Page 1154 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 30 May 2007
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relations with the local community. The key to harmony between musicians, live music venues, their patrons and neighbouring residents is to have a clear understanding. One of the potential casualties of the ongoing conflict between live music venues and neighbouring residents is Civic’s own Toast bar. Accused of excessive noise by residents in the neighbouring Waldorf Apartments, over the past few years Toast has had to defend its attempt to keep live music a part of Canberra’s culture.
The complaints surrounding noise levels like those of the Toast bar can be handled in two ways. The first approach to dealing with this conflict is the one taken by our Assembly colleagues in the Liberal Party—the blame game. Whichever group it seems most advantageous to blame is on their target list. The problem for our colleagues is that they cannot make up their minds as to who should be blamed and who is to be labelled the faultless victim. Unlike our colleagues in the Liberal Party, the government is about finding solutions that deal with the issue at hand and seeks forward vision should similar issues arise in the future.
Mr Mulcahy: So what is your solution?
MR GENTLEMAN: If you listen you will hear, Mr Mulcahy. There are other ways in which the ACT government has been successful in promoting live music outside our pubs and clubs while dealing with mixed area use and subsequent noise complaints. I am pleased to say that the government continues to support the live music sector through direct support for performance development and production.
A number of government facilities—such as the Belconnen Community Centre, Woden CIT, Tuggeranong Arts Centre and Woden Youth Centre—combine to provide important venues for youth music. Added to this, in 2007 the ACT Arts Fund provided assistance to a range of individuals and organisations to support the presentation, promotion and production of live music. These included a youth live music festival, Canberra Band Explosion, held in February; a diverse series of new jazz performances; the promotion of touring activities for live music performance; support for local contemporary musicians to produce high-quality recordings of their original work for distribution; and support for performance opportunities and skill development through support for the Australian National Eisteddfod.
The ACT Arts Fund also supported skills development in contemporary music by providing multiyear funding for Music for Everyone and funding for ArtSound FM. For example, in 2006 Music for Everyone provided classes in drum kit and electric guitar, and ArtSound FM continued to record, promote and broadcast live music events.
Furthermore, there are a number of ongoing government programs for free live music performances which contribute to the vitality and life of the city in outdoor venues. These initiatives include ParkLive, which showcased some of Canberra’s best bands at Glebe Park on Australia Day this year; Groovin’ in Garema, which provides regular live entertainment in the city; ’Round Town, which provides live music events in Canberra’s local parks; and, of course, the multicultural festival, which included live music performances from a variety of different cultures. Local community organisations also play an important role in advancing live music in the territory. The
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