Resonate Magazine | Australian Music Centre

The Summers Night Project is a national mentoring project established to support and mentor emerging female and non-binary composers to create a new composition for performances in Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne, with the aim of increasing the gender diversity of composers in music programs Australia-wide.

In 2017, Anne Summers, author of the groundbreaking examination of women in Australia's history Damned Whores and God's Police, released 'The Women's Manifesto'. This was intended as a blueprint to create equality for women in Australia, articulating clear goals for change, one of which was the right to participate fully and equally in all areas of public life. Taking inspiration from the Manifesto, the Summers Night Project aims to provide support and mentoring for female and non-binary composers to create new works for performances in Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, and Melbourne.

Five female and non-binary composers, one of each residing in Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria, of any age, genre or background will be chosen to be part of this project, with the aim of increasing the pool of diverse composers in music programs Australia-wide. Indigenous composers are particularly encouraged to apply.

A mentorship team, selected from each state, and the new music ensembles, Decibel (WA), Soundstream (SA) and Clocked Out (QLD), will work with the five selected mentees towards creating a new work for their combined ensemble to workshop and perform. The mix of composers and new music performer mentors aims to facilitate a practical opportunity for mentees to create and render their work a reality. Each composer will have access to skype sessions (in person where possible) with each of the composer and performance mentors, in addition to ongoing email contact.

After initial consultations, planning, and development, workshops of the works will begin in Perth, and will then go on to be performed in concerts in Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. Where required, the mentees will travel to Perth for the workshop and premiere performance before returning home. Composer mentees will then be invited to be the featured artist at their home city concert.

The participants will be provided with an honorarium as well as travel, per diems and accommodation for the workshop period in Perth.

Closing dates

Callout for composers opened last week and closes at 9pm AEDT Monday 2 March 2020. Mentorship participants will be announced in the beginning of March.

Working drafts of commissioned works (duration 7-10 min) are to be submitted to performers no later than 8 June 2020. Instrumentation can be any combination of the following: piano, percussion, violin or viola, cello and stereo playback. Technical support will be provided - microphones for all instruments, Stereo PA, access to assistance with technical setup and Decibel Scoreplayer app for iPad where required.

Workshop and concert schedule

Workshop period with all mentors and mentees 9-17 July 2020

Thursday 9 July - Saturday 11 July in Perth
Concert 1 - Perth, Sunday 12 July
Concert 2 - Brisbane, Tuesday 14 July
Concert 3 - Melbourne, Wednesday 15 July
Concert 4 - Sydney, Thursday 16 July
Concert 5 - Adelaide, Friday 17 July

The Mentors: Cat Hope, Gabriella Smart, Damien Ricketson, Erik Griswold, Olivia Davies, Vanessa Tomlinson, Tristen Parr, Aaron Wyatt.

Applications

Mentees should apply via the Google form: https://forms.gle/4hn8Rbf1X6GfG6cH6

Please include the following:

• A written statement (no more than 2 A4 pages) outlining why they wish to undertake the mentorship and what they expect to gain from their involvement
• A one-page composer CV
• Links to two examples of extant work online: score and recording if possible

Submissions will be considered by the mentoring panel chaired by a staff member from Tura, using the following criteria:

• Quality of the application (thoughtful, clear articulation of ideas)
• Quality of previous work (original, creative, clear communication of musical ideas)
• Suitability of the proposal to the ensembles featured (instrumentation, aesthetic)
• Suitability of the mentee to the mentors

Whilst all mentors will discuss each application, mentors for each state will abstain from voting on their state mentee.

Decisions made by the mentoring panel will be final, and not subject to review. Submissions to be received no later than 9pm AEDT Monday 2nd March 2020.

Project Partners: Soundstream, APRA AMCOS, Australian Music Centre, Queensland Conservatorium - Griffith University, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Monash University, Decibel New Music Ensemble, Clocked Out, University of Adelaide, Chamber Music Adelaide.

Soundstream has been funded for this project by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

> See: composer callout on Tura New Music website