This is a precarious time for the Arts globally. Without the ability to present events live and in person in our customary venues around Australia, Selby & Friends pivoted quickly in early 2020 to enable artists and our audiences to remain connected through the medium of digital technology and the beauty of high quality sound and film recording of live performances.
Selby & Friends has been offered the opportunity to present a live concert to a limited audience at City Recital Hall in Sydney (as per NSW Government health advice and guidelines). This exciting project would take place in November 2020 and is a vitally important step towards returning to the concert venue in the very near future. Whilst this concert will be made available to 2020 patrons with tickets for our final tour for the 2020 Season (contact us for details) and the general public, we intend to investigate live-streaming the event to patrons around the country and to those who cannot attend in person.
We wish to venture forth but are unable to do so without your support and we are hoping our audience will be as excited about the prospect of a return to live concerts as we are. With borders and venues closed, it has been a very difficult year for everyone. We are hoping to celebrate a change with this event.
Earlier in 2020, we were fortunate to have the support of two venues in Sydney which allowed us to present concerts to an empty hall and this meant subscribers and patrons could remain in touch with us through these live filmed concerts. We also prepared an enormous amount of extra material in the form of concert program booklets, behind-the-scenes interviews with the artists, picture galleries and mini films.
With both old and new friends involved in the 2020 Season, and with scheduled international artists unable to come to Australia, we have uncovered new skills and forged new friendships. And we were extremely fortunate to have the continued and extremely generous support of subscribers and patrons throughout.
With so much uncertainty at the moment, planning an entire new season is almost impossible without the knowledge that artists can travel, meet, rehearse and perform to audiences in person. However, we have enormous hope. Music must continue to be heard and performed. Artists must continue to practice our craft and persevere. We aim to be flexible and nimble and to respond to the environment as best we can.
We cannot do this without your generosity and support and your vision. Surviving as we always have predominantly on ticket sales, we are now even more dependent on your support for our very survival.
Having been a vital and iconic part of the Australian music scene for more than 30 years, it is important to keep established ensembles alive as well as supporting young artists through our mentoring program and so we ask once again for your assistance at this crossroads in Australian arts and culture.
We invite you to visit our website to see the enormous amount of work undertaken during 2020 to remain in touch with our valued subscribers and patrons and indeed with the general public everywhere.
All funds were used to engage artists, venue costs, technical costs for audio and filming and some promotion where possible. Funds raised through this platform would continue to be used to present concerts in any way we can, to support our fellow artists and colleagues, to promote the futures of young Australian artists as we have done in 2020 and for the many years leading up to 2020, and to reach out and connect through our music with Australian and global audiences.
Our website has much more detail about the special films created, video content and links to social media.
You can contact us directly at info@selbyandfriends.com.au or call us on 1300 511 099.
