Shellharbour's live music scene (or lack thereof) looks set to change with council actively seeking ways to enhance it.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mayor Marianne Saliba said they are currently looking to secure funding to run a larger-scale youth events course in the vein of January's Run Your Own Party, as well as a number of other initiatives aimed at fostering live music and music programs.
"Over the next couple of years council is going to be embarking on ambitious programs to bring new festivals to the city, we're looking at developing some of our existing models to provide more opportunities for local artists as well," she said.
"For many years Shellharbour Council has plodded along providing the basics for our community and I'm really pleased that we're now getting to the stage where we're looking at culture, music art - the finer things in life our community get to enjoy."
Cr Saliba said the first initiative will be the Live'n'Local music festival on June 22, which coincides with other celebrations for council's 160th anniversary.
Another music festival is scheduled for December with details to be announced at a later date, while venues such as Centenary Hall at Albion Park would be utilised for smaller music events.
Three participants of the Run Your Own Party course - Harold Pador, Patrick Peardon and Liam Baker - have been taken on to assist in the production of Live'n'Local, and are amped to do their own bit to foster live music in the city.
Mr Peardon, 24, said the course had opened up many doors for him, with the plan to open his own live music venue at a later date.
He said he saw a huge gap in the market for live music in the city and wanted to be proactive about it.
"I've never really seen live music around [Shellharbour] Village itself, there's been gigs here and there ... and if there's local talent it's hard as they have to travel [for gigs]," he said.
Liam, 15, found the course incredibly beneficial and met an array of young people also passionate about improving the local scene. He's advocating for more inclusive events for LGBTQI youth as he believes the opportunities are limited throughout the Illawarra.
"I wanted to create an event that had an LGBT focus in a youth space, to create more opportunities for youth in our area because there's no opportunities for queer youth in the Shellharbour region and it's very, very limited in Wollongong," Liam said.
The young performer has already sold out his first event following on from the events course, Drag Through The Decades at Shellharbour Youth Services on May 17.
It comes as Member for Whitlam Stephen Jones has promised to fund an upgrade and development of a live music venue within Blackbutt Youth Centre, if Labor is elected.
The funding would be used on The Black Room performance space - a Shellharbour Council project that was in direct response to priorities outlined in the recent development of the Shellharbour City Event Strategy 2018-2021, the Make Play Grow Arts and Cultural Strategy and the Shellharbour Youth Plan 2018-2021.