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From Traditional Owners To Today - Celebrating Victoria’s Music History

24 July 2017

Wurundjeri Elders, musicians and artists will create a soundtrack that will explore the Traditional Owner history and heritage of the land around the Abbotsford Convent thanks to the Andrews Labor Government’s Rockin’ the Laneways program.

Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley was at Abbotsford Convent today to announce the grant which will support the Wurundjeri Tribe Land and Compensation Heritage Council to partner with the Abbotsford Convent Foundation for the project that will explore the history of the convent precinct like never before.

Led by Wurundjeri Tribe Land Compensation and Cultural Heritage Council representative and Elder Aunty Diane Kerr, ARIA-award winning singer/songwriter Lou Bennett and Wurundjeri artist Mandy Nicholson, the Ngulu-Nganjin (Our Voice) project will create a ‘Sound Trail’ audio tour across the convent grounds.

The sound trail, which will be available on the Abbotsford Convent app to the more than one million people who visit the site each year, will be launched in early 2018 with a concert featuring the artists and acts that contribute to the project.

The grant is one of seven projects to be supported in the latest round of the Rockin’ the Laneways program which supports projects that celebrate Victoria’s music heritage. The round provides more than $130,000 to projects that will engage 75 musicians and artists and a further 22 music industry workers in the year ahead.

The round will also support a new podcast that tells the stories of iconic music venues; a project that will see Melbourne billboards celebrate Victorian women in music; a new Melbourne Music Bus Tour to explore iconic music sites, and projects to create art installations in Melbourne’s AC/DC Lane.

Support has also been provided for a concert event in Marysville that will pay tribute to the 60s and 70s, an era that saw acts such as Johnny O’Keefe perform in the region.

The Rockin’ the Laneways program is part of the Labor Government’s $22 million Music Works initiative which includes programs to strengthen the state’s contemporary music industry at all levels, from musicians and other industry professionals to record labels, venues and events.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley

“Victoria has been a place for music and song for tens of thousands of years. We are a state with a proud music history and a contemporary music culture that rivals anywhere else in the world.”

“The latest Rockin’ the Laneways projects will give people the chance to explore how our music industry developed - from the incredible contribution of our Traditional Owners to the artists, events and venues of today.”

“Victoria is the creative state and music is an important contributor to our $23 billion creative and cultural economy. Our investment is strengthening the music industry and our music culture at all levels.”

Reviewed 19 August 2020

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