Live Music Venue Business Grants

Live music is a critical part of Queensland’s arts and cultural vibrancy and makes important economic and social contributions across the State.

Live Music Venue Business Grants (the Fund) is a program of the Queensland Government’s Grow 2022-2026 action plan, the second action plan for Creative Together 2020-2030.

The Fund delivers on the Queensland Government’s Live Music Support Package, announced through the 2024-25 State Budget, which commits more than $3 million to boost the State's live music industry and grow Queensland’s night-time economy.

Responding to the challenges faced by the live music industry, the Package supports Live Music Venue Business Grants, along with the Growing Gigs Fund and the work of the new Queensland Night Life Economy Commissioner. The Package will also provide $1.6 million to Woodfordia to enhance the visitor experience and mitigate weather impacts on the iconic Woodford Folk Festival through infrastructure enhancements.

Fund objectives

The Fund works to strengthen small live music venues in Queensland. It focuses on growing and diversifying the business models of small live music venues and enhancing their future viability by:

• incentivising venues to consider creative ways to attract new patrons, partnerships or collaborations that grow new, profitable income streams
• supporting new and innovative approaches that improve operational efficiency and reduce costs.

View the Live Music Venue Business Grants guidelines for more information. 

Funding available

Queensland live music venues of up to 500-person capacity can apply for funding of between $10,000 and $25,000 to support:

• venue improvements that increase accessibility or patron capacity, or that reduce operating costs such as insurance or security
• equipment purchases that increase the earning potential and profit from current operations or new activities
• offsetting the costs of trialling alternative venue use outside of standard business hours that could lead to new revenue streams, e.g. day time or Monday and Tuesday nights, etc.

A live music venue is defined as a business whose primary function is to program or host live original music, or that has a significant area within their venue that regularly and frequently hosts live performances of original music, e.g. a pub with a staged area and a regular program of touring bands would be eligible, but a pub which has weekly live music as part of its dinner service would not.

Original live music is defined as live performances of music that is composed and written by the artist(s) performing (or is exclusively written for the artist/band by someone else). The artist or band may include ‘covers’ in their live performance, i.e. songs written or previously performed or recorded by other artists, but these should make up no more than half of the songs or pieces performed. The fund will support a single performance or a program of performances.

A minimum of 30% of total distributed funds will be prioritised for activity in regional Queensland.

You must provide evidence of matched funding (1:1), cash and/or in-kind.

Applications must be submitted by the Fund closing date:

Fund opens	Fund closes	Notification	Activity start date
Tuesday 24 September 2024	2pm, Tuesday 5 November 2024	Late January 2025	Activities commencing from 1 March 2025 and must take place within 12 months of funding being secured.