The JB Seed is all over for the fourth year running and this year it was bigger than ever before.
This year the Seed has expanded to include partnerships with the Falls Festival and Southbound festival, with one act (who’s manager is attending the workshop) being chosen to play at both festivals.Last year the Seed included the indigenous hip hop category, which spawned the artist ‘Impossible Odds’, who went on to receive rave reviews and found plenty of airplay on JJJ.
John Butler said in a statement, “every year I am truly amazed and inspired by the depth and diversity of art submitted to The JB Seed fund. This year’s successful applicants are no exception.
“We are very honoured to fund a record number of many great artistic endeavours this year, including recording Indigenous hip hop artists, assisting committed musicians seeking extra tuition from masters in their chosen field, activists applying their creativity to better inform and inspire their communities and the highly successful Management Workshops held for the third consecutive year in the Blue Mountains. Once again all of us at The JB Seed would like to thank all our contributors who help us help others. You are all LEGENDS.”
Stay tuned next year for even more exciting opportunities from this fantastic program, made possible by (I’ll mention these guys before the winners, because without these guys, the winners wouldn’t have this cash!):
Financial Contributors:
Bill Cullen
Correne Wilkie
John Butler
John Watson
Maureen Ritchie
Missy Higgins
Paul Gilding and Michelle Grosvenor
Paul Kelly
Philip Stevens and Anna Chiovitti, Philip Stevens Management
Sebastian Chase and Kylie Greenlees, MGM Distribution
The Waifs - Donna Simpson, Vikki Thorne, Josh Cunningham
Universal Music Australia
Service Contributors:
Andrew Mast
Ant McKenna
Brett Oaten
Brooke Olsen
Carlo Santone
Clare Bowditch
Correne Wilkie
Danielle Caruana
John Butler
John Watson
Kathy McCabe
Lynne Small
Mark Lackey
Natalie Harker
Nathan McLay
Paul Kelly
Paula Jones
Phil Stevens
Richard Kingsmill
Russell Thomas
Sally Howland
Sebastian Chase
Simon Moor
Stacia Goninon
Stuart Watters
Tony Buchen
Slava Ha
Tony Mott
Triple j
The winners of the JB Seed grants this year are:
INDIGENOUS RECORDING COMPETITION - TOTAL FUNDING $25,000
Indigenous Intrudaz to record 5 track EP
Damian Bani and Douglas Patrick are the Indigenous Intrudaz, a socially conscious Hip Hop act from Inala, Queensland. They will travel to Sydney to record a five-track EP with Tony Buchen in his studio. The grant will cover all costs, including Tony’s fee, travel, accommodation, mixing, mastering and other studio costs, and the production of 1,000 copies of the completed EP.
SOCIAL ACTIVISM THROUGH THE ARTS - TOTAL FUNDING $35,911.50
Maningrida Project/Black on White (Grant amount $3,000) North Sydney, NSW
Belinda Mason and Mervyn Bishop will travel to Maningrida, Northern Territory to conduct photography workshops with five Indigenous participants nominated by the Maningrida Jobs Education and Training Aboriginal Corporation. The goal of the workshops is to develop attendees’ photographic skills and to empower them to produce an exhibition of images documenting their own culture.
Performers for Peace (Grant amount $1,800) West End, QLD.
Delene Cuddihy will organise a series of Street Theatre workshops to be run by Anna Yen called ‘Performers for Peace’. Participants will be drawn from the female memberships of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, other peace and conservation organisations, student bodies and the general Brisbane community. The workshops will culminate in performances, as tools for community education and political protest, in Brisbane and Rockhampton.
Express your Reality (Grant amount $5,000) Northcote, VIC
Dustin Barter will produce at least three issues of a multimedia zine entitled ‘Express Your Reality’ which is envisaged as a tool for creating intercultural dialogue between viewers and contributors on social issues. The zine will invite visual and written contributions from artists, photographers, illustrators, poets and creative writers. The artworks will then be exhibited in Melbourne and Sydney and the completed publications will be distributed through zine networks, schools, train stations, community centres, bars, cafes and online.
