The grants, an inaugural collaboration between the recording company’s licensing body PPCA and the Government’s funding body the Australia Council, offer $15,000 each. There were five grants in total, with the others the Sydney-based The Grigoryan Brothers and Brisbane’s Ben Salter.
These were announced this morning by Minister for the Arts, Senator George Brandis QC. “Millions of Australians enjoy listening to music created by local artists and are proud of the international success of our musicians,” Brandis said. “The five grants awarded today will help Australian musicians to create and record music that will add to the depth and strength of Australia’s diverse music culture.”
Barnett will record her debut album with her band (Dave Mudie, Andrew ‘Bones’ Sloane) and co-producers Dan Luscombe and Burke Reid. Ferguson gets to make a Lanu album featuring collaborators including Megan Washington, steel guitarist Bill Savesi and the Melbourne Samoan Choir. Ainslie Wills is to record her second album Oh The Gold.
Both PPCA CEO Dan Rosen and Australian Council CEO Tony Grybowski remarked on the quality of the applications.
