Contemporary music gets the wheels on for regional touring

Contemporary music artists shared in the Australia Council’s latest round of $2.3 million in regional touring grants delivered through Playing Australia and the Contemporary Music Touring Program.

The programs support the growth of a national arts sector accessible to audiences across Australia.

The grants will support tours spanning music, theatre and dance to more than 350 locations nationally, with 63% of performances taking place in regional and remote communities.

Among nine organisations receiving $2,176,449 through Playing Australia were Country Arts (WA) for The Sand Tracks 2019 remote Indigenous Contemporary Music tour.

A further $161,788 through the Contemporary Music Touring Program, were supporting:

Tasmania’s alt-country band Cotton Pony and alt-folk-country Alfanant to tour the east coast of Australia

Melbourne  hard rock band Dead City Ruins’ regional and metropolitan tour of Australia following their current European run

Promoter Sharni Honor for The Porch Sessions Tour featuring Melbourne acoustic folk duo Jack The Fox, and Melbourne singer-songwriters Harrison Storm and Alana Wilkinson

Jessie Lloyd’s moving Mission Songs Project tour, which reveals what daily was like for First Australians on Christian missions and state-run settlements through the discovery of rare secular songs that were sung after church

Mama Kin Spender’s The Sound Of Your Town regional tour of community hosted evenings in small halls with local choirs

Melbourne Ska Orchestra’s national tour

Graham Roger’s tour of country music to remote outback Queensland

Nicolas Rossiter, taking The Southeast Desert Metal Band from the remote community of Santa Teresa in Eastern Arnhem Land NT on a national tour behind their second album.

The Vampires’ tour to capital cities and regional locations to spread their brand of soulful jazz and Afro-reggae.