MusicACT and the Live Music Office congratulate the ACT Government on the release of its Entertainment Action Plan for Canberra that provides a roadmap for night time economic development in the Territory.

Follow these links to visit the Entertainment Areas website and read the ACT Government’s Entertainment Action Plan

This plan is a significant milestone for the ACT, and we, along with many across the Australian music industry wish to recognise and acknowledge the Territory government’s deep engagement and consultation that went into the Entertainment Action Plan development, as well as the significant roles played by Clubs ACT and the Australian Hotels Association (AHA) ACT as the territory assembly recognised the importance of planning for entertainment and the night time economy in 2019.

The ACT government, and the ACT’s reputation as a progressive jurisdiction is revitalised, having taken a national lead in terms of what is possible for live music from a planning and regulatory point of view at a time when many other cities across the country are looking at night-time economy strategies. The opportunity to create a variety of entertainment areas to meet specific music industry, live performance, festival and audience demands is genuinely exciting, as well as are the potential associated benefits for the retail and hospitality sector, visitors and consumers.

To ensure a thriving ACT music industry we cannot emphasise enough the importance of having sustainable live performance venues ranging from intimate cafes and bars through to arenas, stadiums and broad acre festival sites in beautiful outdoor natural settings. Live music is the engine room of the music industry and ensuring artists and audiences have sustainable venues is essential to success and growth.

A critical outcome of the Entertainment Action Plan will be whether implementation results in a growing diversity of live music venues, and most importantly that significant structural gaps are filled, especially in the form of a mid size music venue of between 500 to 1,000 capacity that would mean a transformational step up in viability for both local and touring
musicians. Further, a reliable well supported home for music festivals in the ACT would have huge positive cultural, social and economic impact.

There is every indication given the comprehensive range of reforms offered in the Entertainment Action Plan the ACT is set to nurture a thriving live music industry and growing night time economy. The LMO and MusicACT look forward to continuing to provide industry guidance and working collaboratively with the ACT government through the further development of this action plan.