2014 ANNUAL REPORT MUSIC AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2014 Contents Background ..................................................................................................................................................... 3 Transition ........................................................................................................................................................ 3 Office opened ............................................................................................................................... 3 New staff ..................................................................................................................................... 3 New Board Directors, Councillors and Advisory Groups .................................................................... 3 Departures ................................................................................................................................... 4 Rebranding and Launch ................................................................................................................. 4 New Website ................................................................................................................................ 4 New information services .............................................................................................................. 4 Operations ...................................................................................................................................................... 4 2014 Key Achievements .................................................................................................................................. 5 Role and 2014 Program Summary .................................................................................................................. 6 Professional Industry ...................................................................................................................................... 7 Music Talks Seminars .................................................................................................................... 7 Councillors and Advisory Groups .................................................................................................... 7 Engagement ................................................................................................................................. 8 Submissions ................................................................................................................................. 8 Music Education .............................................................................................................................................. 9 Music: Count Us In – school music program ..................................................................................... 9 Songwriters for Schools ............................................................................................................... 10 Music Education Advocacy ........................................................................................................... 10 Music: Count Us In – Statistics ...................................................................................................... 11 Community Music ......................................................................................................................................... 14 School Community Links Booklet .................................................................................................. 14 APRA Partnership ‐ Community Groups Survey .............................................................................. 14 National Community Music Project ............................................................................................... 14 Information Services ..................................................................................................................................... 14 Enews ........................................................................................................................................ 15 Social Media ............................................................................................................................... 15 Music Journal ............................................................................................................................. 16 Website ..................................................................................................................................... 16 Governance and Finance .............................................................................................................................. 17 Governance ................................................................................................................................ 17 Funding and Support ................................................................................................................... 19 Financial Report .......................................................................................................................... 20 Media and Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... 21 Media Summary 2014 ................................................................................................................. 21 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... 22 Attachment ................................................................................................................................................... 23 2 MUSIC AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2014 Background Music Australia, formerly the Music Council of Australia, is a 50‐member national peak music organisation for Australia and the only body in the country devoted to music in its entirety. As a national not for profit umbrella body our activities span education, community and the professional industry, delivering campaigns, information, resources, sector networking, community engagement, and participation and demonstration projects. Our members include major national music and educational organisations, and people from all areas of music. Our school music program Music: Count Us In reaches more than 2,000 schools and 500,000 students across Australia, and provides professional development in music to thousands of teachers. Transition 2014 was another year of transformation for the organisation with a new home, new people, new name, new website and a host of new programs and services. Office opened We opened our first ever office in January 2014 in the former Council Chambers of the lovely old art deco Erskineville Town Hall in Sydney’s inner west. We secured a three year lease from City of Sydney under their Accommodation program. The office was furnished courtesy of a donation from sponsor Clipper Property Group. The office is fully equipped with work stations, modern computer systems and server, and hot desks for vising colleagues. The new office enabled many functions to be brought in‐house including finance, administration, IT and marketing. New staff Four full time staff positions were implemented in 2014: Brisbane based CEO Chris Bowen; and three staff in the Sydney office: Program Director Maeve Marsden overseeing the Music Count Us in school music program and line management for the Sydney office; supported by a Marketing Manager and Administrator. In January we welcomed two new staff – Cara Anderson and Kate Tomlinson. Cara, our Marketing and Program Manager, came to us from Opera Australia and Our Administrator Kate, joined us from Gondwana Choirs. Two part time staff writers also joined the team in April, each working one day a week: Jasmine Crittenden (Sydney), and Graham Strahle (Adelaide). In early 2014 we said goodbye to Music in Communities Manager Alex Masso. Alex ‐ who opted for new directions – was a great contributor to the organisation. Morton Group handed over administration and finance services at the end of February. This ended a long professional association, and special thanks go to the Morton Group’s Sara Hood and her team for many years service and support. New Board Directors, Councillors and Advisory Groups Four new directors and ten new Councillors were elected at the AGM (see Board section later in this report), and fifteen new people were appointed to two new Advisory Groups. This, provided a substantial influx or fresh energy and ideas, and broadened the organisation’s reach into areas of strategic priority. Mixed with an experienced group of continuing Councillors and Directors, Music Australia has a strong resource base of expertise, and broad representation across the sector. 3 MUSIC AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2014 Departures The Freedman Fellowships and the online Knowledge Base were transferred to founder Dr Richard Letts’ Music Trust as part of his retirement agreement with Music Australia. We have free access to content created under our ownership. Rebranding and Launch A new Music Australia brand, to provide a fresh and contemporary identity, was officially launched on 19 September and received good market acceptance. This provided a core brand and set of sub brands and a new name designed to clarify our position in the marketplace. The new name and logo were accepted for a Trademark application. Designers Alphabet Studios and branding consultant Fix Branding delivered a tremendous result with the new identity for the company. New Website A