About
Over
300 Schools
Over
1000 Songs
Over
5000 Students
Over
300 Schools
Over
1000 Songs
Over
5000 Students
What
we do
We link Australia’s internationally successful songwriters and producers, teachers, young people and leading researchers in shared creativity – that’s a fresh approach to school/industry partnerships.
Through a variety of programs, we support practical contemporary music education in schools to build a stronger songwriting culture in Australia.
SongMakers is unique in its provision of school-based, real world learning as an entry point to an industry that has few formal pathways for career commencement and advancement.
Our flagship 2-day in-school workshop is under subsidy from APRA AMCOS. The fee balance for schools is $550 incl GST.
Learn more about this creative program.
2-DAY
School
workshops
We take young people behind the scenes in the music industry through the mentored creation of new songs.
Students learn transferrable skills like working in teams, pushing through comfort zones, working to deadlines, and being enterprising.
For Students
SongMakers Program
School Workshops
Over 2 consecutive days, prominent Australian songwriters and music producers work with young creatives to write and record new songs.
Locations
ACT, NSW, NT, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA
Duration
2 days
Cost
$550
More
programs
SongMakers supports music education through a suite of programs for young creatives and teachers across the country.
Learn more about the programs we offer.
For Students
SongMakers Program
SongMakers Academy
During an intensive 3 days under the mentorship of industry professionals, participants will write, produce, and record THREE original songs in professional recording studios.
Locations
NSW, VIC
Duration
3 days
Cost
Free!
For Students
SongMakers Program
Holiday Workshops
Mirroring the core SongMakers School Workshop program, the holiday program is delivered over 2 days during school holiday periods in regional Victoria and New South Wales.
Locations
NSW, VIC
Duration
2 days
Cost
Free!
For Students
SongMakers Program
SongMakers Live
With guidance from industry mentors, 16 bands will learn the art of taking their songs from the studio to the stage. From stage craft, setting up gear, sound checking and building confidence on stage, everyone will leave with the tools to build an unforgettable live show.
Locations
VIC
Duration
2 weekends
Cost
Free!
For Teachers
SongMakers Program
Initial Teacher Education
Offering insights into practical, creative and collaborative songwriting across curriculums, this program ensures future educators are equipped with valuable, creative and inspiring tools before entering the classroom.
Locations
VIC
Duration
1 day
Cost
Free!
For Teachers
SongMakers Program
Teacher Professional Development
SongMakers mentors guide music teachers through a compacted version of the SongMakers School Workshop, equipping them with creative and practical strategies to incorporate similar lessons into their classrooms.
Locations
VIC
Duration
1 day
Cost
Free!
For Students
SongMakers Program
Flexible Learning
This program is significantly different to our core workshop program. Delivered over 6 weeks during the school term, sessions are task focussed and outcome based, designed to best engage with students in these learning environments.
Locations
VIC
Duration
6 weeks
Cost
Free!
Meet
the team
SongMakers mentors’ depth of experience is one of the reasons our programs are unique. Between them they are multiple ARIA, APRA and even Grammy Award winners.
Mentor
Alice Ivy
Producer
Alice Ivy is an ARIA-nominated electronic producer who has performed with Billie Eilish, Foster The People, Flight Facilities, Vera Blue & The Jungle Giants, and at SXSW, Falls Festival, Listen Out and Splendour In The Grass. Her triple j featured and 'J Award' nominated second album, ‘Don't Sleep’, containing collaborations with Thelma Plum, Odette & Montaigne saw Alice Ivy catch nominations for 'Best Dance Release' and 'Best Engineer' at the 2020 ARIA Awards.
Mentor
Anna Laverty
Producer
Anna Laverty is one of Australia’s finest production talents, with credits on projects by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Courtney Barnett, Meg Mac, Lady Gaga, G Flip, Montaigne, Ali Barter and Kira Puru. Honing her production and engineering skills under the tutelage of producers Paul Epworth (Adele) and Ben Hillier (Blur, U2), Anna worked on releases by Bloc Party and Depeche Mode at London’s Miloco Studios. In early 2020 Anna was awarded the inaugural Mushroom Music Producer Award and finished the year by receiving the Australia Council Fellowship for creative activity and professional development.
Mentor
Blake Rhodes
Artist
Blake (aka Mr Rhodes) is a Sydney-based artist hailing from Lismore, one third of award-winning hip-hop trio Teddy Lewis King.
