Welcome to the May edition of Backstage Pass

We’re pleased to provide you with this monthly update of our programs and services, news and other Support Act activities.

I would like to start by introducing you to two new members of the team. Angela Doolan joined us in April as Senior Social Worker and Helen Lear has joined us as Communications and Marketing Coordinator. 

Our sincere thanks as always to all our donors and sponsors for your support. Please don’t hesitate to be in touch if you have comments or questions.

Best wishes,

Clive Miller
CEO

CRISIS RELIEF – REACHING THOUSANDS IN NEED

$2 million has now been distributed to artists, artist managers, crew and music workers since the announcement of our new MusicKeeper and CrewKeeper cash grants in late March. 

These new grants have been made possible thanks to additional funding from the Australian Government through the Office for the Arts. They are designed to cushion the blow for those who remain largely unable to earn income due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions designed to protect public health.

We’ve been excited to see applications being submitted from all genres of music including classical, jazz, folk, heavy and music theatre, as well as electronic, rock, pop and hip hop. There has also been a noticeable increase in applications from crew, First Nations artists and music workers in WA, SA and the NT.

On 19 May we had the pleasure of hosting a meeting with the Hon Paul Fletcher MP, Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts and some of our service users (pictured above). The Minister was keen to hear first hand how the support provided by the Australian Government has impacted their lives; and what the ongoing challenges are in their different areas of the music industry. 

We know there are many more people who are still struggling financially or who are experiencing some other crisis that prevents them from working. Please encourage anyone in your networks who is in need to visit the Get Help page on our website.

MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT AND TRAINING

We’re very pleased to see the continued strong interest and engagement in our high impact mental health workshops and training programs including On My Mind, Mental Health First Aid Training and Workplace Wellness Check Ins. Over 800 individuals and 100 organisations have enrolled to take part in our workshops and training programs this month, with an additional 10,000 viewing them online.

This month, we also launched a new workshop series, Money Money Money, in partnership with accounting services company, White Sky. The series is designed to educate people in the music industry about how to improve their own mental wellbeing through good money management and better financial literacy.

The first instalment of Money Money Money – Financial Wellbeing 101 will be available to watch soon on demand via the Support Act website. Future events in the series will include a mixture of live and live-streamed sessions that will be available nationwide.

Our next free workshop in the On My Mind Series on Friday 11 June is titled Anxious & Over It?: Understanding and managing anxiety. Don’t miss out – more than 150 have registered already! Find out more and register here.

CREATING A CULTURALLY SAFE SPACE FOR FIRST NATIONS MUSIC WORKERS

Our First Nations Community Engagement & Social Worker, Cerisa Grant, has been very busy over recent months reaching out to First Nations artists, artist managers, crew and music workers through a series of First Nations Information Sessions, touching on mental health issues and the Support Act services available to those in need.

We are also working with Cerisa to ensure our workplace is a culturally safe place, starting with the development of our own Reconciliation Action Plan. We are excited to be starting this journey and know that the process will be a rich and rewarding experience for the whole team.

Find out more about First Nations support and resources here and for wellbeing support, please call our dedicated First Nations Support Line on 1800 959 500.

CREW FOCUS

Since introducing CrewKeeper in March, we have approved 220 cash grants for crew, valued at more than $500k. It’s a great result!

We are continuing to work with crew organisations and workers to encourage participation in our bespoke mental health and wellbeing training workshops. These include the new four-part-series entitled Plug In, held in late April and early May, which was developed in conjunction with Crew Care and facilitated by The Indigo Project.

The workshops focused on issues such as stress management, dealing with uncertainty and building resilience, self care and conflict resolution. A second series is planned for later in the year. 

We’ve also been thrilled to see the latest instalments of The Australian Road Crew Association’s (ARCA) hugely popular Desk Tape Series. This month featured two live recordings of singer Wendy Matthews (pictured) performing at the Mudgee RSL in 1991 and Bunnemah Estate in 1994, produced by sound engineer Jim Blackfoot. Check them out here.

SEXUAL HEALTH AND SAFETY

^{(Image courtesy of The Industry Observer)}

There has been a lot of discussion of late about sexual health and safety in the music industry and the urgent need to address the issue.

On 24 May, a group of people from the Australian music industry – including Support Act’s National Welfare Coordinator, Anne Jacobs, and First Nations Community Engagement & Social Worker, Cerisa Grant – came together for an initial conversation around how we start the process to drive cultural change, with an immediate focus on sexual harm, harassment and systemic discrimination in Australian music.

The gathering consisted of a range of industry experts with a mix of professional and lived experience and was facilitated by independent consultants.

A temporary working group of volunteers was formed to drive a wider consultation process. This will inform any further actions and underpin any future governance. Read the full statement here. For further updates from the temporary working group, sign up to this mailing list.

A reminder that the Support Act Wellbeing Helpline (#1800 959 500) offers a free, confidential 24/7 counselling service to anyone working in Australian music or the arts. 

The Helpline can provide counselling support in relation to harassment, abuse, bullying, career concerns, grief counselling and more, as well as referrals to specialist services where needed. 

DONOR UPDATE

A huge thank you to SoundBay for their ongoing monthly donations to Support Act!

Making a regular monthly donation is one of the most effective ways that you can show your support and help us to continue to provide the services our community so desperately needs in these trying times.

Please make a tax-deductible donation to Support Act here.