Cheers  Joanne

Where are all these fantastic women going to play and how are they going to support their families while they do it? In many ways, this is a hopeful time for jazz in Australia. We have an explosion of great musicians, passionate jazz organisations in most capital cities, jazz festivals, new books and journals, excellent tertiary jazz courses, record labels, community and ABC radio programs, a national website, touring initiatives like Sound Travellers, internationally recognised artists, even a National Jazz Alliance researching and writing a National Jazz Plan.

Extract from

Sandy Evans: 10th Annual Peggy Glanville-Hicks Address
Celebrating humanity through the creative process
by Australian Music Centre  // 19.12.08

Extract from the Age, Jessica Nicholas – 5th November 2008

Extract from Peter Wockner, Jazz and beyond

John Shand, SMH, 17/10/08

Background – what is happening in your neck of the woods? What sort of venues are there? Is there good media coverage? What sort of audiences and how many are coming along? Is marketing working? What sort of marketing do you do – fliers, emails, adverts, online, blogging?

Artist fees – what are they? There seems to be a variety of payscales around the country.  Do you have to self present to perform your own music? What about recording fees?

Touring Circuits – Where do they exist? Are venues supportive? Do you receive fees or have box office splits?What would help touring?

Audiences – are there enough audiences to go around? how much are they willing to pay? where might we find new audiences?

Funding, revenue – making a living – can you survive on what you earn from music alone? What sort of fees are venues/promoters willing to pay? How do you make money?  What about other funding sources – philanthropy? sponsorship, grants? Are these viable, have you been successful or not?

Artist development – mentoring, networking, musical development, admin skills, do these areas need more support? what do you think are the essential things people in the industry need to know?

Agents/Promotors – should we have more of them? are the promoters out there doing a good job? Would this genre benefit for having higher profile ie DVD’s, promo clips etc

Media- is there enough media coverage? Does it help attendances? profiling? CD sales? what is the difference between mainstream media and niche avenues of publicity.

Education – should there be closer relationships with teaching establishments? Can artists offer education to others? Should education be continuous throughout your career?

Venues – are they supportive? what sort of performance opportunities are there? does having a dedicated venue help? should there be more integration across different kinds of venues and artforms? what about underground venues – how do these impact the scene?

Way forward – any ideas on how to improve any of the above, or new ideas on future possibilities that we haven’t really looked at yet?

If there are good reasons why things didn’t happen in the past, by all means raise this, but please address these as lessons to be learnt and indicate how we can turn these into positives.

I am happy to chat with anyone who has an opinion and really want to have some dialogue happening.

Even the name for this initiative is up for grabs, but lets not get bogged down with micro detail at this stage, lets focus on the big picture.

All the best and thanks Joanne – jkeeatnationaljazzalliance.com.au

Background – what is happening in your neck of the woods? What sort of venues are there? Is there good media coverage? What sort of audiences and how many are coming along? Is marketing working? What sort of marketing do you do – fliers, emails, adverts, online, blogging?

Artist fees – what are they? There seems to be a variety of payscales around the country.  Do you have to self present? What about recording fees?

Touring Circuits – Where do they exist? Are venues supportive? Do you receive fees or have box office splits?

Audiences – are there enough audiences to go around? how much are they willing to pay? where might we find new audiences?

Funding, revenue – making a living – can you survive on what you earn from music alone? What sort of fees are venues/promoters willing to pay? How do you make money?  What about other funding sources – philanthropy? sponsorship, grants? Are these viable, have you been successful or not?

Artist development – mentoring, networking, musical development, admin skills, do these areas need more support? what do you think are the essential things people in the industry need to know?

Agents/Promotors – should we have more of them? are the promoters out there doing a good job? Would this genre benefit for having higher profile ie DVD’s, promo clips etc

Media- is there enough media coverage? Does it help attendances? profiling? CD sales? what is the difference between mainstream media and niche avenues of publicity.

Education – should there be closer relationships with teaching establishments? Can artists offer education to others? Should education be continuous throughout your career?

Venues – are they supportive? what sort of performance opportunities are there? does having a dedicated venue help? should there be more integration across different kinds of venues and artforms? what about underground venues – how do these impact the scene?

Way forward – any ideas on how to improve any of the above, or new ideas on future possibilities that we haven’t really looked at yet?

If there are good reasons why things didn’t happen in the past, by all means raise this, but please address these as lessons to be learnt and indicate how we can turn these lessons into positives.

I am happy to chat with anyone who has an opinion and really want to have some dialogue happening.

Even the name for this initiative is up for grabs, but lets not get bogged down with micro detail at this stage, lets focus on the big picture.

All the best and thanks Joanne – jkeeatnationaljazzalliance.com.au

Response and review of the book The Permanent Underground offers another perspective on the State of jazz in this country.

Extract from Peter Rechniewski
The Permanent Underground: Australian Contemporary Jazz in the New Millennium

Platform Papers 16: April 2008, Currency House Inc

Currency House Platform Papers

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A Modest Plan