Breanna Jones
New South Wales Program Coordinator
Breanna Jones has been making noise in bands and annoying neighbours since 2010. She also has over a decade of experience supporting others to do the same. Breanna has been Station Manager at fbi.radio, a creative advisor for Accessible Arts’ Songsmiths program, a board member for not-for-profit disability-led label Off The List Records, mentored at Girls Rock! Australia camps and sat on judging panels for the Music Victoria Awards, and Accessible Arts’ Bundanon Artist in Residence program. Passionate about access and inclusion in music spaces, Breanna works hard to ensure everyone has an opportunity to play loud and compete for the title of World’s Worst Neighbour.
Alumni, Mentor
Chelsea Warner
Producer/Songwriter
Producer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Chelsea Warner creates forward-thinking R&B, pop and hip-hop from Sydney, Australia. As well as her own collaborations with Emalia, Tentendo, and Vetta Borne, she has credits on releases by Ūla, Urthboy, Liyah Knight, BVT and more. A 2022 finalist in the Hip Hop/Rap/R&B/Soul category of the APRA AMCOS Professional Development Awards, Chelsea also attended the Bali Songwriting Invitational alongside MNEK (Dua Lipa, Beyoncé), Smoko Ono (Chance The Rapper, Kanye West) and others.
Participation year - 2016 NSW
Alumni
Chitra Ridwan
Artist
Growing up surrounded by the diverse musical influences on the Bellarine Peninsula, Chitra’s sound is unrefined by formal training and blossoms with the self-assuredness and freedom of a coastal kid. Chitra’s debut self-titled EP was recorded with James Cecil (Architecture in Helsinki) and covers complex narratives of unspoken thoughts and self preservation. Chitra was triple j Unearthed’s 2019 The Drop festival winner, winner of the 2020 Victorian Up Start Award, has supported the likes of Tyne-James Organ and graced festival stages from Port Fairy to Brisbane’s Mountain Goat Valley Crawl.
Participation year - 2014 VIC
What I remember the most about [SongMakers] was it taught me more about working with other people on a project. The only other people I had worked with were band members at that stage. To have a producer come in and to workshop a song with everyone was a first for me, normally it's quite an intimate process but this was really insightful; to be thinking further about how it sounds sonically and how to get it there with someone specialising in that area.
Why
we do it?
SongMakers is an important part of Australia’s industry development ecosystem because it encourages a stronger culture of creating original songs, collaboratively.
Being able to collaborate is vital.
When young people participate in SongMakers, they flex their creative thinking muscles, building all-important skills.
We see improvements in their:
+ Motivation to complete tasks and sustained improvement in overall attitudes to learning
+ Confidence and clarity around goal-setting
+ Improved disposition to group work: creative thinking, collaboration, problem solving
+ Confidence and self-esteem in being able to meet a challenge, to a deadline, and push boundaries
+ Willingness to collaborate with others and value their input
+ Generate greater peer respect, for improved social connections
Songwriting can be a site of resilience in schools, helping students cope with the challenges of adolescence.
Group songwriting can help build empathy.
International and Australian research finds that arts education generally and music education specifically are uniquely beneficial to students’ learning at school. The academic and policy community, and major global employers such as Google and Tesla, say students must develop the 21st century skills of creativity, communication, critical thinking and collaboration over more narrow, technical skills. These are the bedrock principles of SongMakers.
While music is one of the most dramatically-changing industries and presents exciting opportunities for young creatives, the pace of change makes it near impossible for teachers to keep up with developments. The SongMakers program bridges that gap to help teachers deliver relevant popular music education that matches the industry’s opportunities with their students’ aspirations.
In the longer term this kind of focused investment in the ecosystem around music creating will see cultural and economic rewards for Australia. How? Because Australia will be established internationally as a centre of excellence; as more Australians become engaged in creating music, there will be more excellence and commercial success for our writers. This will move Australia closer to being a net exporter of music like Sweden, the UK and the US.
Participant feedback
SONGMAKERS 2023 PATTERNMAKERS PROGRAM EVALUATION
AGREE 90%
say songwriting improves their mood
AGREE 96%
of participants agree the program taught them to collaborate on a song
AGREE 96%
say they’re proud of the song they made in the workshop
AGREE 96%
have written an original song since attending the workshop
Teacher feedback
SongMakers 2020 University of Tasmania Evaluation
AGREE 75%
students have written more of their own songs since participating in the SongMakers workshop
AGREE 75%
they had observed positive differences in students’ attitudes towards their learning since the SongMakers workshop
AGREE 100%
the workshop provided students with learning opportunities that are not otherwise available to them
AGREE 100%
the mentors were effective in sharing knowledge about the music industry and in motivating students to create their own music
Get
songmaking
Engaging, challenging and rewarding, SongMakers fast tracks young people’s understanding of opportunities in today’s music world.
If you would like to register your interest in a SongMakers workshop, complete our EOI form and we will be in touch.
