The revolutionary conference that’s a must for Melbourne’s music industry
Subscribe
X

Get the latest from Beat

11.03.2020

The revolutionary conference that’s a must for Melbourne’s music industry

Photo: Mitch Noakes
Words by Christie Eliezer

Make sure to put Listen Listen in your calendar.

Listen Listen is returning for another instalment this month, offering new perspectives to identify new strengths for women in music, the LGBTQIA+ community and people of colour. 

“Over the last five years, there have been huge changes in the structure of exclusion in the Australian music industry, by not only Listen (the parent group of the conference) but a number of organisations and different individuals within the music community,” explains programmer Elspeth Scrine. 

“We’ve learned from them, and we’re really trying to cover critical issues that are presenting themselves in the music industry without trying to assume we’re going to tick every box.”

This year’s workshops will incorporate the wisdom and experience of those who’ve been in the industry for decades. Local and international keynote speakers will be paired up for In Conversation sessions, covering critical issues in Australian music and beyond.   

“The idea of putting together two people, whether they are both artists or whether they’re from different professional backgrounds, was one we had early on as a way  to set up the conference dynamic and pair people up from same community or, at times, different communities. What will come out of these conversations will be really powerful for the audience,” explains Scrine. 

Speakers from Girls Rock! and Neil Morris, aka DRMNGNOW, will be talking about intergenerational music practices, while broadcast identities Namila Benson and Lucreccia Quintanilla are set to speak on parenthood in music. 

Miss Blanks is set to talk about her new agency, Point Blank Group, while Papua New Guinea born producer and vocalist Ripley Kavara will introduce FAMILI, an electronic music collective of Pasifika and First Nations queer artists.   

Boonwurrung elder Carolyn Briggs will join Central Arrernte woman, social anthropologist and Indigenous studies lecturer Dr Suzi Hutchings to speak on music, youth, justice and the transmission of culture.

Philadelphia based producer DJ Haram is going to be chatting with Roj Amedi, a writer and senior campaigner at Colour Code; a national movement of First Nations and migrant communities campaigning for racial justice. 

There’ll also be talks on accessibility in music venues and events, vocal technology, music journalism, and bystander intervention. 

Listen Listen is held at Brunswick Mechanics Institute from Saturday March 28 to Sunday March 29. Grab your tickets and find out more here.