Make Music Australia – Join the worldwide celebration of music on June 21!

We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and make music, and recognise their continuing connection to land, water and community. We pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging and we extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with us today.

Dear friends,

We hope this finds you safe and healthy.

Like all of you, we are grappling with the huge impact COVID-19 is having around the world, and in our daily lives. As we plan for Make Music Day on June 21, 2020, we don’t know if public gatherings will be feasible at that date, or if everyone will be “social distancing” and stuck at home.

Despite this uncertainty, we wanted to let you know that Make Music Day will still be happening on June 21. Unlike traditional music festivals, Make Music Day is an open invitation for everyone to make music anywhere and everywhere. We hope to be taking over the streets with music on June 21, but if we can’t, we invite you to join one of the online Make Music Day initiatives that will take place no matter what.

Live From Home Challenge: Record a musical performance at home on June 21, and tag three friends to challenge them to respond with their own performances.
Online Music Lessons: Teachers around the world will be offering free, online lessons for a variety of instruments on June 21.
Street Studios: Be part of a completely improvised music creation session. Record any sound or musical material on June 21st and upload it to one of the “Street Studio” producers, then watch the producer’s livestream as they incorporate it into a musical track created on the spot, using only the submitted materials.
Bands Undercover: Individuals or bands sign up to cover each other’s original music, and live stream their performances to each other in a unique musical exchange on June 21.
Young Composers Contest: Composers between the ages of 13-21 are invited to submit short, original compositions for choir by June 1st. A panel of renowned composers will give their feedback on all entries, and will select one winning piece to release on June 21 to the world in a professional performance.
Global Livestream: a day-long video stream on June 21 will show the rich diversity of live Make Music Day events around the world.

More details for each of these initiatives will be announced soon, but we encourage you to get creative with your own ideas for online and digital activities!

In this time of social distancing, music’s powerful role to bring us together as a community is more important than ever. While physical public gatherings may not be currently accessible, we can still stay connected online and celebrate music.

Of course, we still hope to come out together in public on June 21 — in the coming weeks, look for announcements from your local Make Music Day coordinators with updates. But above all, we are committed to supporting the health and well-being of the public during this challenging time, and will follow the guidance of government health departments to make sure everyone stays safe.

Sincerely,

Make Music Alliance (U.S.)
Make Music Day UK
Make Music Australia
Fête de la Musique Deutschland
Confederation of European Music Industries (Italy)

PS: if you are stuck at home in the coming weeks or months, post a video of yourself making music with the tag #makemusicday and we will share it.

PPS: Wash your hands!

Make Music Day is a free celebration of music making around the world on June 21st.

Launched in 1982 in France as the Fête de la Musique, it is now held on the same day in more than 750 cities in 120 countries.

Completely different from a typical music festival, Make Music Day is open to anyone who wants to take part. It’s a DIY Music Festival! Every kind of musician — young and old, amateur and professional, of every musical persuasion — can organise their own gig, or join the many organisations that will host events, to share their music with friends, neighbours, and strangers. All of it is free and open to the public.
Be a part of Make Music Day!

Participate

About

Make Music Day has grown as a global celebration of music making across more that 1000 cities around the world.

It all started 38 years ago in France. In 1982, Jack Lang and his staff at the Ministry of Culture dreamed up an idea for a new kind of musical holiday. They imagined a day where FREE music would be everywhere, all around the city: street corners, parks, rooftops, gardens, and store fronts.

And, unlike a typical music festival, anyone and everyone would be invited to join and play music, or host performances.

The event would take place on the summer solstice, June 21, and would be called Fête De La Musique. (In French, the name means both “festival of music” and “make music”.)

Amazingly enough, this dream has come true. The Fête has turned into a true national holiday: Paris shuts down on the summer solstice and musicians take over. Almost 8% of the country (5 million people) have played an instrument or sung in public for the Fête de la Musique, and 64% of the country (43 million people) comes out each year to listen.

Three decades later, the holiday has spread throughout the world and is now celebrated in more than 800 cities in 120 different countries.

Make Music Day Australia began in 2018 with the funding and resources of the Australian Music Association (AMA), via its partner the NAMM Foundation (US based). The event saw over 100 events in 80 locations register an event on the Make Music Day Australia website. These numbers were doubled in 2019 and the program of events was truly national. We embark on Make Music Australia 2020 with the vision of going even bigger!

We are now working to progress the Make Music Day Australia program and build greater awareness of the initiative on a national level.

Each year we aim to develop an events program created by a community of music makers all over Australia. We also host social media to build community awareness of the program and the opportunities provided for making music.

Website Support & unique URL’s for particular events of scale can be accessed as a resource for bigger organisations wanting to host Make Music Day events.

Take part in this amazing adventure

Enquire now

Participate

How to Make Music on June 21?

Create a live-streamed event on social media!
Post pre-recorded content on social media!
Create your own Make Music event where you live!
Create your own Make Music Day event at your school!
You could be a community music club or group that could promote a big annual event among its members
Contact your local council and ask can you have a spot to play? Parks, Plazas, and Shopping Centres
Join an existing community event and add to the numbers
You could be a government or industry organisation seeking to present a larger-scale Make Music celebration in your city, shire or town. Please email rob.walker@australianmusic.asn.au to discuss the resources needed and how the AMA can assist you to promote your event

A downloadable tool kit is available in the RESOURCES section of the site. It guidance and ideas on how to participate in Make Music Day.

What are you registering ?

An Event/Activity – Register the details of the activity or event you’re organising so that others can find it on 21 June! Please include the activity description, date, time, location/URL/social media handle and organisers details.

A Venue
Register the details of your venue so that any event organisers or musicians can find your venue and get in touch with you to organise hosting their events in your venue. Please include the address, size, capacity, tech and AV provisions, amenities and contact details.

Schedule

All Make Music events are free and open to the public at the point of entry.

Make Music Day will coordinate a national online program of events as advised by hosts.

Pre-recorded content that is submitted to the Make Music Day Australia website will be displayed in an online gallery on June 21.

Why Make Music Day? Why Participate? Performance!

Participation is open to musicians of all levels. Over the coming months will help the community learn how to stage a Make Music Day event.

Participation can be developed at many levels, state & local government, community organisations, chambers of commerce, music clubs and schools

Thousands of amateur musicians, of all ages and genres, play for some of the biggest crowds of their lives and some play in front of people for the first time. Everyone can experience the joy of performing, even those without the skills or connections to find gigs in regular venues.
Professional artists and presenters showcase their music to a new audience, reaching people who would never normally hear their work.
Schools can reach out to the community and celebrate Make Music Day while the community rejoice in the rich talent in our schools.
Participants feel part of a larger musical community, and the freedom to wander around and improvise with each other. For most musicians, it will be unlike any other musical experience they have had.
Listeners can come out from under their headphones and experience live music up close. Audiences feel no pressure to stay if they don’t like a particular band; with no money spent and no walls holding them in, they can wander to discover unfamiliar genres and groups risk-free.
Local business districts attract customers by hosting musicians in front of shops and restaurants.
For neighbours, it’s a chance to turn ordinary sidewalks and streets into impromptu stages, dance floors, and social meeting points, and bring their community together.
For the city as a whole, it’s a way to attract tourists from other parts of the region to come experience the city’s cultural richness.
Through the Council’s events, economic development and Arts & Culture programs, municipal councils can, by providing space and communications, encourage the community to come together in a making music project that joins the Global event that is Make Music Day