About the Artists in Residence Program
The Artists in Residence Program is a unique 12-month residency that helps Sydney-based ensembles build a greater professional profile and audience. The residency is offered annually to one classical music ensemble and one Jazz ensemble.
Established in 2014, past Artists in Residence include the Omega Ensemble, Acacia Quartet, The Streeton Trio, The Marais Project, Elysian Fields, The Michael Griffin Sextet, States of Chaos, the Sydney Cello Quartet and Anoesis.
Value
Valued at $10,000 (with no cash component), the 2025 Artists in Residence will receive:
- Broadcast opportunities, including interviews and CD of the Week opportunities
- $10,000 promotional credit to be used for marketing activities on 2MBS Fine Music Sydney’s on-air and online marketing channels.
- Access to the Fine Music Founders’ Studio for rehearsals
Eligibility
Volunteers and Staff of 2MBS Fine Music Sydney are not eligible to apply for the residency.
Applicants must:
- Be based in Sydney
- Be in a classical music or jazz ensemble with two or more members
Selection Criteria
The Artists in Residence Program is not a performance competition and will be awarded to the applicant who best meets the following criteria:
- The applicant has actively demonstrated an interest, commitment and the potential for a viable career in the performance or composition of classical or jazz music.
- The applicant has identified a detailed project or activity with the potential to significantly enhance the ensemble’s career.
- The applicant has effectively demonstrated how the ensemble will utilise the sponsorship and broadcasting opportunities component of the Artists in Residence Program.
- The applicant has effectively demonstrated how the ensemble will utilise access to the Fine Music Founders’ Studio as a rehearsal or recording (at their own expense) space.
Application Guidelines
Applications closed on 30 November 2024. Applicants must complete and submit all materials using the online entry form. Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.
The applicant must sign an agreement with 2MBS Fine Music Sydney acknowledging and accepting the Terms and Conditions governing the Artists in Residence Program.
Provide details about the Ensemble and any project or activity with the potential to significantly enhance the ensemble’s career.
Provide material (documentation, recordings, reviews, references etc.) to support application
If selected as a finalist, the Ensemble may be invited to a follow-up interview or audition.
Meet Outback Brass, our 2024 Artists in Residence (classical)
Outback Brass
Outback Brass is a quintet that was formed in 2018 by Phill O’Neill, who, after having spent years living in regional Australia where he felt top-level musical performances were less common there than in coastal centres and major cities, had the desire to develop an ensemble with a primary focus on sharing and performing top level Australian music far and wide, including remote areas of Australia.
Over the past couple of years Outback Brass has collaborated with several Australian composers and members of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra to bring these new compositions to life.
Meet Mosaic, our 2024 Artists in Residence (jazz)
Mosaic
The 2MBS Fine Music Sydney Artist in Residence program is designed to support Sydney jazz ensembles with active promotion and provide extensive rehearsal opportunities. This year’s award goes to a young 10-piece jazz ensemble who are all still on the Sydney Conservatorium jazz campus, the Mosaic Jazz Collective.
The Collective emerged from a Sydney Conservatorium workshop, taking inspiration from the Australian jazz heavyweights, 10 Part Invention. It is made up of tenor saxophones and clarinets, trumpets and flugelhorns, drums and bass, with the co-leaders Lee Orszaczky, Chiara Minotto and Ravi Trachtenberg-Ray playing trombone, baritone sax and piano respectively.