Damian Trotter Joins Gurrumul Yunupingu Foundation Board

Veteran music-industry personality Damian Trotter has been announced as the newest member to be welcomed to the board of the Gurrumul Yunupingu Foundation, a non-profit organisation that operates for the benefit of disadvantaged Indigenous youth, particularly those in remote communities.

Trotter comes to the Gurrumul Yunupingu Foundation with a wealth of experience behind him, with a breadth of roles in and interaction with the industry through his positions as the current managing director at Sony/ATV Music Publishing and director (and ex-chairperson) of the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society Ltd (AMCOS), as well as the director of the Australian Performing Rights Association (APRA) and the Australasian Music Publishers Association Ltd (AMPAL), in addition to being a patron of the Australian Music Prize (AMP).

His admission to the board comes at a time of great need for the foundation, which — along with its namesake — is currently expending great effort on cleaning up Gurrumul's home of Elcho Island, which caught the full brunt of recent severe tropical cyclone Lam last week.

Trotter has worked with Gurrumul previously, as well as with several other Indigenous musicians from remote communities around the country, and has come to join the board at the behest of Gurrumul himself, as well as Skinnyfish Music co-founders and foundation board members Mark Grose and Michael Hohnen.

"I am very pleased and excited to be joining the board of the Gurrumul Yunupingu Foundation and humbled to have been extended the invitation," Trotter said of his appointment in a statement. "Having spent time in several remote indigenous communities, I have witnessed first-hand the extreme challenges and disadvantage affecting so many people living in these communities.

"I look forward to working alongside my fellow board members to help identify and directly address areas in which the foundation can play an active and realistic role in meeting some of these challenges."

The Gurrumul Foundation has done much for many in a relatively short time — its inception was only back in April 2013 — but if you'd like to find out or more or make a donation, head to the organisation's website.