Musicians will soon have a new avenue to practise and promote their work in the form of four street performance spots in Newcastle.
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The city's four business improvement associations (BIAs), at Hamilton, Mayfield, Wallsend and in the CBD, launched the $40,000 Live Spots program on Wednesday.
Inexperienced and established artists will be encouraged to sign up online to participate in the program.
Experienced musicians will be booked into one of the four performances spaces, and developing talents will be directed to Hamilton's Atwea College for free instruction on playing live.
Organisers said on Wednesday that the program would likely start off with monthly performance sessions at each venue, Hamilton's James Street Plaza, Darby Street, Wallsend's Rotunda Park and either Victoria Street, Mayfield, or near the suburb's new Coles development.
The BIAs will engage visual artists to paint round Live Spots logos at each location.
Bands or solo performers will receive $50 per gig and have access to free use of a public address system to amplify their sound.
Some of the traditional opportunities for musicians, including performing at markets and in pubs, have been lost this year to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Talent agent Belle Taylor, from Fuzion Management, said Live Spots would give performers an opportunity to "get a foot in the door".
"They can't at some [established] venues, because there is so much talent, and it's hard," she said.
"Even venues in Newcastle at the moment they can only take so many each week, even before COVID, so this is a way of getting them known.
"I want Newcastle to be known for emerging music."
Newcastle City BIA deputy chair and Live Spots deputy project lead Joe Relic said the performances would be scheduled to coincide with times of high foot traffic in each area.
"Our ultimate objective is to have dozens of spots across the city that are coordinated to feature a wide range of musicians, genres and styles and work within the larger city-wide tourism, events and cultural landscape," he said.
The project will be funded by part of the $100,000 each BIA receives from the pool of special rate levies paid by businesses in each precinct.
It is one of the first initiatives of the BIAs since Newcastle council overhauled a previous funding model for the levy last year and froze Newcastle Now and Hamilton Chamber of Commerce out of the scheme.
The levy raises about $900,000 a year. The council now allocates money to the BIAs and any other group with a project to promote or beautify each of the four commercial centres.