The new National Cultural Policy and young people in music
Photo Credit: Tanya Volt
The Push would like to congratulate the Australian Government on the launch of the new National Cultural Policy – “Revive”.
Guided by ‘a place for every story, a story for every place’, the five-year policy is structured around five interconnected pillars:
First Nations First
A Place for Every Story
Centrality of the Artist
Strong Cultural Institutions
Engaging The Audience
The Push is proud to be featured as a case study within ‘A Place for Every Story’ – detailing our work in giving every young person the opportunity to participate and thrive in Australian music.
Case Study: The Push and thirty years of helping young people in music
Access to live music events is not a reality for all young people in Australia. There are fewer events in regional and outer-suburban areas, some events come with unaffordable ticket prices, and live music events are rarely staged for underage audiences or designed to be accessible and culturally safe.
Melbourne-based youth music organisation, The Push, has been supporting young people over three decades to overcome these barriers to participate and thrive in Australian music.
CEO Kate Duncan says that, ‘participation in music at any level can be the defining moment in a young person’s life. It helps young people to shape their identity, establish lifelong relationships, build their connections to community and increase their sense of social connectedness.’
In 2022, The Push partnered with Crowded House, Live Nation and Arts Centre Melbourne to support young women and gender diverse people to be mentored in technical and sound production roles on the 2022 Crowded House Australian tour. In the same year, The Push held Music Careers Expos in Adelaide and Melbourne for high school-aged young people to provide insights and information on how to get a start in the Australian music industry. Over 300 young people attended the events to discover, learn and plan their careers in music.
As The Push works towards expanding our reach to connect with every young Australian over the coming years, we look forward to working with the Australian Government to promote contemporary music to strengthen our communities and develop all-ages audiences, and evolve young people’s career pathways for a more representative contemporary music sector.
“Today’s launch of the Australian Cultural Policy marks a new era for young people and contemporary music across Australia. Having a whole of government framework that supports the vital role that contemporary music plays in the daily lives of young Australians will create increased opportunities to develop the skills, confidence and networks for career pathways into the creative industries, as well as grow a future generation of live music audiences.”
Kate Duncan, CEO, The Push
READ: The full National Cultural Policy – “Revive” can be downloaded from the Australian Government’s Office for the Arts website: https://www.arts.gov.au/culturalpolicy
About The Push
The Push is an Australian youth music organisation and registered charity based in Melbourne. Over three decades we have supported more than 4 million young people with access to contemporary music programs and events. Our work is guided by our purpose of giving every young person the opportunity to participate and thrive in Australian music. Our program alumni include Courtney Barnett, Alex Lahey, Alice Ivy and Angie McMahon — who have each progressed onto successful, global careers.
Visit here to read more about The Push.
For all media enquiries, please contact:
Richard Hunt (he/him)
Manager, Communications and Engagement
richard@thepush.com.au
(03) 7018 2318