SLAM Co-founder Helen Marcou Inducted To Victorian Women's Honour Roll

Renowned music community activist Helen Marcou — a co-founder of the Save Live Australia's Music (SLAM) movement and co-owner of the venerated Bakehouse Studios in Melbourne — has been inducted to the Victorian Honour Roll For Women in the lead-up to International Women's Day this week.

Marcou is one of 20 exceptional women joining the Honour Roll this year in recognition of their significant and lasting contribution to their local community, the nation or the world.

The roll began in 2001, with the latest cabal taking the total inductees — the ranks of whom include identities such as Melbourne Cup winner Michelle Payne and 2015 Australian Of The Year Rosie Batty — to 602.

The Victorian Minister For Women, Fiona Richardson, announced Marcou's inclusion at a ceremony in Melbourne today, citing her "remarkable achievements and commitment to her field of endeavour", and saying that her induction is "a testament to her inspirational leadership and outstanding passion".

Along with her co-ownership of Bakehouse Studios, Marcou further solidified her status as a visible champion of Australian music by co-founding SLAM in 2010 and helping to organise a 20,000-person-strong rally — "the largest cultural protest in Australia's history" — to march on Melbourne's Parliament House to support live music and decry the government's assertion that there was a demonstrable link between gigs and violence, a position that had threatened the community through the implementation of rigid regulations dictating that every venue, regardless of size, had to hire security staff if a show was being held.

Since then, SLAM has been a driving force behind the execution of the Deloitte Access Economics report into the social, cultural and economic contribution of the live music sector, the recognition of live music in the objects of the state's liquor licensing Act, reviews into best practice, all-ages gigs, planning laws and noise regulations and the funding of Music Victoria, as well as activities on an interstate and, since 2012, national level.

Marcou herself is a tireless defender of local live music, being a member of the Victorian government's Live Music Roundtable, and was crucial to the formation of a task force to address sexual harassment and assault in licensed venues. Additionally, with partner Quincey McLean, Marcou was named in 2010 as one of the city's top 100 most influential and creative individuals (Melbourne magazine), was nominated for Female Of The Year in Rolling Stone, and nabbed The Age EG Award's first-ever prize for outstanding achievement for services to the music community.

Read more about the Honour Roll, and the incredible women who have been inducted in 2017 — who include figures such as MICF director Susan Provan, TV identity Carrie Bickmore, writer and commentator Celeste Liddle, late journalist, comedian and activist Stella Young and more — at its website.

International Women's Day, which this year is themed 'Be Bold For Change', is this Wednesday, 8 March.