UNDERAGE music fans in Newcastle will soon have live gigs to enjoy once again with The Y's next series of shows expected to begin in December.
The Y, a youth-based organisation formerly known as The Y Project, recently received $30,000 from the City Of Newcastle's Special Business Rates Program to curate a music and arts series of events called Stomping Ground.
It follows the $27,000 grant in 2019 for the Tracks series, which incorporated live music at venues along the Newcastle light rail line.
Stomping Ground will feature eight to 10 music and art events for all-ages.
"Essentially we're gonna build off that [Tracks] idea to make it bigger and use business spaces that aren't traditionally music spaces like art galleries or cafes or restaurants and put gigs on," The Y's event manager Amelia Samson says.
The first Stomping Ground is expected to be announced shortly for December. Six Tracks events were held between August 2020 and last May.
Samson says The Y will also use the funding to set up the organisation to host future events without council support.
"With the money we're also going to buy a PA and lighting so after this funding is over, or if future gigs don't meet the criteria for this funding, we can go further than just the CBD and set up in a park or anywhere really so we can adapt to any space essentially," she says.
The pandemic has only made the need for all-ages events in Newcastle more pressing. Music festivals like This That and Groovin' The Moo, which are usual rites of passage for Hunter teens, have been unable to proceed since 2019.
"Everyone else can go to the pub and see live music but there is a scarcity of music for the all-ages crowd," Samson says.
"There was already a demand and now that they've had their social life taken off them with online schooling for example, I know there's a lot of social anxiety emerging from lockdown and relearning how to socialise.
"Music is such a communal language, if I was a high school student right now emerging from the second lockdown and second homeschooling I would be really grateful to have a place to gather and enjoy something so universal."
Samson says The Y was aiming to sign established headline acts for Stomping Ground shows, but unknown and emerging local bands would also be a priority.
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