Jaguar Jonze, Kaiit & More Score PPCA & Australia Council Recording Grants

Ten Australian artists have been awarded a career-changing $15,000 grant each as part of The Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA) and the Australia Council for the Arts partnership program.

This is the tenth round of grants that have been provided since PPCA and the Australia Council for the Arts first partnered in 2013, which has provided $975k in creative grants to Australian musicians.

Joining the above artists, Jaguar Jonze and Kaiit, as recipients are Jaydon Colvin of East Gippsland outfit Outloved, NSW’s Nick Gill for the creation of The Quokkas’ debut album Songs For Everybody, Queensland’s Jem Cassar-Daley for her debut album, Slow Down, Victoria’s Coady Green overseeing the recording and international release of the complete works for solo piano and chamber music (1991-2023) of Linda Kouvaras, Queensland’s Alf The Great (Eden Sher), who will record a six-track EP followed by two stand-alone singles, NSW’s Jamunajai Renaud for the recording, production and mixing of four forthcoming singles by dancehall and reggae artist Gold Fang, Victoria’s Anamika Jadunundun of Aarti Jadu Ensemble, and Victoria’s Aviva Endean as part of the female-identifying and culturally diverse ensemble, The Cloud Maker.

Kaiit will receive the grant for the recording and release of her upcoming And Off She Goes EP, incorporating jazz, hip-hop and soul genres as Kaiit’s character Lil Mama as she, navigates her relationships, life journey and artistic aspirations. It will be the first work released in two years after winning an ARIA Award in 2019 for Best Soul/R&B Release.

For Jaguar Jonze, she’s finally ready to put her artistry first and focus on creating her second album after four years of advocacy in the Australian music industry, raising awareness of sexual harassment, systemic discrimination and bullying.

Jonze told The Music in a recent interview, “I think people have a lot of respect for me as an advocate, but I'm not quite seen and understood as an artist yet,” moving into the remainder of the year and 2024, “I’m going to tell my stories in the way that I entered the music industry to do in the first place, which is through my art. So, I’m gonna spend the year doing that.”

CEO of PPCA, Annabelle Herd, said about this year’s grant recipients: “We are thrilled to continue our support of Australian artists and creators by awarding these grants through PPCA’s ongoing partnership with Australia Council.

“We are incredibly proud to invest in the future of Australian music with real financial backing and championing the unique voices of this nation. It’s amazing to think we are now in our tenth round of this program, which has helped so many incredible voices find an audience.

“Congratulations to this year’s successful applicants, and thank you to all the fantastic artists who applied, as well as Australia Council for their ongoing support.”

Australia Council’s Head of Music, Kirsty Rivers, added: “We are proud to continue to partner with PPCA to support the development of new recorded music.

“It’s fantastic to see the diversity represented in this latest round, and as Music Australia becomes a reality later this year, we will continue to support, promote, and celebrate Australian music.”