Australian National University, School of Music, Canberra, ACT.

Saturday evening September 10th to Monday September 12th, 2011

The annual Music Council of Australia Assembly is the conference of the only organisation concerned with the vitality of all of Australian music and musical life. It brings together people from right across the music sector - people who never meet in other circumstances but here find that they are basically on the same side. They want an even better musical life for Australia; they want a creative and vital Australian music; they want musical opportunities for everyone; they want our best musicians to have the chance for recognition; financial reward - world acclaim. And that is what the Assembly is about.

While there is plenty of good talk at the Assembly, the Music Council means business: many recommendations from the Assembly are taken up by the Music Council for action.

Each year the Assembly includes the Annual Address, given by a distinguished national or international speaker. We have had speakers like David Price, the British music educator known for the Musical Futures program and for his foundational work with Paul McCartney's music institute in Liverpool, Nicholas Gruen, leader of the Federal Government’s 2.0 Taskforce, and composer/broadcaster Andrew Ford of The Music Show. We will shortly announce the speaker for 2011.

The Assembly always begins on the Saturday evening with a reception. We will soon also announce the venue for the reception. And as always, there will be a dinner, including live music by some of the nation’s finest musicians.

18th Annual Assembly of the Music Council of Australia

Among the issues covered by the sessions are:

• Music and the National Broadband Network
• Development of the National Cultural Policy, with Richard Eccles, Deputy Secretary for the Arts, Deparment of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
• The latest developments in online marketing of music
• MCA’s national strategy for musical development at the community level.
• Folk music and its role in Australian musical life.
• The National Curriculum in music: completing a satisfactory curriculum.
• The National Curriculum in music: who will teach it?!
• Copyright and improvised music .
• National cultural institutions: the National Film and Sound Archive, and TROVE at the National Library.
• The Music Board music sector plan.
• Careers in music, with the Australian Youth Music Council.

The final program, with links to some presentation materials follows:

Conference of the Music in Communities Network

The Music in Communities Network will host a conference on community music development on the day prior to the Assembly, Saturday September 10, all day.

Music Making Money – New Careers in the Arts

The Australian Youth Music Council (AYMC) will host a music careers workshop, also on September 10, beginning at noon.
This workshop is free!