livelihoods of musicians, technicians, and other such industry professionals and also threatened the financial viability of the live music venues that hosted them.
“Queensland’s contemporary music industry relies on the live music economy for its survival and sustainability, with Brisbane’s music industry alone worth an estimated $428 million to the Queensland economy,” Ms Enoch said.
“The arts, cultural and creative sectors are key to delivering our plan for economic recovery from COVID-19, each year injecting $8.5 billion into the state’s economy and supporting more than 92,000 jobs for Queenslanders.”
Kris Stewart, CEO of QMusic, said, “The previous 15 months have been absolutely devastating for the live music industry — from our venues functioning with severely reduced capacities to our local musicians seeing considerably less work than pre-COVID.
“We congratulate the State Government for making this immediate funding injection into the sustainability of the live music sector, and we look forward to working with them on getting the money to where it’s most needed,” he said.For more information about the Live Music Support program, visit https://www.arts.qld.gov.au/aq-funding/live-music-support-program.