Montefiore: Lack of Action on Adelaide's Live Music Scene Revealed

Adelaide has a strong reputation for the quality of the musicians it has spawned, but it appears that when an administrative recipe seeks the blending of beat and bureaucracy, the resulting dish is not so hot. This realisation emerged as Sir Monty, formerly of services to Old Adelaide Money fame, finalised a brief to audit city progress relating to the careers of Old Adelaide Musicians (most of whom are actually very young). According to Premier Jay Weatherill, their vocation is worth pursuing, but he quali fied this in November 2013 by saying that one should “treat music as an industry as well as an art form”. He was commenting on progress by Town Hall, whose Lord Mayor, Stephen Yarwood, had kicked off  a 2012 plan to gee things up and create a live music action plan. Four years later and Town Hall’s report card features a borderline pass in terms of its three focus areas: showcase SA talent development; activate spaces/places; and support live music industry development. It only goes to show that allowing administrators to progress objectives involving the survival of some of the state’s talented (but economically vulnerable) popular musical practitioners is like putting automatons with flat batteries at the service counter. Fifty percent is a woeful outcome. Moreover, when one probes the specifics, the lack of action on some basic elements is damning. The original plan was to capitalise on the recommendations of international promoter Martin Elbourne, an Arts SA Thinker in Residence, his thorough scrutiny of Adelaide’s situation, and his June 2013 findings. He had probed Adelaide’s professional artistic development; music education and training, audience and industry development; growth in regional areas (especially Barossa); and late-night trading practices (that toxic mix of city liquor laws and declining performance opportunities in the pokie-infested beer barns). He made 49 recommendations, and these aligned with 23 proposed Town Hall actions to boost live music in the city and North Adelaide. In August 2014, Town Hall’s interim report looked optimistic; after all, time was looming to deliver on the magic 23. But by March 2016, things weren’t so rosy, despite $80,000 allocated to its 2015-16 budget (and another $75,000 for 2016-17) to make things happen. The audit – by Town Hall itself – reveals that bureaucrats simply haven’t delivered on some important (and, in some cases, very basic) matters. They included identifying and legalising two new ‘paste up’ locations in the city and North Adelaide to spread musicians’ promos; facilitating ‘temporary parking’ in loading zones to enable musicians to load and unload equipment; creating ‘plug and play’ opportunities across key council public places; exploring a sister city music program; establishing a public art project acknowledging SA musicians; building community connections ‘to feature SA musicians at community street or square events’; incorporating live music priority spaces and places into Town Hall sponsorship and grant evaluations; and ‘establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music program as part of the 2015 (yes: that’s 2015) Aboriginal Arts festival. Contrasting these failures, in March this year Town Hall bureaucrats talked up other proposals that, when scrutinised, appear to be priorities established under different circumstances and programs. It’s an old bureaucratic device to ‘think outside the square’ to fog an audit and its check-listing procedure. These include throwing $5000 at a new winter live music festival, ‘Umbrella: Winter City Sounds’ (July 15 to August 7) in partnership with Music SA and the (state-inspired) Guitar Festival, as well as claiming kudos for the (state government’s) Guitar Festival’s new program ‘Guitars in Bars and Other Places’. They also mentioned the One Night Only concert series at Adelaide Town Hall (superseding ‘The Balcony’ Fringe event which was the original concept), and made the claim that this “positioned Town Hall as the home of live music”. Next they pointed to a round of proposed meetings and workshops, pursuing Adelaide’s status as a UNESCO City of Music (live music for tourists; country exchange opportunities for artists and musicians; and testing marketing and promotions ideas). Much process, but few immediate, tangible outcomes. In a February 2016 cover letter by one Jay Weatherill to Lord Mayor Martin Haese, the Premier said: “I ask that you work towards fully realising the potential for live music to drive economic activity, vibrancy and tourism.” It would appear that the view from within State Cabinet is that most Adelaide musicians (those who aren’t employed by orchestras or city pipe bands or state-funded brass bands, or retain gig lobbyists, managers, lawyers or accountants) are altruistically and purely focussed on city growth fundamentals before bothering to feed themselves or find the rent money. But the reality is that they are focussed on basic survival against awful odds and, if not busking, they’re battling with ruthless agents controlling work places that in many cases simply do not want them there unless their presence sells oceans of liquor. They still require all the help they can get – and Town Hall’s performance has not yet lived up to 2012 aspirations. Perhaps the bureaucrats and politicians need to look more closely at the reality behind the roundtables, the workshops and the regular salaries they each take home at the end of the day, just as many struggling musicians come out to play. Adelaide City Council’s Live Action Music Plan can be read here.