Music Outback Foundation - History

Music Outback Foundation had its origins in late 2001 when founder Steve Berry had the opportunity to conduct a week long music workshop at M'bunghara, a small Indigenous community in remote Central Australia.

His time there left him inspired to return to the Northern Territory and pursue the possibility of providing regular music education opportunities to remote Indigenous schools.   In September 2002 he visited four more schools conducting workshops at each location, and the success of these visits resulted in an invitation to expand his program to a large number of remote schools in Central Australia.

In order to meet this demand he began to introduce other musicians to the program.   He hand picked these new teachers from contacts made over many years in the music industry, and trained them as they were introduced to what would become their regular community postings.   All of these new teachers remain committed and active in the field, and many of them are now capable teacher trainers themselves.

Within four years the program had visited 30 remote communities, covering 6 language groups and an area over 350,000 square kilometres.   Many of the schools on these communities incorporated the program into their regular curriculum every term.   Up to 20 musicians have been involved in its delivery, including internationally recognised musicians Mal Webb and Greg Sheehan, and the leaders from the up and coming band Blue King Brown – Nat Pa'a Pa'a and Carlo Santone.

Incorporating as a non-profit Foundation

It was decided in 2005 that the best way forward for the program was to incorporate as a non-profit foundation, and seek endorsement as a tax-deductible gift recipient charity. The necessary legal steps were taken and Music Outback Foundation Limited incorporated in May 2006. In October 2006 the organization was granted DGR status via a listing on the Register of Cultural Organisations. (Many thanks to Blake, Dawson, Waldron for pro bono legal assistance)

On the Board of Directors:

Steve Berry (musician and founder of Music Outback)

Gabi Hollows   (founding Director of The Fred Hollows Foundation)

David Spillman (remote Indigenous education specialist and children's author)

Steve Berry invited these talented people to join the Board as he knew their skills and background working in remote Aboriginal Australia would bring a high level of experience and understanding to the Board. In particular, Gabi Hollows was approached as Steve had always felt drawn to the work of Fred Hollows in remote Indigenous Australia.    Fred's own ideas about delivering health programs in the outback were seen as having direct relevance to the delivery of music and arts based programs as well, and Music Outback has since taken inspiration from Fred's work in deciding how to maximise the impacts of its work.

As a further development, The Fred Hollows Foundation has now come on board as a partner with the Music Outback Foundation, and is helping the new organisation to get off the ground with an injection of seed funding and mentorship.

The Music Outback Foundation was publicly launched at the '06-07 Woodford Folk Festival, and is now seeking philanthropic and corporate sponsorship, government funding, and public donations.

MAKE A DONATION!

To donate with Visa, Mastercard, or PayPal, please click on the button above or send a check to:

Music Outback Foundation Fund
160 Left Bank Road, Mullumbimby, NSW 2482 AUSTRALIA

AS AN ENDORSED DGR CHARITY, ALL DONATIONS OF $2 AND OVER ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE

Receipts will be returned by post