Resonate Magazine | Australian Music Centre

ABC Classic and ABC Jazz have launched a $90,000 fund to support the creation of new music works from emerging and diverse Australian voices. Applications are now open, closing on Friday 21 May 2021.

The composer commissioning fund will develop creative talent from under-represented groups by prioritising opportunities for women, Indigenous Australians, culturally and linguistically diverse artists, gender diverse artists, LGBTQI+ artists and differently abled artists.

ABC Classic and ABC Jazz will commission 15 new works, or collections of works, to be recorded for broadcast and digital commercial release.

Last year's Fresh Start Fund saw ABC Classic and ABC Jazz bring 25 new Australian works to audiences, in a series of commissions that helped safeguard local creativity and content against the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the ABC Jazz Fresh Start Fund recipients was Angela Davis, who said the award was a 'dream come true'.

'During a time where all of my gigs were cancelled for the foreseeable future, this support gave me the motivation I needed to keep writing and working on my craft with the knowledge that I had a recording date in the future. And what a time to write! I feel extremely lucky to have the support of the ABC - it has absolutely changed the trajectory of my career in what was a difficult time to be an artist.'

Applications for the new $90,000 ABC Classic and ABC Jazz commissioning fund close on 21 May, with recordings of the selected works scheduled to occur in late 2021 and the first half of 2022. Each successful commission receives a total fee of up to $6,000 to cover writing a new work and recording musicians, plus a studio session at the ABC, airplay for the completed recording on ABC Classic or ABC Jazz and commercial digital release of the work via ABC Music.

> To apply or for more information, go to the ABC Classic & ABC Jazz Composer Commissioning Fund site.