MERGE: Commissioning 5 new musical works

In times of emergency, music lifts us. Consoles us. Brings us together and guides us forward. And right now, there has never been a greater need for music—especially music that is powered by creative communities, coming together in a spirit of collaboration.

In this one-off partnership – MPavilion, Open House Melbourne and Melbourne Music Week are joining forces to commission five Melbourne artists to: 

  • perform and record an existing musical work (approx 15 minutes) as part of Open House Melbourne in July 2020 which will be broadcast across our social channels, and 
  • create a new musical work (approx  15 minutes) and perform it as part of Melbourne Music Week in November 2020, at MPavilion. 

The commission is open to both solo artists and bands/collectives. A fee of $2,000 (ex. GST) will be awarded to successful applicants, to be used for the project. All production (and backline) costs will be covered by MPavilion (subject to agreement).

As part of the application, we will ask you to provide a 300-word proposal about why you’re interested in the MERGE program and the music you are interested in creating as part of the November commission. It will need to include ideas about how would you respond to one of the following five buildings:

  1. Villa Alba Museum
  2. Jack’s Magazine
  3. Waller House
  4. Australian Tapestry Workshop
  5. Trades Hall

Applicants must meet the following selection criteria:

  • be a Melbourne-based musician (s)
  • be an emerging/ambitious musician
  • be available in early July to film a performance recording of existing work
  • be available in November for the MMW performance

Timeline:

  • Thursday 21 May – MERGE applications open
  • Sunday 14 June – MERGE applications close
  • Friday 19 June – Selected musicians notified
  • w/c 13 July –  Musicians to perform live and be filmed in Open House Melbourne properties
  • Saturday 25 July – Recording of live performances streamed on Open House, Melbourne Music Week and MPavilion’s websites
  • 18 – 22 November – Musicians perform new works live at MPavilion as part of MMW

Submission Deadline: Applications are due by 5pm on Sunday 14 June 2020

Click here to apply

For any further information please contact info@mpavilion.com.au