Northern Rivers Conservatorium, Dunoon and District Gazette
The Lismore-based Northern Rivers Conservatorium, locally known as ‘the Con’, which has been critically impacted by the floods that have devastated the regional city of Lismore, is partnering with Resound – a program of The Music Trust – and Create NSW to provide free replacement instruments for musicians young and old impacted by the floods across the Northern Rivers.
It is clear from the extent of the NSW floods that many of the Con’s students, teachers and other musicians have lost their instruments, with most uninsured, and the Con has worked to quickly explore immediate support options for staff, students and the wider musical community impacted by this crisis. The Con itself has also lost much of its musical equipment and not all is fully covered by insurance.
The Conservatorium’s Executive Director Anita Bellman explained “The Con lost all of its musical equipment including orchestral instruments such as strings, brass, woodwind, percussion, a xylophone, a marimba, a vibraphone, timpanis, congas, bongos, claves, pianos, electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitars, drum kits, ukuleles, amps, leads, mics, music stands and an entire sheet music library including orchestral scores and big band music. Our Con community includes over 500 students and 25 teachers, who are impacted either by losing their instrument, or their tuition, or both. There are musicians in the wider community who have also been impacted in a similar way and we all need help to enable music to return to the Northern Rivers.”
The Con is partnering with Create NSW to work with Resound to distribute instruments to young people throughout the region. Over the last 13 years, Resound has helped musicians impacted by natural disasters through replacement of musical instruments. Resound was originally established for the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, matching donated musical instruments with affected musicians, schools and music students.
Also stepping forward to support this important recovery process is the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. The Sydney Symphony is liaising with the Con and other community groups directly about their needs and are committed to supporting an instrument campaign to assist with the replacement of instruments. The Sydney Symphony is happy to partner on this initiative to assist with the replacement of instruments for distribution across flood affected areas of the Northern Rivers.
To pledge a good quality instrument or make a tax-deductible donation, please go to www.resound.org.au. For those musicians affected by the recent floods, please apply for an instrument at www.resound.org.au. Resound is a program of The Music Trust, an organisation that works with energy, imagination and authority for music in Australia.
For further details, contact Anita Bellman (Northern Rivers Conservatorium) anita.bellman@nrcac.edu.au or phone 0410 047 066; or Rachel Hocking (Resound) rachel@resound.org.au or phone 0424 071 914.
This article appeared in the Dunoon and District Gazette, April-May 2022.
