BY CUTCOMMON
It’s easy enough to fall in love with a great piece of music, enjoy a live performance, or feel inspired by that music teacher you’ll never forget.
But the other side of the picture is far more complex — and it’s painted with creativity and collaboration, years of training, countless hours of practice, and the raw vision and drive to make art happen.
Pretty much every arts worker deserves an award for that effort, don’t you think?
You have the opportunity to share your gratitude for the arts workers in your community. You have the power to be part of a prestigious national awards process that could help change the life and career of a performer, composer, or music educator you love. And it’s as easy as putting forward their name.
The APRA AMCOS 2023 Art Music Awards are now open for nominations — and the artists you choose to enter could be recognised for something as substantial as having made the official Work of the Year, giving the Performance of the Year, or having an outstanding impact with their Experimental Practice. Even if the artist is not in the heart of a major city, they can still be recognised for their Excellence in a Regional Area.
There are 14 categories in this year’s awards. We chat with Cameron Lam — the art music lead of APRA AMCOS, and a composer in his own right — about the impact you could make when you nominate someone (and what to do if you receive a nomination, too!).
Cameron, it’s that time again for the Art Music Awards. But what people may not be thinking about is that they help determine the outcome! How important is it to nominate your peers for an award like this?
Incredibly important! I think one of the most impactful things we can do in a community is lift each other up, especially those who are emerging, overlooked, or quiet achievers.
Every single member of APRA AMCOS and every financial member of the Australian Music Centre is eligible to nominate for each award category — up to 14! — and I feel we have a responsibility to look around and see who isn’t in the room, and use our power to help open a door.
How can artists choose the right fit when there are 14 categories on offer — and when there are so many artists and organisations of different scales in the mix?
I think it’s important to remember that each category is centred around a core idea, and that scale isn’t always a measure of how effective or impactful an activity, work, or artist is.
Across all the categories, we’ve have finalists and winners at various stages of careers or scale of organisation. If it’s interesting, exciting, or important work, it should be nominated so it can be a part of the mix for the panel to assess.
As art music lead of APRA AMCOS, who do you like to see represented in these awards?
I’m most excited when I see new artists or projects come through in nominations that I hadn’t heard of before. Seeing first-time nominators and nominees is also a rush. If the Art Music Awards are to represent the entire community, it should be ever-expanding and changing as the medium is.
There are also the established champions and heroes of the art music community that invest tirelessly in fostering new relationships and building new spaces for creators and producers. It’s wonderful to see them get their flowers as well.
The Luminary awards allow artists to be recognised nationally as well as on a local level. What should people think about when they’re thinking about nominating a local hero?
The state and territory awards interest me greatly because I think they ask a fundamentally different question to the national Luminary awards: Who are the people that make your local community or scene tick? What is essential lifeblood of our local communities?
Where the annual awards and National Luminaries tend to look to the national or world stages, I’m glad we have a place to honour those people who are fundamental to our artform but may not always get the spotlight they deserve.
There are also industry-based awards for practitioners whose work doesn’t fit into a Work of the Year or performance categories. Talk us through those and why they’re just as significant.
There are three awards for excellence that touch on important places of growth and development in the industry.
Excellence in a Regional Area is a nod to the essential work that space place outside our metropolitan centres, both in terms of outreach but especially in terms of local initiatives and programs. As someone who grew up in the country towns of Parkes and Orange in New South Wales, I really appreciate seeing this important work acknowledged.
Excellence in Music Education looks into the usage of and engagement with Australian repertoire in education settings, ensuring students have access to and appreciation of the wealth of music we create.
Finally, Excellence in Experimental Practice celebrates those who question how we work and push the bar forward, pioneers in how we create, perform, and present music across all Art Music genres.
APRA AMCOS states on its website that it’s “committed to ensuring a diversity of viewpoints are represented in our judging panels”. How does it do this, and why is it important?
We all bring bias into our work, and I would argue it is also a natural consequence of expertise, but part of a fair assessment process is acknowledging this an trying to counteract this. This is the importance of having differing viewpoints on each awards panel: we can and should try to account for our own bias, but having others with different outlooks and experience also helps to hold us to account in panel discussions.
Broadly speaking, the five lenses we use when assembling panels are Gender, Genre, Geography, Generation, and Culture, though obviously there as so many more facets and experiences to consider as well. Each award has its own panel to ensure these aspects are balanced while also ensuring the expertise required to assess the field of nominations.
For those lucky enough to receive a nomination for their hard work in our creative community, what’s next?
Beyond the rush of being nominated, there is a little admin — but I promise nothing to be too scared of or intimidated by.
You’ll have a checklist of materials to provide, so your work can be assessed equally with everyone else; and some promotional materials, so we’re ready to put your name in lights should be a winner or finalist. If you’ve received multiple nominations in the same category — for example, two different pieces in Work of the Year: Chamber Music — you will need to choose just one to go ahead with.
Any final words for nominators and how they could make someone’s day — or career! — by nominating an artist?
A nomination is an incredible confidence boost and moment of validation for an artist, and I think we all know how hard it can be working, and creating, and staying in this field especially over the past few years.
But additionally, this is wonderful moment to stop and take stock, and appreciate those around you and the difference this community makes to our day-to-day and to our creative futures.
I hope you join us in celebrating our amazing art music community with a nomination or two.
Nominate an arts worker you love for the AMC and APRA AMCOS 2023 Art Music Awards. Visit the website for full details on the nomination process and categories before they close on 15 March.
Images supplied. Above: Emma Donovan, Aaron Wyatt, Stéphanie Kabanyana Kanyandekwe. Featured image: Claire Edwardes and Jane Sheldon. Photo credit: Rick Clifford
Cameron photo credit: Jess Gleeson, courtesy of APRA AMCOS.
