St Kilda Festival Hosts Live Music Forum Following Troubled Year

Kick-starting last Saturday (2nd Feb), the week-long St Kilda Festival is currently in the middle of its festivities, and in-between the series of free live events showcasing Melbourne’s homegrown talent leading up to the Festival Sunday, tonight sees a music industry forum taking place to discuss the future of live music in the area.

Simply titled ‘The Future of Music in Port Phillip’, the free forum will be moderated by Music Victoria’s CEO Patrick Donovan, featuring a panel that includes Jack Howard (of Hunters & Collectors fame), and music historian Dr Andrea Jean Baker – a senior lecturer at Monash University for the School of Journalism, Australian and Indigenous Studies (JAIS).

Council members of the City of Port Phillip will also be present, including Deputy Mayor Serge Thomann and Deidre Pellizzer, Manager, Culture & Leisure, to discuss the issues that have plagued the St Kilda and its surrounding suburbs in the last 12 months.

A year fraught by local councils’ heavy-handed tactics against local record store Pure Pop Records over noise complaints in the area, bizarre noise enforcements on Acland Street, and, of course, the controversy surrounding the near-cancellation of St Kilda Festival 2013 after difficulties in funding the approx. $1.2 million cost of running the Festival Sunday.

The free forum is part of the Port Phillip Council’s Live Music Working Group initiative, a series of roundtable discussions set up by former City of Port Phillip Mayor Rachel Powning last August, a complete u-turn after what seemed like a witch-hunt against live music in the area.

Current City of Port Phillip Mayor Amanda Stevens is looking to continue the council’s amended view to live music, to better take in considerations and communication between residents, council, and the area’s burgeoning live music scene.
Members will discuss some of the issues raised, and solutions suggested, to ensure St Kilda can maintain a vibrant live music scene.

The St Kilda Festival listing for ‘The Future of Music In Port Phillip’ forum lists that “members will discuss some of the issues raised, and solutions suggested, to ensure St Kilda can maintain a vibrant live music scene. They will also discuss opportunities for artists, managers and promoters to obtain council grants and publicise their events.”

“They will also discuss – and take suggestions from the audience – about how the council can best celebrate its musical heritage through ideas such as a Walk of Fame, laneways named after respected musicians and concerts celebrating Port Phillip artists,” the press reads, while also allowing musicians to gain “insight into how to get grands and gigs and promote them in the City of Port Phillip.”

In related news, the St Kilda Festival’s music lineup for Sunday (Feb 10th) will feature performances from the likes of Bluejuice, Pez, Ash Grunwald, Loon Lake, Thelma Plum, Hiatus Kaiyote, Eagle & The Worm, and a closing DJ set from Midnight Juggernauts. The full lineup boasts more than 150 artists playing across several stages and more than 40 venues across the Melbourne beachside suburb.

But there are concerns from organisers that the 2013 edition of St. Kilda Festival could be the event’s last if a long-term financial sponsor isn’t found to shoulder the festivals’ $1.2 million production costs. Festival producer Adele Denison saying that “the festival will be reviewed [and] the future is anybody’s guess at this stage.” Adding that, “the money conversation is always really tough. [It has] always been a really vexed issue and will continue to be.”

The Future of Music in Port Phillip Forum

Wednesday 06 2013, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM

St Kilda RSL (88 Acland Street)

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