The program will see close to 700 busking performances along with pop-up shows by well-known musicians hitting the city streets, including much-loved artists Uncle Kutcha Edwards, Kaiit, Gordi and Emma Donovan.
The City of Melbourne, together with the Victorian Government, is showcasing the city’s musical diversity with more than 700 street performances over the course of February and March.
As part of the Melbourne leg of the Labor Government’s On The Road Again, an initiative aimed at helping artists, music venues and promoters bounce back from lockdown, the busking program kicked off today with more than 40 musicians performing live music across the city.
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
Running across the next four weeks, the program will see hundreds of busking performances from a variety of emerging and established Victorian musicians of all styles, genres and sounds who will entertain and delight the passing crowds, helping enhance the creative atmosphere in the city.
Artists will perform a two-hour set between either 11:30am and 2:30pm or 3:30pm and 6:30pm at numerous locations around the city. You’ll be able to find buskers at the likes of the State Library Steps, Degraves Street, Lygon Street, Collins Place, Flinders Street Station and the Princes Bridge, alongside a slew of street corners across the city.
All buskers are being paid out of program funding, with the aim of not only attracting visitors back to the city but supporting local talent across Melbourne to return to playing live.
The program also includes an exciting line-up of artists performing surprise live pop-up gigs across the city, including much-loved artists Uncle Kutcha Edwards, Adrian Eagle, Fergus James, Hayley Mary, Gordi, and Emma Donovan, as well as neo-soul singer Kaitt who will perform a live music pop-up gig on Evan Walker Bridge in Southbank at 4.30pm on Friday, February 18. Performance details for these gigs will be revealed the day prior via What’s On Melbourne’s Instagram.
Celebrating Victoria and Melbourne’s reputation as the live music capital of Australia, this brand-new busking program invests in local talent and ensures that the Victorian music industry reactivates and recovers as strong as ever, as live music comes back to local spaces, stages and festivals.
“Through On The Road Again we’re filling Melbourne’s city streets with music from some of Victoria’s most captivating talent, providing even more reasons to rediscover our nation’s cultural capital,” says Minister for Creative Industries Danny Pearson.
“These paid gigs partnered with vital support for venues and the latest Music Works grants are ensuring Victoria’s celebrated live music industry can continue to reactivate and thrive.”
This is merely the start of the $9 million On The Road Again initiative, which will spread its wings further to Melbourne’s suburbs later this year, with more events to be rolled out across metropolitan Melbourne and shows already happening across regional Victoria.
You can see weekly schedules and artist listings for the Busking program via the VDMO website.
The first busking program schedule can be viewed here.
