Music Touring in Australia
Touring in Australia can be very rewarding. Audiences across the country love music and people in regional centres invariably appreciate good music coming to town. Challenges include our vast distances, small centres, and the huge variety of places and spaces where music is played.
It can also be hard to make the economics of touring add up. However most musicians and groups enjoy touring and find it most worthwhile.
There are plenty of resources to assist music touring in Australia. Here are a few:
Arts Centres and Concert Halls
For music styles suited to arts centres and concert halls, a well-developed network of touring agencies and peak bodies work in cooperation with funding bodies to organise and underwrite tours. These include:
National Touring
Performing Arts Exchange: The Performing Arts Exchange (PAX) is APACA’s new flagship networking and development event. It’s a face-to-face market which brings together producers and presenters from across the country to create and maximise touring opportunities and build relationships. The Australian Performing Arts Centres Association (APACA) is the national peak body representing and supporting performing arts presenters from the iconic Sydney Opera House to remote regional centres.
State Touring Agencies
These agencies coordinate tours within states and cooperate nationally. Some administer touring funding.
- ArtBack NT
- arTour Queensland
- Arts on Tour NSW
- Country Arts SA
- Country Arts WA
- Regional Arts Victoria
- Tasmania Performs
Peak Bodies
- The Performing Arts Touring Alliance peak body for touring, with useful information
- Australian Performing Arts Centre Association national body representing and supporting performing arts centres
- Northern Australia Regional Performing Arts Association
Touring Funding
- Contemporary Music Touring Program administered by the Australia Council for national touring including regional areas by Australian musicians performing original contemporary music.
Some state touring agencies also administer touring funding.
Contemporary Music Venues
For contemporary music – bands and gigs – arts centres may work, but it’s just as likely your tour will take in diverse venues including clubs, pubs, open air venues and many more.
Touring Agencies and Peak Bodies
Many of the organisations listed above can provide advice, some also have funding programs
Booking Agents
You can book your own tour but for large acts booking agents are an essential resource. Your State Music Industry Association can provide information on booking agents in your state.
Festivals
Australians love festivals and we reputedly have the most of any country on the planet! Building a tour around one or more festivals is an excellent approach, generally including other venues as well. Use your network to identify and contact festivals, and while we couldn’t possibly list them all we have a few leads below to get you started:
Indigenous Festivals
Folk Festivals
- Folk Alliance Festivals Directory
- Illawarra Folk Festival
- National Folk Festival
- Port Fairy Folk Festival
- Woodford Folk Festival
Contemporary Festivals
Arts and Music Festivals
Each capital has one of more high profile arts or music festival, including:
- Adelaide Festival of Arts
- Brisbane Festival
- Canberra International Music Festival
- Darwin Festival
- Melbourne International Arts Festival
- Perth International Arts Festival
- Queensland Music Festival
- Sydney Festival
- Ten Days on the Island
- Womadelaide
Fringe Festivals
- Sydney Fringe Festival
- Adelaide Fringe Festival
- Melbourne Fringe Festival
- Brisbane Fringe Festival
- Perth Fringe World
Regional Chamber Music Festivals
- Australian Festival of Chamber Music
- Stradbroke Chamber Music Festival
- Albury Chamber Music Festival
- AWO Chamber Music Festival
- Bangalow Music Festival
- Bellingen Fine Music Festival
- Bowral Autumn Music Festival
- Crossroads Chamber Music Festival
- Four Winds
- Huntington Estate Music Festival
- Musica Viva Festival
- Music in the Hunter
- Sydney Chamber Music Festival
- Tyalgum Music Festival
- Dunkeld Festival of Music
- Music in the Round
- Organs of the Ballarat Goldfields
- Peninsula Summer Music Festival
- Port Fairy Spring Music Festival
- Sanguine Estate Music Festival
- Strathvea Festival
- Tarrawarra Festival
- Tasmanian Chamber Music Festival
- Barossa Baroque and Beyond
- Coriole Music Festival
- Ukaria 24
- Avon Valley Spring Chamber Music Festival
- Margaret River Weekend of Music
- Vasse Felix Festival
- ACO Uluru Festival
Jazz Festivals
- Brisbane International Jazz Festival
- Melbourne International Jazz Festival
- Perth International Jazz Festival
- Wangaratta Jazz and Blues Festival