Prepared by Joanne Kee on behalf of Jazzgroove Association, and Peter Rechniewski, on behalf of Sydney Improvised Jazz Association (SIMA). The responses are from a viewpoint of the contemporary jazz sector from a National overview. Submitted 4 March 2008.

Entered on knowledge base 3 September 2008

Strengths

• Adequacy of training of musicians in improvised jazz music is at a very high level.
• The level of professionalism in terms of the actual music is very high.
• Interestingly within NSW, the most active music sector in the recent campaign for liquor licensing laws was the jazz community. Indeed Jazzgroove started from musicians' sense of frustration at the lack of performance  opportunities in this city.  Therefore there is a capacity for the musicians to rally when motivated.
• There is also a strong sense amongst the musicians that I am dealing with that they want to create a better tomorrow, and many are prepared to assist with their own time.  From my conversations with musicians it appears that support for live music has dwindled over the years and the lack of venues suitable for live performance is fundamental to this issue.
• Impact of sector on musical life: Huge, with the number of musicians performing in the commercial arena, ie supporting musicians with much higher profiles such as Missy Higgins or has jazz musicians as members of their core group but are not jazz ensembles, eg Cat Empire and Thirsty Merc.  There are also a number of musicians who form core orchestras for commercial musicals.
• Repertoire: within the improvised sector there is an incredible range of styles and diversity.
• Large commercial events, eg Ornette Coleman, Dave Holland with the marketing clout of the Opera House are selling out. People know and understand musicians with brands such as James Morrison.  These performers do have financially viable careers. More established organisations such as SIMA have patchy box office. Jazzgroove is growing audience numbers and revenue levels.

Weaknesses

• Adequacy of training of those on the business management side (budgeting, marketing, publicity, contracting etc) are not areas which have been supported within this sector.
• Professionalism in areas of administration/management is lacking – poor standards across the board, lack of organizational planning and capacity to build for the future.
• Types of employment within this sector is casual, contract, part-time, full-time, volunteer.  Administration is pretty much part-time, except for the rare organizations which have funding. In these cases these are usually only one-person organizations, or a couple of part-time people.
• Without voluntary labour the scene would not even exist.
• Within voluntary labour is included the door deals that musicians make, where often they end up with very poor returns (perhaps $20 per musician or nothing if they have to pay sound engineers). This does not include time and effort spent on marketing etc.
• In this sector agents also seem to be quite rare.
• Support for live music has dwindled and the lack of venues suitable for live performance is a problem.
• Statistics, research and promotion/distribution of information on this sector are not consistent or easily accessible, and most of it is old.
• The reputation of this sector does not appear to be good amongst funding bodies, and people who have had a long involvement in this genre.
• Financial viability of sector: profitability, adequacy of subsidies where relevant, adequacy of other sources of funds such as sponsorships, donations
• Women in the jazz sector: very few, this is a male dominated sector.  The working hours are long and the pay limited, with no security.  There appears to be quite a noticeable lack of women jazz musicians in their 30-40’s.  This is even worse if you exclude vocalists.
• Audience trends: From another viewpoint there is also geographic difficulties in audience numbers.  As is the case with all art forms in Australia, touring is difficult due to high costs and long distances. In many other art forms touring is regarded as essential to their work.  This has not been the case in jazz.  Many musicians do tour, but it is often at a loss and under conditions that would not be accepted by artists for example performing in theatre work.  This has become particularly apparent for me as I have worked in a range of performing arts and am now running a national touring program.
• Presentation trends etc: Not much has changed here. Some introduction of visual/film elements, not that much though as compared to other genres.

Opportunities

• The younger generation, eg 20-30 somethings have a far more supportive, networked culture.  Amongst this group there is a groundswell of support, eg organisations such as Jazzgroove, Sydney, COMA , Adelaide and Half-bent in Melbourne. There is some commitment within the Conservatorium to educate younger generations in what jazz is.  Hopefully these programs will assist with the reach and reputation of the sector.
• Contribution to exports: With an injection of funding for venues, producers, marketing and publicity I strongly believe that the sector could be viable and could become a lot more commercially viable.  There is evidence of this in the numbers of people who attend “jazz” events at the Opera House , during Festival time and at the Basement (when they actually have jazz on).  We have artists with international profiles and there is no reason why Australian artists in this genre (if they received appropriate support) could not punch above their weight in the same way that artists from Finland and Norway do.

Threats

• Musicians are all casual.  Current knowledge in the jazz sector, even at the highest funded level there are no full time ensembles.
• Within the Sydney scene, the understanding from talking to a range of musicians is that there is a distinct lack of performance opportunities
• Traditionally the jazz sector on a national and state level has been fractured and the lack of willingness to work for the greater good rather than the whole has been detrimental to the sector. The Australia Council has been trying to facilitate a more cohesive approach.
• In some States such as WA, individuals have worked hard to bring communities together, and there has been some success.  It can only be assumed that there has been little outreach to other musical sectors, as the jazz scene appears fairly isolated, in non musical networking terms.  This is ironic considering the number of musicians playing in other genres of music, particularly the commercial pop world. 
• There is surprisingly little networking amongst other non-music sectors. My personal belief is that this lack of networking and cooperation has been detrimental the genre.
• Public attitudes: This mainly seems to be under the radar.  My understanding is that jazz was much more popular 30 years ago then it is today.  It appears to have faded away.
• Attitudes of the young: again, if they are not introduced to this music they won’t even notice it.
• Attitudes of governments and bureaucracies towards the sector: Jazz on individual group/band basis is supported, but I have been informed by Government funding bodies that the sector does not have a good reputation as it has been factional.
• Subsidy currently received does not allow the sector to grow in any way and actually asks the artists to work for very little financial gain.  Average fees are between $100-$165 per musician for playing their own music.  Within this framework in Sydney they only have about 4-5 performance opportunities per year per band.  Income is earned from commercial corporate gigs and also teaching.
• Sponsorship is currently unrealistic for organisations such as Jazzgroove when gigs are located in pubs which have no appeal for corporate sponsors.
• Donations are also difficult, mainly due to the lack of skilled individuals who would be able to put together sponsorship and donation frameworks/strategies.  Again this is an issue of lack of resourcing and training for individuals working in management/admin in this sector.
• We believe that the jazz sector can contribute to exports, but there is little infrastructure in place to support musicians wishing to work overseas or to sell their music. One way that exports are slowly happening is music sales.  In particular online distribution.  We are exploring this possibility.
• Audience needs: Accessible and attractive venues, Good marketing and publicity. We have the quality product, but limited means of communicating this to a wider audience.