A NEW music organisation is planning to see Bendigo's music scene thrive in a post-pandemic world.
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Live Music Bendigo is chaired by local weekend warrior and music veteran Keith MacQueen who wants to see the city's music sector survive and thrive.
"The organisation is based around how do we look at Bendigo itself and ensure a thriving live music scene and what can we do to contribute to that?" MacQueen said.
"We are looking at it from the aspect of the public, artists, venues and businesses who support live music like sound production and music sales.
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"Part of what we want to do is be a voice that can work with artists, venues owners and that sort of thing as well.
"We hope to access some government funding that can go to directly supporting live music."
MacQueen said the organisation formed in response to the challenges the music industry saw during COVID-19.
"We knew with lockdowns, venues were trying to get people in to watch live music and artists were trying to get gigs," he said.
"It's surprising how many people in Bendigo make their main living from live music.
"Our view is with the size of Greater Bendigo, the opportunity is there to be Victoria's premier regional music centre. That is something we aspire to."
As well as MacQueen, the organisation's committee includes music industry stalwarts David Stretch, Kim Muller, Craig Brown, Ken Gilmoure, Liz Wright and Greg Perry.
Collectively the group's leaders boast decades of experience in the music industry whether it be as performers, venue managers, music retailers or punters.
"We are agnostic to what live music is," MacQueen said. "For some it's classical music at Ulumbarra, for others it's going to Trash Cult in Eaglehawk for a punk band.
"A good live music scene has that diversity."
Live Music Bendigo has launched a website and is calling for anyone involved in local music to take a survey to understand the state of play in Bendigo's music sector.
"We want to get that state of play to be able to understand what's out there and get ideas and opinions from people who watch live music and who play it," MacQueen said. "Already we are seeing really valuable feedback.
"Part of the survey is identifying gaps in the market and how we encourage and foster young talent.
"From that foundation we will be able to build a strategy around it.
"We have been able to do the survey with support from the Ulumbarra Foundation. They're there to support Bendigo and were good enough to give us a grant."
Log on to www.livemusicbendigo.org to take the survey.
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