Backstage Pass - November

Welcome to the last Backstage Pass of the year!?

Happy Ausmusic T-Shirt Day for yesterday and thank you to everyone involved! We’ve received so much incredible love and generosity from our supporters, the industry and the wider community.?

We’re beyond proud of this year’s campaign and extend our thanks to all of those who got involved by wearing an Ausmusic T-Shirt and making a donation to Support Act. Don’t forget that the website will be live for another few weeks, so it’s not too late to donate!

This week we also warmly welcomed the formal announcement from the Victorian Labor Government of $2 million in funding support over four years to enable us to continue to deliver our programs and services to music workers in Victoria.?

On behalf of the team here at Support Act, we wish you a safe and happy Christmas break and we look forward to what 2024 will bring.?

Best wishes,

Clive Miller?

CEO

And just like that, Ausmusic T-Shirt Day is over for another year! We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve raised an incredible $653,915 so far, with more funds still to come, to help support those working in music who are doing it tough.?

It’s always so gratifying to see music workers and music lovers from across the country showing up in support of the big day and the incredible media support across triple j, the ABC, Southern Cross Austereo, ARN, The Music and many more.

Thank you to our amazing lead and genre ambassadors including Amy Shark, Budjerah and Jimmy Barnes who have done a great job spreading the word over the campaign period. We were beyond excited to see our friends Chris Hemsworth, Nicole Kidman and the Hon Anthony Albanese joining hundreds of other music lovers repping their favourite tees on social media.?

We saw and experienced first hand some awesome workplace events at Universal Music Australia, Sony Music Australia, Creative Australia, Warner Music, Create NSW, Australian Institute of Music, Good Intent Music and many more!

There was some very friendly competition on the AAMI leaderboard with some incredible donations made, and we thank everyone for their support and generosity. A massive shoutout to Stuart Field for dominating the individual fundraisers leaderboard with over $9,000 raised!?

CrewCare is currently topping the teams leaderboard, with some huge efforts from Live At Your Local by ALH, Cold Chisel, Rydges Hotels & Resorts, Midnight Oil, Oztix, Universal Music, Alberts, Live Nation, APRA AMCOS, UNIFIED and ARIA PPCA, to mention a few.??

A massive thank you to our corporate donors and supporters who have given generously to the campaign including AAMI, Amazon Music ANZ, CUB, Endeavour Group, Frontier Touring, Gildan Brands, Heaps Normal, JB Hi-Fi, Love Police, Mushroom Creative House, Rydges Hotels and Resorts, Sennheiser ANZ, Spotify Australia and New Zealand, Tiktok Australia, Tixel, Vevo and YouTube Music and Google AU/NZ.

If you haven’t donated yet, it’s not too late! In music, every little bit matters, so click the link below to donate now.

Donate here.

Earlier this week, Minister for Creative Industries, Colin Brooks, was joined by the Support Act team; Ausmusic T-Shirt Day crew ambassador, Juvi Yellow Beanie; and Naarm/Melbourne musician, Queenie, to announce that the Victorian Labor Government is delivering on the promise it made to Victorians at last year’s election with funding support of $2 million over four years to help make sure more live music workers in the State have access to important mental health, wellbeing and crisis relief services.

It will also strengthen our partnership with state based music organisations including Music Victoria to ensure that we can support their members through initiatives like Yarning Strong, the Support Act Wellbeing Helpline,and Access All Areas, an education program to help music workers intervene if they witness sexual harassment, assault or bullying.

Read more here.

The Support Act team will be taking a short break during the Christmas holidays. The office will be closed from Thursday 21 December 2023 and will reopen on Tuesday 2 January 2024.?

Please be aware that if you submit a Crisis Relief Grant application during this period, it will be assessed by our social work team in early January.

If you need any help in the meantime, please check out our Further Resources on the website.

Read more here.

We acknowledge that the Christmas period can be a stressful time for many people. If you’re struggling during this time or just need someone to talk to, please know that our Wellbeing Helpline is available whenever you need to chat.?

The Helpline has four dedicated support lines including the LGBTQI+ Support Line (option 2), the First Nations Support Line (option 3), the Manager Support Line (option 4) and the Safety at Work Support Line (option 5).??

You can call the Helpline on 1800 959 500 and speak to an experienced counsellor that can assist with a range of issues including anxiety, depression, loneliness, relationship issues, career concerns, grief counselling, financial management and conflict resolution.

Find out more here.

Calling all Crowded House fans! Check out the 2 x CD set Crowded House LIVE ‘92-94’. This limited edition Australian Road Crew Association (ARCA) release is available to purchase now.

Part of ARCA’s Desk Tape Series, this CD set features some of the band's most iconic songs performed live including “Four Seasons In One Day”, “Weather With You”, “Fall At Your Feet” and many more!

ARCA raises funds and resources for Support Act’s Roadies Fund to provide financial, health, counselling and well-being services for roadies and crews.

Buy now here.

We wanted to share with you a testimonial from someone who received a crisis relief grant from a service user who required urgently-needed nasal and sinus surgery that affected her ability to sing.

"I was extremely lucky to be a recipient of a hardship grant from Support Act. I'd just had my hours cut, my 40 year old car blew a head gasket, vet bills coming out my ears, playing shows at a loss…

"I was also in desperate need of nasal and sinus surgery to alleviate lifelong breathing issues which were affecting not only my health, sleep and daily living, but severely impacting my ability to sing.?

"...I can absolutely say my ongoing career has been saved by Support Act."

- Eloise Thetford - musician

If you need help, please reach out and ask for it. There’s no shame in it and we are here for you. To find out more about how we can help, visit the page on the website.