Live music returns to the region in a big way

GEELONG has a long and proud history when it comes to live music.

Our city has hosted some of the greatest bands over the years, and produced plenty of our own.

Many in our community will have great memories of gigs at classic pub venues such as “The Nash’, the Preston, the Barwon Club and many others.

In the 1970s, AC/DC even performed a show in the food court at Corio Village!

In more recent years we have seen huge international headliners in town to play A Day on the Green concerts at Mt Duneed Estate, while a number of exciting new venues have offered the chance to watch shows in more intimate settings.

Sadly of course, the thumping beat of live music came to a sudden stop as lockdowns took hold in 2020, and the industry has suffered through two years of enormous struggle.

Happily, we are about to see live music return to life in a big way in Geelong and on the Bellarine.

For a month between April 7 and May 8, a procession big names, local favourites and up-and-coming musicians will take to stages across our region.

Brought together under the umbrella of “Surround Sounds Geelong and the Bellarine’ this will be a celebration of our music culture.

During the month, local audiences will have the chance to see the likes of Paul Kelly, The Rubens, and Human Nature – amongst many others.

Alongside the gigs, there’ll be a series of talks and visual art celebrating our music history.

We are hoping Surround Sounds will help put live music back in the spotlight, and encourage our community to get out and experience a new act or venue that they haven’t before.

Music goes hand-in-hand with hospitality, and so this is about generating a lift for both musicians and our food and drink venues that have also suffered in recent times.

You can visit www.surroundsoundsgeelong.com.au for more information, with a full line-up to be announced at the start of March.

The council’s support of our arts and culture sector’s recovery is also extending to our most recent round of community grants, which opened on Saturday.

Among six grant categories now accepting applications are our COVID-19 Arts, Culture and Heritage Recovery Grants.

These offer funding of up to $10,000 for the development and creation of arts initiatives.

There are also grants on offer to support community recovery, community events, environmental sustainability, First Nations cultural heritage, and neighbourhood houses.

This particular grant round is part of a total $4.9 million in community grants the council has budgeted for in 2021-22.

Our grants are a direct contribution to supporting projects and initiatives generated by the community, often by volunteers leading grassroots clubs, groups and organisations.

Recognising the importance of this type of support – especially through the pandemic – we have invested successively more in grants each year from 2018.

Please visit www.geelongaustralia.com.au/grants to find out what’s available and see if there might be a grant type that could help the community group you’re involved with.

Finally, while we celebrate the re-emergence of our music scene, sport is never far from mind when it comes to Geelong either.

This weekend we will have the opportunity to see the remarkable endurance athletes of IRONMAN 70.3 competing on our waterfront.

This event is a brilliant showcase of our city, with a course designed around the water that highlights the bay in all of its beauty,

In recent times it has been voted by athletes as the world’s best IRONMAN 70,3 event, and I’m sure the city will put on another great show for our visitors this year. The council is pleased to be providing support via Geelong Major Events.

Good luck to everyone competing and if you’re in the area, it’s worth stopping by and seeing the amazing efforts of competitors as they push past their limits.

Trent Sullivan,
Deputy Mayor