The funding builds on two events held in the ACT and Victoria in March. From here the program expands to six high school music events across New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Tasmania and South Australia, reaching up to 12,000 students. The events are delivered in partnership with triple j and are scheduled for early 2027.

The workshops are not only about getting kids on stage. They cover the jobs that sit behind the stage, which is exactly where the sector’s skills shortages have been sharpest since the pandemic. Production, touring, box office, venue management and promotion all rely on people finding their way in early, and most school students have never been told those jobs exist.

There is also an audience story here. Young people who go to an all ages show at 15 are the ticket buyers of 2035. Live music businesses have been saying for years that the pipeline of young audiences needs deliberate investment rather than luck, and a national schools footprint is one of the few things that can move that at scale.