Opportunities for Students and Alumni

Recitals Australia's Lunch Hour Series provides emerging artists performance experience in front of a live audience, as well as supplying a high-quality live stream for excellent learning opportunities, and for sharing with family and friends. Entries are currently open to perform in the 2025 series.

When the season's Lunch Hour Series has completed, all performers indicating their interest will be judged and the winners from the first round will be invited to compete in the Lunch Hour Series Final for cash prizes of up to $1,000.

To enter, you will need to supply Recitals Australia with a reference or recommendation from your teacher or a professional musician and a video of you playing. Please note that Lunch Hour Concerts are live-streamed and archived on their website.

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Barbara Fergusson, a long-time member of the Richard Wagner Society of SA (RWSSA) and a keen supporter of young artists, is offering membership of the Society and attendance at Society events to students who are interested in Wagner and wish to expand their exposure to this composer. Interested students should contact Barbara at a.b.fergusson@live.com.

Staff and others who are interested in finding out more about the RWSSA are invited to view the website.

The Helpmann Academy's Creative Boost Grants provide emerging creatives with a quick boost of cash up to $500 to support you when you're just starting out. Eligible emerging artists can use the funds to purchase essential services and materials or pay for immediate costs. You may be developing small projects, building digital skills or developing your audience. It may be to support you to continue your creative practice. Creative Boost Grants are for graduates up to five years. Final-year students are not eligible for this round.

Applications close on Sunday 13 April at 11.59pm, for activity occurring between 1 May–31 July 2025.

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Kickstart 2025 with Creative Innovator – a transformative business incubator program designed to turn your creative idea into a reality. Now in its fifth year, Creative Innovator is open to solo creatives or small teams with a promising project or idea. Over six months, you'll sharpen your business skills, fuel your entrepreneurial mindset, and thrive in a supportive, creative environment. The program wraps up with a chance to pitch for up to $20,000 in funding to supercharge your business.

For activity occurring between April–September 2025.

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Do you have ambitions to be an arts reviewer but don't know where to begin?

The 2025 Helpmann Academy InReview Mentorship seeks to develop the next generation of arts reviewers and rebuild the practice of robust discourse and analysis of South Australian performing and visual arts.

The mentoring program – now in its fifth year – is a partnership between Helpmann Academy and InReview, that connects experienced arts writers with emerging voices to strengthen editorial coverage of arts and culture in South Australia.

This partnership is facilitated through InReview, a unique non-profit arts journalism project designed to nurture professional arts reviewing in Australia, particularly for areas in which the practice is under threat. InReview publishes free-to-access reviews and journalism every week for the benefit of the arts sector, audiences, and the community, covering the full breadth of arts and culture practices.

The successful mentee will be matched with an InReview mentor and will work with them across all aspects of review writing and provide career advice. The mentorship will be conducted over eight hours per week between Monday 12 May to Monday 21 July 2025. Throughout the program, the mentee will build their skills to produce multiple reviews for publication in InReview.

The successful applicant will have the opportunity to attend and review a range of creative events i.e. Illuminate Adelaide, Adelaide Cabaret Festival, State Theatre and State Opera seasons, UKARIA concerts and exhibitions at the Art Gallery of South Australia.

This mentorship program is designed for emerging creatives from any background who have an interest in arts writing.

Applications close on Sunday 20 April at 11.59pm.

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The City of Adelaide is celebrating Make Music Day on Saturday 21 June with a mini-festival that is big on showcasing our diverse music community, cultural hubs and performance venues. Expressions of Interest (EOI) are being sought from venues to host a Make Music Day gig and performers to play micro-gigs to small but appreciative audiences.

EOIs close Monday 21 April.

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Applications for the 2025 Australian Music Foundation Classical Awards will open on Monday 31 March and close on Monday 12 May. All entries will be made online and judged by a panel of distinguished music professionals via audition video. Results will be announced in late July / early August.

Classical instrumentalists should be no more than 27, and classical singers, accompanists, composers, conductors and repetiteurs no more than 31 on the closing date for applications.

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The Adelaide Festival Centre and Feast Festival are dedicated to showcasing queer stories and artistic expression. The inSPACE x Feast Festival development program is an expanded residency that offers artists access to rehearsal space, technical equipment, funding, and the incredible opportunity to develop and showcase their work at Feast Festival the following year! Expressions of Interest for the 2025 Round 1 inSPACE program close at 11.59pm ACST on Monday 12 May 2025.

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Presented and operated by the Australian Piano Duo Festival (APDF), the Pamela Page and Max Olding Piano Duo Prize aims to support and promote young piano duos, fostering the art of duo pianism and providing opportunities for young musicians' development. The competition is open to young pianists (23 years and under) across Australia. The application deadline, including the submission of the video recording, will close on Friday 18 July.

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The Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB), proudly supported by the Queensland Department of Education, invites you to attend the upcoming Queensland Music Education Conference, taking place in Brisbane/Meanjin from Monday 7–Wednesday 9 July 2025. This conference is an opportunity to connect with fellow music educators, share insights, and explore the latest developments in music education.

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The 2025 Musicological Society of Australia (MSA) national conference will be held jointly with the New Zealand Musicological Society (NZMS), hosted by the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand.

The full Call for Papers can be found at the MSA website. Proposals for individual papers, lecture-demonstrations, panels and themed sessions should be submitted as a Word document to nzmsmsa2025@wintec.ac.nz by Monday 5 May 2025.

Proposals will be reviewed by a panel of selected NZMS and MSA representatives and notifications of acceptance will be provided by Monday 23 June.

Organised by the Musicological Society of Australia's National Student Committee, this session is intended to encourage participation in the MSA's Annual Conference later this year. The workshop will be led by Dr Paul Watt, Adjunct Professor of Music at the Musicology and Ethnomusicology Hub at the University of Adelaide, who brings a breadth of international musicological experience.

This event will explore the disciplinary and geographical contexts surrounding abstract writing, as well as practical skills for crafting an effective abstract for the MSA. It will also include targeted discussion of specific proposals. If you would like to receive feedback on your (anonymised) proposal, please email a 250-word draft to paul.watt@adelaide.edu.au by Wednesday 16 April. Students and Early Career Researchers, especially those who are attending the MSA National Conference for the first time, are particularly encouraged to send their work in. All are welcome to register via this link.

Wednesday 23 April 2.00pm AWST / 4.00pm AEST.