Parramatta Launches New Live Music Initiative To Bring Tunes To Bars, Boutiques

Following the big reveal last month that City Of Parramatta Council would be partnering with the Live Music Office to boost the area's live music scene, today the two bodies have announced the initiatives coming out of the team-up — a Live And Local event as well as the 12-month AMPLIFY program.

Launched at an event at Parramatta's Jamie's Italian Trattoria last Thursday, City Of Parramatta Council's CEO Greg Dyer, Manager of City Animation George Mannix and Live Music Office's Damian Cunningham all took to the stage to explain the goals and facets of the two initiatives.

Dyer said, "Buildings make cities, but people make great cities … And it's not just people that makes cities great, it's music that makes cities great."

Live And Local will serve to place up-and-coming local musicians in cafes, bars, hairdressers, boutiques and other non-traditional venues in the area to bring live music to every corner in Parramatta in a one-day event, with an aim to show local business-owners the positive impact live music can have on their business. It'll further allow local musos to score paid work, foster rapport with local businesses and show customers what the live music scene has to offer. 

Cunningham says, "This is directly an opportunity to advance and inform what is going to happen in a growing city, in a new city," referring to the fact that Parramatta's night-time economy is already worth over $858 million per year and is growing at "twice the national growth rate over the next five years — 4.6% per annum", according to Dyer.

AMPLIFY will aid local businesses in Parramatta in embedding live music as part of their customer offering, by offering business advice and a brokering program. The 12-month program will help business-owners with ticketing, marketing and promotion, licensing, engaging with underage audiences and organising equipment, sound and staging options in their venues.

Live Music Office's Policy Director John Wardle says, "These initiatives will provide jobs and opportunities for local artists, connect new venues with wider audiences, and represent the cultural and linguistically diverse make-up of Western Sydney."