Support Act Has Seen A 700% Increase In Crisis Support During COVID-19

In April, it was announced that Support Act - the organisation that helps get Australian music workers back on their feet following crisis - would receive a $10 million injection from the Federal Government for COVID-19 response. 

It's welcomed funds for CEO Clive Miller and the team who have seen a 700% increase in demand for their services since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the mass shutdown of venues and touring. 

"That announcement was made in April, the Australian Government advised through the Office For The Arts that they would be allocating $10 million to assist us to extend and amplify our services in response to COVID-19 and the devastating impact that it obviously has had on artists, crew and music workers in the Australian music industry," explained Miller. 

"We received that money in mid-May, which was really fantastic. And the way we've allocated that is essentially it's a bit over 60% to support our Crisis Relief program and then a little under 30% to our Wellbeing Helpline service and the mental health promotion activities that we have now and are looking to develop over coming months. And then the balance going to enable us to scale up a little bit from a staffing perspective, because we're such a small organisation that getting a big shot in the arm like we did is fantastic. But we obviously needed help from a few more people, particularly when it comes to crisis relief. We had to bring on some additional social workers to help us to process the applications and some administrative staff and some finance staff too, to just help that process run as efficiently as possible. So that's what we've done, and it's actually going really well."

"At one point, it was a 700% increase on what we would normally do, hence, the need for us to increase our staffing levels. And it's probably settled down a little bit since then, but certainly a very significant increase," continued Miller. 

"We're grateful to be in a position where we feel we can really make a significant impact, which is hopefully what we're doing now."

"We have been absolutely humbled and thrilled by just the amount of support that we have received over the last couple of months..."

By the end of May, the organisation had approved over $400,000 in crisis funding. Additionally, they'd prominent artists and organisations chipping in too with significant fundraising events happening like Powderfinger's One Night Lonely and the Isol-Aid live streamed concert series. 

"It's making a huge impact," said Miller of the fundraising efforts. "I'll be quite honest and say that when all of this started, coming right off the back of the bushfires and the incredible outpouring of support that there had been, for people affected by the bushfires, we thought that maybe people and given suddenly the economic uncertainty that all of us are facing we were unsure whether people would be in a position to provide any support for people in the music industry, who are struggling. 

"And I have to say, we have been absolutely humbled and thrilled by just the amount of support that we have received over the last couple of months; everything from that really incredible fundraising event that Powderfinger put on a couple of weeks ago that was just, amazing, but there's been so many people have done really, really incredible things. 

"I was just actually looking at a list of some of the things that different artists and different organisations have been doing. We've had everything from Music From The Home Front, which is generated so much awareness and lots of donations. And we've been a beneficiary of merchandise and other income from them. 

"There's been Stagekings, the production company that have pivoted to start making those stand-up desks. And so they're donating to us for every desk that’s sold and they've made very significant contributions to us over the last couple of months which has been amazing. Spotify is doing great stuff, Isol-Aid has been fantastic. Hilltop Hoods have done stuff, Kate Ceberano, Vanessa Amorosi. 

"There's really been incredible creativity and a great love for the industry and this is coming not only from people within the industry but so many people that have been supporting those events and we get so many messages with the donations that are coming in of just people saying music is such an important part of their lives, they can't wait to be back out there supporting live music scene, their favourite artists again. And it's just really encouraging. 

"They're right behind us and right behind everybody who works in Australian music and who makes it the incredible industry that it is. So it's been really encouraging, I have to say, and highly motivating." 

One of the ways Support Act is helping Australian music workers is with their Sound Check series - a web series that encourages discussion around mental health and wellbeing for those working in music. 

"Another key part of what we're looking to do at the moment is not only encourage people who are concerned about their mental health and wellbeing to contact the Support Wellbeing helpline - and we've made that available now to arts workers across Australia - but we recognise that it's just really important to just talk about mental health and help people to just understand what we mean when we talk about mental health and wellbeing, and provide some further information about different things that people can do particularly during this period of lockdown and working from home," Miller said.

"I know some of the isolation is kind of relaxing a little bit but we're still still in navigating through fairly uncharted waters and and so the Sound Check Series was really conceived as a way of just Support Act talking to key people in the industry primarily about mental health and wellbeing and what people can do to either manage their own mental health and wellbeing or just learn a little bit more about what we mean or just get some tips and tools for how to even get through the day."

Head to the Support Act website here to access any of the services mentioned or to make a donation.