Applications For The 2025 The Seed Fund's Management Workshop Are Now Open

Today, applications for the 2025 Management Workshop – run by The Seed Fund – have finally opened.

The Seed Fund has been absent for five years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and now it’s time for its Management Workshop to make its long-awaited return.

The Seed Management Workshop will be held in mid-2025 in regional New South Wales. Applications are now open and close on Tuesday, 14 November. To apply for the upcoming program, head here for more information.

In 2005, John Butler and Danielle Caruana (Mama Kin) created The Seed Fund's Management Workshop. This mission-driven organisation was created by artists for artists and offered a new way for the community to share resources with managers and self-managed artists.

First delivered in 2006 with artists and artist advocates Stacia Goninon, Carlo Santone, and Jacqui Geia, the annual program has seen alumni come together for a thrilling retreat where the industry learns from one another and builds relationships and connections.

Since its beginnings, The Seed Fund’s Management Workshop has seen 298 managers and self-managed artists navigate the program, while the Seed Fund has distributed more than $1.2 million through grants and initiatives.

Some of the names who benefitted from the Management Workshop include Alex Lahey, Jen Cloher, Jodie Regan, Luke Girgis, Maggie Collins, Fred Leone, Melody Forghani, Leah Flanagan, and many more.

Alex Lahey has credited the program with starting her career, while Andrew Stone, last year’s AAM Manager of the Year, described the workshop as the “most important and formative” week of his career.

The Seed Fund’s Management Workshop returns in 2025, guided by Caruana and its Managing Director, Stacia Goninon, and funded by Create NSW.

“In a time where artist managers and self-managed artists are predominantly working in silos, facing a barrage of long-standing and new challenges, opportunities to intentionally come together and form personal and professional connections is incredibly valuable,” Goninon commented in a statement.

Goninon continued, adding that the Management Workshop offers “something crucial” to the music industry: “The workshop serves as an informal training opportunity to address the cultural and creative sectors’ skills shortages. The artist is the centre of the industry, and managers (including self-managed artists) are pivotal in its success.”

Caruana said, “Alumni will attest that there is as much value in the workshop’s information delivery as its network making. We are an industry built on the love of music, a community of people dedicated to Australian artists, making music that is ready for local and global stages.

“A think tank as much as a workshop, these participants ARE the Future Makers of our industry and of our community and fostering their growth is an investment in our collective futures.”