Step-Up (Night Caf??) (Grant amount $4,961.50) Milton, QLD
Katie Gregg will engage with marginalised young people who frequent the Red Cross Night Cafe in the Brisbane CBD to record a hip hop album. Through the project, entitled ‘Step-Up (Night Cafe)’, Katie seeks to raise awareness and knowledge of mental health issues and to reduce the stigma attached to seeking help; in this way she hopes to promote positive mental health via hip hop expression.
ROXSTOP: Community Education & Action Kit (Grant amount $4,150) Mullumbimby, NSW
Treena Lenthall will produce a community education and action resource kit that can be used to lobby politicians and union representatives, and raise public awareness about the proposed expansion to the Olympic Dam uranium mine near Roxby Downs. The resource kits will contain a number of informative documents including the short film ‘All That Glitters Is Not Gold’ and practical tips on how and who to lobby.
Sonic Elevation (Grant amount $3,000) Footscray, VIC
Carolyn Parry will facilitate a creative dance workshop entitled “Sonic Elevation” with seven Indigenous youth from far north Queensland. The workshop/ exchange programme will see Carolyn Parry, Lamaroc and another acrobatic instructor foster the participants’ talents and work towards a final public performance at ‘The Crom’.
Lullabies Our Mothers Sang (Grant amount $2,000) Kensington, VIC
‘Lullabies Our Mothers Sang’ is a project developed in response to a community request to explore the theme of parenthood from the perspectives of being someone’s child and a mother. Paola Bilbrough, in collaboration with other artists, will craft a documentary film surrounding the stories of thirteen women from the Horn of Africa about how their past rituals and relationships with their parents contribute to their lives now. The film will be screened at Melbourne’s Big West Arts Festival and the Sun Theatre, Yarraville and will be submitted to independent television networks, the Melbourne Fringe and other festivals.
Art of difference (Grant amount $5,000) Albert Park, VIC
Cusader Hillis will stage the ‘Art of Difference’, a major Arts Symposium at Gasworks Arts Park, Albert Park, Victoria. The programme of forums and interactive workshops will provide a platform for people from disability communities to meet, exchange ideas, debate, experience and discuss arts with the Symposium’s creators. There will be opportunities to discuss key issues facing disability arts practice and meet potential collaborators.
Fatherhood Festival Taree (Grant amount $5,000) Bobin, NSW
Peter Glencross, on behalf of Manning Uniting Church Building Community Lines, will coordinate the Fatherhood Festival Taree, a week of activities to be targeted especially at disadvantaged families in the greater Taree City Council area. The project seeks to improve family wellbeing by focussing on fathers and celebrating their important roles both in the family and the community and will culminate in a Fathers’ Day event to entertain, motivate and provide services and education to enhance parenting skills.
Political Street Theatre (Grant amount $2,000) Prospect, SA
Edwin Kemp Attrill is an emerging actor and director who will develop an original series of four street theatre performances entitled ‘Hit hard, and get out fast’ with the focus on creating debate and awareness within the community on human rights abuse, the degradation of the environment and the anti-nuclear cause. The pieces will raise maximum political awareness through the use of bold colours, high energy live music and circus skills, and will be performed in the Adelaide CBD, at political rallies, marches and protests and other arts events.
PROFESSIONAL AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT - TOTAL FUNDING $20,919
Harry Jakamarra Gray (Grant amount $2,225) Cable Beach, WA.
Harry has a passion for old time, country and blues music and has played support to such acts as The Waifs and Eskimo Joe. He will travel to Varanasi, India to further his knowledge as a professional Mohan Veena player under the tutelage of Deobrat Mishra at the Benares Academy of Music.
Chris Williams (Grant amount $2,482) Camperdown, NSW.
Chris will travel to Devon, England to complete an Advanced Composition course with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies at the Dartington International Summer School. He hopes to focus on elements of specific instrumentation, and musical organisation of material and structure in composition; to refine his individual artistic voice; and to gain an insight into the demands of professional classical composition.
Roy Ramirez (Grant amount $1,535) Isabella Plains, ACT.
Roy conducts a community Rondalla string band called The Rondanihan Ensemble which provides free performances and tuition to interested instrumentalists. He will travel to Melbourne to participate in the Symphony Services Australia ‘The Beat Starts Here’ Conductor Development Course under director Brett Kelly in order to enhance and further develop his conducting skills.
