New Slang - Live at the Bowl

Since 2015, Arts Centre Melbourne and youth music organisation The Push have worked together to deliver New Slang – a year-long mentorship program that sees a committee of young people aged 15-17 program all-ages music events at Arts Centre Melbourne. Working with industry professionals, the New Slang team learn the ins and outs of delivering a live music event from programming, booking and liaising with artists, to technical production, stage management and marketing.

In the past 12 months, the New Slang committee has worked on two major projects – Steri-Live, supported by the Australian Music Vault and Parliament of Victoria, an online campaign for a “fantasy festival”, dreamt up remotely during COVID-19 lockdown, in collaboration with artists Giulia McGauran, Beatrice Lewis and Nick Campbell.

As music has returned to the city and real-life events appeared back on the agenda, the committee has been working on a huge all-ages event as part of the Live at the Bowl festival, supported by the Australian Music Vault and Melbourne Music Week–Extended. With headliners Skegss and Ruby Fields leading, this show has been heralded as “an intense celebration of indie music, not seen on such a scale since the 2020 Laneway Festival” [Rolling Stone]. This next generation of Australian music industry professionals has already proven they know their stuff – their Live at the Bowl show sold out in under an hour. We talked to committee members Sienna, Raine and Julianne about how the experience has been so far.

How would you describe the New Slang program?

Sienna: The 2020-21 New Slang program brought together 15 teenagers from around Melbourne and greater Victoria. A shared interest in the music industry allowed us to make friends and work collaboratively in creating Steri-Live, before going on to organise Skegss and Ruby Fields for Live at the Bowl. Meeting for a couple of hours once a week over Zoom throughout 2020, then in person at The Channel in 2021, we were able to share creative ideas and produce two major projects.

What were your expectations heading into the New Slang program?

Sienna: When I signed up for New Slang, the focus was supposed to be around producing multiple live concerts throughout the year. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, all of those expectations went out the window. I didn’t know what to expect and wasn’t even sure New Slang would continue for the year due to restrictions around in-person contact. The team went online and created a virtual live music event called Steri-Live which helped us stay connected with others and the live music scene during months of lockdown.

How has New Slang prepared you for your next step in the music industry?

Raine: I think the New Slang program allowed me to take a glimpse into the real music world – I got the opportunity to meet professionals who work in the industry, and from these people I got really useful tips (and encouragement!) and heard their first-hand experiences of how they got their jobs and what those jobs are like. Additionally, I now know that all these people can be amazing connections for me if I want to get a job in the music industry in the future. And of course, getting to help organise the Live at the Bowl event has been an incredible experience – not many teenagers can say that they’ve been part of planning a sold-out show at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl! Working on this gig has overall been such a great insight into the amount of effort that goes into putting on such a huge event, and learning about all the behind-the-scenes details has been so interesting. It’s awesome to know that I have taken the first step in learning some of the skills and knowledge that I would need to organise a gig.

Where to from here?! What are you hoping to accomplish next? Will you stage another event?

Raine: Even though I am almost 18, and therefore will soon be able to get into any 18+ gig, I hope that I can continue to be involved with all-ages music. It’s something that I’m really passionate about and I’d love to keep making the Melbourne music scene a more inclusive place for young people, even when 18+ events won’t be a barrier for me anymore. It would be amazing to put on more all-ages events in the future – the Live at the Bowl show was a great example of how much music means to young people, and why we need safer and more inclusive events like it. I’m also passionate about creating my own music, and I hope to be a part of the music industry as a musician. New Slang definitely gave me skills that I can apply to become a performer, and another reason I hope I can keep being involved with The Push is so I can play all-ages shows for teens like me who love seeing live music. I look forward to a future where young people have changed the music industry for the better, and where all-ages shows are the norm!

How are you feeling in the lead-up to the show? What are you most looking forward to?

Julianne: In the lead up to our show, I am feeling super ecstatic and determined to make this a wonderful experience for the audience and artists. We have had the privilege of being such a crucial part of the preparation, and I am extremely excited to see it all come together! The one thing I am looking forward to most would be to experience and immerse myself into the duties and responsibilities of working in the back of house at such a large scale show. Although we always hear about the fun times and hard work people put into the show, it is super inspiring to be able to go through it first hand with the most awesome team by my side!

What’s one thing you’ve learnt about the Australian music industry?

Julianne: Something that I have learnt about the Australian music industry would be that there are many occupations and positions that are crucial to the success of many artists that are rarely shown to the younger generation.