Touring regionally can be a hugely rewarding experience, though as many band know all too well the logistics of embarking on regional tours is always a rather taxing endeavour. From the simple cost of making across this huge land to the gamble of not knowing whether there’s a viable fan base in the locations you’re visiting (as Bluejuice showed us late last year).
Same thing can be said for playing underage/ all ages shows. From the chances that many underage live music fans are located in country towns to the fact that often live music venues make more money (and are therefore more inclined to sell) alcohol at shows – underage gigs like regional tours never happen as much as they should.
The Set List is a brand new initiative that is embarking on the mission to remedy some of these issues. A brand new initiative that gets up-and-coming bands touring around regional Australia.
Created by Arts On Tour, The Set List is designed to help reach new audiences for some of the country’s hottest new acts by making regional touring financially possible while giving young people in regional areas the chance to get involved with putting on a professional music show. Aimed at 16-22 year olds, this initiative offers a range of opportunities for local youth to get involved with the project including poster design competitions, music journalism, the chance to be part of the tech crew, a support band spot and various mentoring opportunities.
For their inaugural tour The Set List will be launching with a pretty killer line up including I Know Leopard, Coin Banks and Montaigne. We caught up with the General Manager of Arts on Tour, Heather Dransfield to learn a little bit more about the project.
The Birth Of The Set List
“There were many sparks of inspiration amongst our team here at Arts on Tour that led to developing The Set List.
The main driver though was that for all of us, going to gigs was very much part of our youth and we wanted to be part of providing that experience for young people living in regional Australia.
Also, we were seeing great bands busking around Sydney and wondering what opportunities were available to them to get out touring and we realised we might be able to provide one of those opportunities.”
The History Of Arts On Tour
“Arts on Tour is a national tour coordinator. Our background is definitely not contemporary music! On average we tour around 400 performances to 120 different towns across Australia each year. And these are usually theatre, dance, circus and children’s theatre performances.
So it’s been a huge adventure for us learning more about the music world. We exist to identify and create opportunities that benefit artists and regional performing arts centres and their audiences. So its been great to see that our expertise in connecting venues and artists and building projects has also been applicable to contemporary music.”
History Of Arts On Tour
“We approached booking agents to submit their most appropriate artists for consideration. We then had an industry panel that selected the final three to appear on The Set List.
[include_post id=”442375″] For us, it was really important that we were working with artists that understood this was an arts project and slightly different to a usual tour. We were after collaborators and we definitely found that with Coin Banks, I Know Leopard and Montaigne and their respective teams.
The final selection process was made by the youth programming panels in each location that considered all three bands and then chose the one they wanted to play on their stage.”
Location Choice
“The locations that we are taking The Set List to all opted in to be part of it. We had a focus on regional and remote venues as they are often the hardest to get to and consequently miss out on the touring routes of artists that are heading regional.”
The Main Struggles Of Touring Regionally
“It’s super expensive!! And the country is vast which means logistically it can be challenging. Also the risk of not knowing the market or how much of a fan-base exists in a regional location I imagine also makes it a difficult venture to contemplate.
We are only able to do this project with the generous support of the Australia Council for the Arts. The Council is really committed to providing access to great art to audiences living right across Australia and to supporting artists of all genres and at all stages in their careers.
The Council is integral to the lives of all artists in this country and it’s taken a bit of a hit in recent federal budget announcements. I’d encourage your readers to find out more about this because without the Oz Co’s support projects like The Set List wouldn’t be possible.”
What The Regional Venues Are Like
“The venues we are going to are all professionally run performing arts centres. They are beautiful, fully equipped theatres that the venue’s team will be turning into live music venues for the night.
So some of the shows will be taking place on a grand old proscenium arch stage, others will be in pop up music venues in, for example, a studio space, there will also be a couple of outdoor stages played too.”
Why It’s Important For Acts To Tour Regionally
“I think it’s important that we tour performing arts in general to regional areas and contemporary music is part of that mix. Live art experiences shape communities and create communities and live music in particular does that very well.
It’s important to me that young people in regional Australia get to enjoy the same music experiences available to their major city counterparts each weekend. The music itself is obviously a big part of that experience but so is the sense of belonging and social cohesion that the event as a whole provides.
Regional audiences deserve access to the best performing arts – including the hottest new bands, they deserve to share those awesome, sweaty nights dancing with friends seeing new bands play for the first time and creating those memories that form bookmarks in their youth.”
Getting The Youth Involved
“One the drivers for this project was to empower young people and show them all the ways they can get involved with creative endeavours. You don’t have to have a performing talent to lead a really fulfilling life in the arts.
[include_post id=”433680″] So we’ve provided opportunities that open a few windows into the music world. The youth programming panels have booked the bands, young budding music writers have interviewed the artists, aspiring graphic designers have created posters, local bands will be the supports and trainee technicians will be instrumental on the night. There is so much young, creative talent out there and its been awesome to help highlight that.
So far, everyone has been really supportive of the project. I’d say the music sector has been really positive about the opportunities it provides for artists. It represents a new way of working for us and our partner venues and its been great to see the level of commitment everyone has made to delivering all of the engagement activities. Seeing young people stick their hand up and have a go at designing the poster or being the music writer or wanting to play the support slot has been inspiring.”
Plans For The Future
“We will definitely look into doing more Set List tours. Projects like this require a bit of financial help though, so the future is really dependant on funding support and securing sponsorships.
Those things are much easier to obtain if there is a strong audience response. So we’d love music fans in these regional areas to support these artists, their local venues and the music sector as a whole and get your friends together, grab your tickets, discover some new music and have an awesome night out!”
To Get Involved:
Head to www.thesetlist.com.au and check out what’s happening near you.
The Set List Tour Dates
I KNOW LEOPARD
Fri Sept 25 | Brogla Riverstage, Maryborough, QLD
Doors open 5pm | 07 4122 6060 TICKETS
Sun Sept 27| Kyneton Town Hall, VIC
Doors open 5:45pm | 03 5422 0242 TICKETS
Wed Sept 30 | Riverway Arts Centre, Townsville, QLD
Doors open 6:30pm | 07 4727 9797 TICKETS
Sun Oct 4 | Margaret River Cultural Centre, WA
Doors open 6:30pm | 08 9758 7316 TICKETS
Thu Oct 8 | Matt Dann Theatre & Cinema, Port Hedland
Doors open 6pm | 08 9158 9368 TICKETS
Sat Oct 10 | Geraldton Foreshore, WA
Doors open 5pm | 08 9956 6662 TICKETS
Fri Oct 23 | Theatre Royal, Hobart, TAS
Doors open 7:30pm | 03 6233 2299 TICKETS
Sat Oct 31 | Portland Arts Centre, VIC
Doors open 6pm | 03 5522 2263 TICKETS
COIN BANKS
Thu Sept 24 | Mackay Convention Centre, QLD
Doors open 6:30pm | 07 4961 9777 TICKETS
Sat Sept 26 | Gladstone Convention Centre, QLD
Time TBA | 07 4977 8605 TICKETS
Fri Oct 2 | Colac Otway Performing Arts Centre, VIC
Doors open 8pm | 03 5232 2077 TICKETS
MONTAIGNE
Sun Oct 4 | Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, WA
Doors open 7pm | 08 9550 3900 TICKETS
Sat Oct 17 | Lake Kawana Community Centre, Sunshine Coast, QLD
Doors open 3:30pm | 07 5413 1400 TICKETS
Sun Oct 18 | Pilbeam Theatre, Rockhampton, QLD
Doors open 5:15pm | 07 4927 4111 TICKETS
