Live and Local Tweed

The Live and Local Tweed pilot program aims to support the local music industry to thrive by providing more performance spaces, professional development and clear, supportive local rules.

The Live and Local program consists of:

1. a series of professional development workshops
2. a free micro-festival with small scale music gigs in local venues
3. an industry forum to share knowledge and consider how support for the local live music scene may be included in Council plans, strategies or policies.

The program will help create more paid work for musicians in the Tweed, particularly young and emerging artists. It will also support local business and provide places to enjoy music.

This approach to presenting live music reflects best practice in the industry because it will provide clear career pathways for new and emerging musicians and industry professionals and help the venue-based sector to grow by implementing better local regulation and policy.

Tweed Music Industry Forum

The Tweed Music Industry Forum focused creating a vision for “what a thriving live music scene in Tweed can look like.”

The forum, facilitated by the Live Music Office, included presentations on the Live and Local program, an overview of the regulatory framework for live music and cultural activity in NSW, and a series of facilitated discussions on the Tweed music scene – and live music performances.

The Forum was held on Friday 19 August at the Murwillumbah Auditorium.

Who is the forum designed for ?

• Musicians

• Venue owners

• Artist Managers and booking agents

• Festival and Event organisers

• Music educators

• Businesses and community members interested in Tweed’s live music scene.

Micro festival in Murwillumbah

In May 2022 the Live and Local Tweed micro-festival took place in Murwillumbah. The free micro festival was held over 3 consecutive Saturdays – 7, 14 and 21 May – with local artists playing at selected venues in Murwillumbah.

Four local venues hosted gigs each Saturday. The gigs were small in scale and low key to fit in with venue ambience. Artists were paid for their performances and there was no cost to the venues.

Participating venues:

• Sunnyside Shopping Centre
• Keith Murwillumbah
• Tweed Regional Museum
• Tweed River House
• Wollumbin Dreaming
• Pulp Fiction bookshop
• Johnny Franco’s

Participating musicians:

• Jade Stoddart
• Blakboi
• Phil & Tilley
• Jamie Ashforth
• Melissa Black
• Murray Kyle
• The Loveys
• The Snack
• Jerome Williams
• One of us is lying
• James Bondage & the Safewords
• David Fennell

Workshops provide assistance and understanding in the music industry

The Live and Local Tweed program held 2 free virtual workshops designed to help musicians gain greater exposure and a better understanding of the music industry.

Building Your Brand and Pitching To Press

The first free online workshop on Wednesday 11 May 2022 offered advice on Building Your Brand and Pitching to Press.

Having a professional pitch is a minimum expectation for musicians seeking to make a career in the industry.

The workshop provided:

• guidance from experts to educate musicians on industry standards and tips.
• a keynote presentation from Beehive Public Relations

a panel discussion including Katy Williams (Revolutions Management), Daniel Seymour, Liz Browne and Sosefina Fuamoli (Beehive PR) and facilitated by Phoebe Rose (Arts Northern Rivers.)

View the workshop.

The Business of Music

The second free online workshop focused on The Business of Music and was held on Wednesday 18 May 2022.

Artists realise that in addition to creating music, they are running their own businesses or partnering with others to make a career.

This workshop covered:

• a range of income streams that musicians can consider when planning a career in the industry.
• a keynote presentation from Vyvienne Abla (Vyva Entertainment).

a panel discussion with Vyv Abla, Bobby Alu and Ollie Twohill, facilitated by local producer and artist Matt Aitchison.

View the workshop.

How is the community involved?

Twenty seven community members nominated to join the Live and Local Tweed working group. The selection panel reviewed the nominees and settled on 8 representatives from all aspects of the music industry to form the working group.

The working group is now planning on a number of development workshops and also the format of a micro festival which will be held in Murwillumbah in 2022.

Read the the Terms of Reference to learn more.

The Live and Local Tweed program is presented by Tweed Shire Council in partnership with the Live Music Office and APRA AMCOS.

How businesses are involved?

Tweed Shire Council has partnered with the Live Music Office, Music NSW, and Griffith University to deliver a project to support the local live music scene.

The project includes a "micro-festival" in Murwillumbah on three Saturdays in May (7, 14 and 21) with performance times between 10 am and 2 pm.

The micro-festivals are small-scale and free for the public. It involves placing local musicians (mostly solos and duos, performing “unplugged” with no amplification) in existing businesses.

There are no costs involved for businesses to participate and they can operate as normal during the micro festival.

Council’s micro-festival curator will work with the business to select a musician that suits the premises, and identify a space they can perform.

Background on Live and Local 2018

In 2018, Tweed Shire Council partnered with Create NSW and the Live Music Office to deliver 2 micro-festivals (Kingscliff and Murwillumbah).

This was one of Council's first significant steps to engaging with the local live music scene. In total 57 musicians, comprising 31 bands, provided approximately 40 hours of free live music to the community.

The festivals also provided an opportunity for Council to acquire new knowledge and build relationships with the music industry. This included developing a database of musicians, a positive experience of working together with local venues/ businesses and building relationships with peak bodies and other local governments.

There were a number of additional benefits that came out of the project including:

• a desktop audit of live music gigs across the shire in the month of March (2018)
• initiated discussions regarding planning instruments to support arts and cultural activities
• making a submission to the NSW Parliamentary inquiry into the music and arts economy
• developing a program of free live music at Rowan Robinson Park in Kingscliff (Saturday Sessions).

The 2018 Live and Local project was a grant from Create NSW. Building on the success of the project the Live Music Office recently approach Tweed about partnering again.