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Melbourne Music Week will be held over three months this summer to support the local music industry as it recovers from the impacts of COVID-19.
The City of Melbourne will deliver a special edition of the annual event called Melbourne Music Week Extended in celebration of Melbourne’s music community.
The program of free and ticketed events will span three months from Wednesday 9 December 2020 to Sunday 28 February 2021.
The event was originally scheduled to take place in November but has been rescheduled to allow for a larger, longer and dispersed program across summer. The extended event will offer greater flexibility for local artists, venues and businesses to get involved.
With supporting the recovery of the local live music industry at the core of Melbourne Music Week Extended, its artist line up will remain 100 percent local and there will be support opportunities for venues and independent events to participate.
Live music alone contributes $1.7 billion a year to Victoria’s economy and creates 42,000 jobs. Live Performance Australia conservatively estimates more than 200,000 people have lost income and work as a result of COVID-19.
The program will move through a phased COVID-safe approach and will follow any restrictions in place for the duration of the event, starting with mostly outdoor and intimate gigs and events and leading into some indoor and greater capacity activity when it is safe to do so.
The Melbourne Music Week Extended program will launch on Wednesday 25 November 2020. Stay tuned for further news and announcements on Melbourne Music Week Extended by signing up to the newsletter via the Melbourne Music Week website.
Quotes attributable to City of Melbourne CEO Justin Hanney:
“Melbourne’s live music scene is renowned internationally and employs thousands of people. We really want Melburnians to get out and support our venues this summer because it’s been an incredibly tough year.
I think Melburnians will relish the opportunity to again see live music again. Summer is a crucial time of the year for our live music venues and we want to maximise entertainment across the city.”
