Fortunately for the denizens of Victoria, one extremely practical solution has emerged from the woodwork: Music Victoria’s ‘Good Music Neighbours’ program. In a nutshell, GMN is a grant awards program, wherein music venues can apply for a matched funding grant of up to $25,000 dollars to put towards ‘proactive sound management solutions.’ It’s an umbrella term that covers anything from hiring an acoustic consultant, designer, or sound engineer, or sound proofing installation.
It’s an awesome initiative, and as we creep closer to the July application window for this year, Beat decided to catch up with Music Victoria’s Operations and Program Manager, Nick Cooper, to discuss the program.
“The project originally came from a combination of interested industry players. For a long time Music Victoria has been advocating for everyone within the music industry, and as you can probably imagine, venues are one of the major players we deal with,” says Cooper. “We’re lucky having a really proactive state government, so it was all in cooperation with them, the venues, and a bunch of interested stakeholders. We want to grow the music scene and our audiences as much as we can. It’s a program specifically designed to help venues in Victoria keep their doors open through responsible sound management.”
It’s a project that has come about after a great deal of discussion, and the unfortunate loss of several iconic Melbourne venues, but it does offer a balanced solution. “The simplistic way to look at it is that people want to move to a suburb because of what it offers. In many areas, that includes artistic endeavours and specifically live music. It’s not a new issue, but it’s something that’s finally being recognised and dealt with responsibly by way of a really practical funding program,” says Cooper. “It’s been specifically designed to help give venues which might not have the time, resources or expertise to deal with sound management a leg up.”
It’s a program that many businesses have enquired to Music Victoria about. These have included traditional venues, such as bars, pubs, and even recording studios, as well as some that are a little more unorthodox.
“We’ve spoken to dozens and dozens of venues. At the moment we’re providing a lot of information, which is all on the Music Victoria and the Creative Victoria websites. It’s open to anyone who thinks they’re a live music venue, and even some who might not traditionally think so. For instance I visited my first church today,” says Cooper. “They have a really strong contemporary live music offering, so we’re trying to work out if they’re eligible. There’s some great diversity in the venues. As far as I’m concerned Melbourne is already one of the great music cities, but programs like this will help ensure it becomes thepremier city in the world for live music.”
BY SETH ROBINSON
