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Since 1979 The Boite has believed in the importance of music in storytelling, cultural identity, and community resilience. We have now curated and presented over 5,000 performances where audiences have experienced the intimacy and connection that only a live music setting can provide, and our artists have been given a platform to share and develop their art and traditions.
The Boite will be turning 45 next year, and we need your support to continue delivering these projects and events, and to provide ongoing pathways for artists to share and explore their work.
Below are some of the amazing things we've done this year, and we couldn't have done achieved all this without your support.
2023 has been an incredible year for us. We've just bookended the year with our beautiful Fairfield Amphitheatre events featuring the harps of the world in February and the bold and brilliant women musicians from our Indian community this November, the whole year was full of excellent music and exploration.
The second iteration of Portfolio was a huge success. We were able to support 14 emerging culturally diverse and First Nations acts (90 musicians altogether) culminating in the Leaps and Bounds Festival program, which was an incredible day to celebrate music and community.
Boite Schools Chorus returned with gusto after a break forced by the pandemic. We were proud to support the creation of 'Maiem – Songs of the Torres Strait'; by our esteemed Artistic Directors, proud Meriam artists Deb Clark and Luke Captain. Conducted by the inimitable Stella Savy, this amazing event was covered on SBS World News, making 600 children super excited. And who can forget the incredible Treaty flashmob at the Sidney Myer Bowl, masterfully guided by the Spooky Men's Chorale and bringing together 500
singers!
Our concert series continued in various venues from the grand Melbourne Recital Centre to the cosy Mark St, Abbotsford Convent and Music Market. It’s been great to develop new relationships with venues and many fantastic artists, who embraced opportunities to perform. Apart from creating opportunities for artists who may not always have them, we are committed to making a difference in the Australian diverse music scene, so that our actions are lasting and meaningful. One of those avenues involved the creation of new Australian work. We are super excited to have supported the superb new work for shakuhachi by Anne Norman, featuring the Polyphonic Voices Choir and instruments such as koto, cello, and didgeridoo, to name a few. We thank Peter and Susan Yates and the Robert Salzer Foundation for supporting this work.
We commissioned two more new works two new works which were collaborations between musicians from Gamelan DanAnda and Firetail - the hot new band in the electro-fusion scene. This project was featured on Radio National and got a glowing 4-star review in The Age! The extraordinary 'The Music Between'– a collaboration between four marvellous artists, Misagh Zamani, Ria Soemardjo, Rosa Voto, and Vinod Prasanna was exquisite. This collaboration found many delicate and passionate moments of unity between the diverse
traditions and practices of the artists, and brought on a standing ovation. We are very happy to be taking both of these works to the Melbourne Recital Centre next year, where they can be seen and heard by many more people.
The Boite will be turning 45 in a few months, and from its inception we have been championing cultural diversity in music. We need your support to ensure that we can continue to do that through our projects and events, and by providing ongoing pathways for artists to share and explore their work.
We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.