Now in its fifth year, the Australian Women In Music Awards (AWMAs) celebrate and spotlight the vast contribution of Australian female, non-binary and GNC artists, musicians and music practitioners across all areas of the industry.
Once again being staged in Brisbane 1-2 October, 2024, the AWMAs award ceremony will be co-hosted by Yumi Stynes who returns with the legendary Sarah McLeod (who'll also perform on the evening) with 19 AWMA recipients to be announced, 2 extraordinary matriarchs inducted into the AWMA Honour Roll and the 2024 Inspiration Award revealed. Proudly presenting the Live Creative Production category, scenestr is once again thrilled to be a media partner and associated industry ally of the AWMAs. Today, we feature the third and final Live Creative Production nominee, Janelle Colquhoun.
At school Janelle took music, dance and drama lessons, performed in choirs, stage shows, dance revues and played trumpet in concert and jazz bands before winning a scholarship to study opera at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music.
In her post-graduate year she also performed at World Expo 88 with her a cappella vocal quartet and as Janelley Melba, roller-skating opera singer.
At the end of Expo 88 Janelle accepted a contract with Opera Australia, where she sang for two years before moving to Europe where she sang with the Frankfurt Kammeroper, Darmstadt Oper and Oper Frankfurt until aged 29 she went blind. She moved back to Brisbane and works as a professional speaker, MC, producer, writer, opera, jazz and cabaret singer, and as a health consumer rep.
Janelle has recorded three solo CDs; and has appeared throughout Australia and in Paris, Bermuda, Seoul, Chicago, Montreal, Switzerland, Dubai, London, Auckland, Berlin, New Delhi, Singapore, Kathmandu and Sri Lanka.
In 1999, Janelle established Salubrious Productions, an entertainment and production agency specialising in professional artists with disability. She has produced over 1,400 mainstream and disability-stream events including concerts, art exhibitions, pantomimes, cabarets and a film.
She has held innumerable contracts with the Brisbane City Council including the classical and world music lunchtime concert series 2002-2015, the Children's and Music Library Series 2002-2012, and currently the Brisbane Lord Mayor's City Hall Concerts 2023-2027.
Janelle was the convener of Sisters in Crime Queensland, has won many short story competitions and been published in anthologies, and has been on 28 government and ngo committees including the Brisbane City Council, Arts Queensland and Australia council peer panels, and currently sits on seven state and federal health committees as a consumer rep.
What's the elevator pitch version of yourself and what role/s you play in the Australian music industry?
I was a full-time international opera singer before going blind, so when I no longer was offered work as an opera singer, I established a production and entertainment agency specialising in professional artists with disability, and have now produced over 1,400 concerts and events.
What motivated you to pursue a career in the Australian music industry?
No other career was a choice – I love music, I love working in the music industry, and growing up, all I wanted to do was be onstage, but I also loved all of the backstage work of being onstage, so even while I was still studying I was booking my vocal quartet for weddings and Christmas gigs and producing and marketing performances.
It was a no-brainer working as a producer in Australia – when I went blind while working in Germany, they told me my career was over and I was not even allowed to walk onstage. In Australia, I was still given loads of opportunities and support as a singer, and encouraged to establish my entertainment and production agency and apply for contracts to produce.
What does it mean personally to receive the recognition of being nominated for an AWMA Award?
I am soooo honoured. I have put years of hard work into producing shows, and I've always had artists and audiences congratulating me on the high quality of work I am doing, so it's nice to be recognised for all of my hard work and passion for producing quality performances.
Do you have an inkling as to which recent work saw you nominated?
I assume it's my work as a producer for the Brisbane Lord Mayor's City Hall concerts. I am really passionate about this concert series (the longest free concert series in the world).
I really support my artists in this series, make sure they are always paid appropriately, engage emerging, mid-career and established musicians, and I try to be fair about who is getting the opportunity – not just engaging the same act year after year as they were popular with the audience, but giving as many different musicians the opportunity to perform in this series as possible, while keeping the audience entertained and enlightened to the diverse talent we have in Brisbane.
What have you been up to since we emerged from COVID?
I am back to going to concerts and shows every week, and singing in a choir, and travelling overseas and producing a lot more shows and booking artists for events. It was dead during COVID, apart from filming a number of performances to be included in a disability arts festival in New Delhi when they had to go online.
How integral to the further development of women in the music industry is an event like the AWMA Awards?
The AWMAs is great as it is recognising and highlighting women working in the industry. They bring women together to celebrate their work and achievements. They also encourage more women to study and get into the industry, something that is not seen much elsewhere.
Change is an ongoing process that often takes a generation or more to be implemented at a societal level... but what progress have you seen in your time in the industry, offering platforms for women to feel confident in pursing a career in the field of their choice?
When I began my career as an opera singer, while of course women were equally engaged as singers, that wasn't the same in management and direction and other technical and production – at the time it was wholly male-dominated.
Now I see many women in management positions in opera companies, many female directors and even some women in the technical production – although the latter is still mostly male-dominated. I didn't hear of women running entertainment agencies, or producing shows – it was all men.
Now I see a lot more women producing shows, although it still seems like the 'big' production companies are male-dominated. There are still more men undertaking studies in technical production and audio engineering, and even certain instruments, but women now at least have their foot in the door in a lot of these areas.
Your advice to any women considering a career in the music industry?
You can do it, but it is hard for everyone, so don't necessarily think it's hard due to being a woman, it's a very hard industry to work in as it's competitive, it's cut-throat, and sometimes it's also just luck.
If you really want to work in the industry, then don't give up, but be prepared to move sideways sometimes as the path is not straight, and like I found, while my chosen career in the music industry is not the one I was able to continue following, I am still working in the music industry, which is where I want to be above all else. Also, don't accept to be bullied or abused because you're a woman (and I had the most bullying from other women who were jealous of my success) – that is not acceptable.
If we put you on the spot to name a creative execution in the last 15 years from your field of expertise that our audience would likely know of, please do so!
The Brisbane Lord Mayor's City Hall concerts are probably best known as they've been running since 1941, and I've produced them for 17 years of this time.
While the audience are unaware of all the work I do behind the scenes to make these concerts happen, they see me when I come onstage to introduce the concert, when I occasionally sing in the concert, and when I come on at the end to thank the musicians and advertise the next week's concert. At my last concert there were 1,500 in the audience, so a LOT of people have seen me at these concerts!
The 2024 Australian Women in Music Awards conference programme takes place at Queensland Multicultural Centre on 1 October. The Australian Women In Music Awards ceremony and concert will be staged at The Fortitude Music Hall (Meanjin/Brisbane) 2 October.