Leah Barclay (Grant amount $2,949) Cooroy, QLD.
Leah will travel to Mumbai and Aranmula, India to undertake innovative composition, Mridangam and Carnatic singing lessons with Rajesh Mehta, Subhash Kumar and Santhosh Edathu, respectively. In the process she hopes to explore and develop new skills in Carnatic composition, intercultural collaboration, notational methods, improvisation and performance. Leah is a versatile and dynamic composer, new media artist and educator.
Bryce Jacobs (Grant amount $3,000) Carlton, NSW.
Bryce is a writer and performer heavily influenced by music from film. He will travel to Los Angeles, USA to participate in a residential mentorship programme with Christopher Young at Tilden House to develop his compositional, orchestration and performance skills and forge his career in film making.
Fenella Edwards (Grant amount $1,200) O’Connor, ACT.
Fenella will undertake lessons with Ross Garrett aka D’Opus at the Mercury Switch Lab in Canberra. She will develop sampling, scratching and sequencing skills as well as general proficiency in production, vocal recording and layering with the intention of completing three original tracks. Fenella’s love of poetry led her to start rapping and she has released two tracks on different compilations in recent years.
Zoe Miller (Grant amount$2,948) Marrickville, NSW.
Zoe is a spoken word artist who performs at events around Australia and uses hip hop to empower disadvantaged young people. She will complete Digital Audio, Abelton Live, and Protools classes at the University of Technology, Sydney to advance her production skills in digital recording and editing, and in sound design and composition.
Rogerthat (Grant amount $2,780) Bonogin, QLD.
Jesse Bailey, Jimmy Young, Lachlan Leckie and Dan Briffa, of reggae-rock band Rogerthat, will travel to Dee Why, NSW to undertake lessons with Matthew McHugh from The Beautiful Girls. The aims are to become more proficient in their chosen instruments, to cultivate their composition and song writing skills, and enhance their development of melodic and harmonic structures.
Dale Rickert (Grant amount $500) Wilston, QLD
Dale will undertake private cello tuition at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary.
Ria Soemardjo (Grant amount $1,300) Thornbury, VIC.
Ria will expand her skills in the Taketina Rhythm Process under the tutelage of Tania Bosak, whilst furthering her knowledge of structures for solo improvisation and song writing and gaining proficiency to teach traditional music, rhythm and improvisation. Ria has released a solo album ‘Sift’ and performs in a trio, Fine Blue Thread.
THE JACQUI McCOY (GEIA) TRUST - TOTAL FUNDING $9,000
Indigenous First Discovery Books (Grant amount $3,000) Warnambool, VIC.
Sarah Prescott will coordinate the publication and distribution of culturally specific Indigenous children’s literature for the 0-5 age bracket. ‘Indigenous First Discovery Books’ aspire to record local Indigenous stories and symbols, and educate all Australians about Indigenous culture. In this way Indigenous authors and artists will be empowered and sustainable sources of income established.
There Goes the Neighbourhood (Grant amount $4,000) Newtown, NSW
Keg de Souza will produce a one-off, 24-page full colour art magazine comprising socially active artworks which focus on the processes of gentrification in Redfern, NSW. ‘There goes the Neighbourhood’ will be developed during a collaborative residency at the Redfern Community Centre in conjunction with an exhibition, workshops and film screening programme.
Recording at CYI in Sydney (Grant amount $2,000) Erskinville, NSW
Ian Wilson, an Indigenous emerging artist, will record five original tracks at “Sounds of the Street” Studios in Sydney. In the process he will expand his knowledge of professional studios and the recording process, and ultimately be able to self-market his EP.
MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP INITIATIVE - TOTAL FUNDING $35,000
The management workshop aims to address the lack of practical strategies when managing a band or performer in the early phase of their career. This workshop brings together a group of significant professionals in the music industry, including Philip Stevens, Correne Wilkie, John Watson, Brett Oaten, Simon Moor, Sebastian Chase, Sally Howland, Paula Jones, Russell Thomas to name just a few!
All of these representatives from the music industry will share their knowledge and offer strategic advice on ways to enhance performers’ opportunities in the music industry. The Management Workshop will be delivered as a three day intensive, including customised personal advice.
