Building a better Orange?

Let’s make Orange a Music City

JAM Orange is on a mission to make the Colour City known for its live music scene.

Since the volunteer organisation formed four years ago, it has brought a host of international and national acts to Orange as well as providing an increasing number of venues to showcase rising local talents.

Most recently, JAM Orange packed out the Bloomfield Hall for a performance from International act Fru Skagerrak and Melbourne Singer/songwriter Liam Gerner, part of the Festival of Small Halls tour.

“We had about 220 people turn up and pack out the Bloomfield Hall for a very successful concert,” said JAM Orange President, Paul Kelly.

Paul and other members of the volunteer committee are keen to see Orange become known as a music city. As well as holding and promoting visiting acts, JAM Orange is particularly focused on developing local talent.

“JAM Orange came about with a group of musicians and people interested in music getting together and seeing how music could be promoted but particularly to support the development of the young, up-and-coming musicians,” said Paul, believes there is a wealth of talent still waiting to be discovered in our city

By liaising with local licenced venues, JAM Orange has been able put on successful monthly Open Mic nights and provide and audience for new performers.

 “They have become very, very popular,” said Paul. “They're a great opportunity to let people that might be playing music in their bedroom and haven't tried out an audience, for those people to come and just try out a 15-minute set… and they are free, anybody can come along.”

Already the open mic nights have opened up other opportunities for a number of local musicians who first stepped on stage at a JAM Orange event.

“It’s a great opportunity to see the young people that are out there, that haven't had a venue to play. And the publicans in Orange have been exceptionally supportive in terms of that,” said Paul.

“This year we will be hopefully bringing a recognised American singer-songwriter in to teach classes in song writing skills. So we plan on running workshops for musicians here and maybe to bring out a recording of local musicians under the JAM Banner. So there are quite a few things moving.”

Paul and the JAM Orange committee are in the process of planning for another big year of live music and events in Orange and are hoping for as much community input as possible as they prepare a strategic plan.

“We're calling on not only JAM Orange members, but also members of the Orange community to meet with us in the west room of the Orange Regional gallery on the 10th of February to be involved in the planning day. We are really looking to get everybody's ideas on how we can progress the objectives of our organisation: to support local musicians, to increase the number of venues and get Orange on the map as a Music City… Orange has got a large number of musicians and very talented people out there. Our job is to expose that.”

Keep an eye (and an ear) out for future JAM Orange gigs, or follow their Facebook page to make sure you don’t miss out.