Australia’s peak body for Artist managers, the AAM, has proudly launched the inaugural GROW Program, thanks to support from the Victorian Government Music Recovery fund, through Creative Victoria.
Grow is a 3 month virtual pilot program designed to support and empower womxn of all ages who are Artist Managers running their own business in Victoria.
The program consists of peer-to-peer mentoring with leaders in the fields of law, business and mental health and wellness and unique group webinars focused on business acumen. Participants will be supported to build new business plans, become more financially literate and build confidence in their leadership skills while also receiving a bursary to support their work. Grow has been designed using a broad range of research including the AAM’s membership survey results from 2020 which found that women in this sector still experience gender inequality.
The 2020 AAM members survey found retention and longevity for female managers decreases after age 35, APRA/AMCOS ‘Australian Women, Screen, Composers Career Barriers and Pathways’ 2017 research paper found that just 21.7% of their members are songwriters. ABC by the numbers 2020 showed that womxn musicians make up 24% of radio air-play. Music Victoria found barriers for women in the music industry to be lack of paid work opportunities, the casualisation of the work-force and the confidence gap. GROW aims to continue the progression of gender equity in Artist management through building business acumen, confidence and capacity.
Running in tandem with this will be a special Victorian edition of the Co-Pilot program. Co-Pilot is an annual national mentor program that is a core professional development activity of the AAM. The mentorship is open to all levels of Artist Managers. To ensure a robust and healthy Victorian Artist management community in the future, managers need to be supported to re-model, re-build and re-tool to have a sustainable and successful future.
The Victorian music industry is arguably the state hardest hit by the pandemic, with stage 4 lockdown in place for most of the year. Both GROW and Co-Pilot (Victorian Edition) deliver tailored professional development for those who need it most. All participants will receive generous bursaries to continue their work beyond the program and encourage them to continue to make community connections. Both programs will also give participants access to years of industry know-how through working with the most established Australian Artist Managers.
Grow and Victorian Co – pilot are accessible to Victorian AAM members for specific eligibility details please click the links below.
To apply for Grow, click here
To apply for Co-Pilot, click here
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