Art of Music

A major fundraising event for Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Australia called Art of Music was held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on the evening of Friday 6 October 2006.

Jenny Morris and Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Australia presented a unique event that combined the visual arts and music with the support of principal sponsor The Stellar Group of Companies. Seventeen prominent contemporary Australian visual artists were invited to create an original exhibition inspired by their chosen iconic song from one of seventeen outstanding singer songwriters. The project culminated with a dinner, exhibition and sale of the paintings.

The event on Friday 6 October 2006 was a wonderful evening. Special guests included the artists themselves, a performance by Iva Davies, a performance by the Sydney Children's Choir of The Ship Song by Nick Cave, a message and performance via international technology from Neil Finn, and an impromptu performance by Nordoff-Robbins Ambassador Jimmy Barnes, accompanied by Iva Davies. Jenny Morris hosted the evening with great aplomb, Justin Miller of Sotheby's conducted the auction of the paintings with great style, and the whole evening raised significant funds for Nordoff-Robbins. We are grateful to everyone involved.

All the proceeds from the dinner and sale of paintings will be donated to Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Australia for its music therapy clinical work and the Nordoff-Robbins Capital Challenge: Building the future for creative music therapy. The capital challenge is a new fundraising campaign to raise funds to build two new music therapy rooms at the Golden Stave Music Therapy Centre.

With grateful thanks to Reg Mombassa for the wonderful Art of Music logo

For details about the artists, their paintings and the songs that inspired them, please click on the link below to go the official Art of Music website (www.artofmusic.com.au)

Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Australia gratefully acknowledges all the artists involved, for their generosity in being involved in this special fund-raising event. Their belief in our work is greatly appreciated.

The artists are:

Jason Benjamin
Song Title: Beds Are Burning
Songwriters: Peter Garrett, Robert Hirst, James Moginie
Originally performed by: Midnight Oil

Margarita Georgiadis
Song Title: I Touch Myself
Songwriters: Chrissy Amphlett, Mark McEntee, Billy Steinberg, Thomas Kelly
Originally performed by: The Divinyls

Nicholas Harding
Song Title: The Ship Song
Songwriter: Nick Cave
Originally performed by: Nick Cave

Cherry Hood
Song Title: Am I Not Pretty Enough
Songwriter: Kasey Chambers
Originally performed by: Kasey Chambers

Paul Jackson
Song Title: Into Temptation
Songwriter: Neil Finn
Originally performed by: Crowded House

Ken Johnson
Song Title: Great Southern Land
Songwriter: Iva Davies
Originally performed by: Icehouse

Kerrie Lester
Song Title: Break In The Weather
Songwriters: Jenny Morris, Tam Morris
Originally performed by: Jenny Morris

Michael Leunig
Song Title: Don’t Dream It’s Over
Songwriter: Neil Finn
Originally performed by: Crowded House

Euan MacLeod
Song Title: Because I Love You (Do What You Wanna Do)
Songwriters: James Keays, Douglas Ford
Originally performed by: Masters' Apprentices

Reg Mombassa
Song Title: To Her Door)
Songwriter: Paul Kelly
Originally performed by: Paul Kelly

Paul Newton
Song Title: Scar
Songwriters: Melissa Higgins, Kevin Griffin
Originally performed by: Missy Higgins

Ben Quilty
Song Title: Khe Sanh
Songwriter: Don Walker
Originally performed by: Cold Chisel

Craig Ruddy
Song Title: Original Sin
Songwriters: Michael Hutchence, Andrew Farriss
Originally performed by: INXS

Wendy Sharpe
Song Title: Throw Your Arms Around Me
Songwriters: John Archer, Geoffrey Crosby, Douglas Falconer, Robert Miles, Michael Waters, Mark Seymour, John Howard
Originally performed by: Hunters & Collectors

Kathleen Vifiadis
Song Title: Friday On My Mind
Songwriters: Harry Vanda, George Young
Originally performed by: The Easybeats

James Willebrant
Song Title: Across The Night
Songwriter: Daniel Johns
Originally performed by: Silverchair

While a number of the paintings created for the Art of Music exhibition were sold at the fundraising event at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on 6 October 2006, a number of paintings were kept aside for sale to the general public.

For enquiries regarding the sale of paintings, please contact Nick Hampton by email to nhampton.ozemail@com.au, or by telephone on 0419 203 677.

The Stellar Group of Companies.

Nordoff-Robbins gratefully acknowledges the support of The Stellar Group of Companies for our inaugural music and visual arts event, Art of Music in 2006.

Nordoff-Robbins gratefully acknowledges the support of the following major corporate sponsors to the inaugural Art of Music event:

KPMG

Macquarie Bank

National Australia Bank

Qantas

Warner Music

Westfield

Nordoff-Robbins gratefully acknowledges the support of the following major supporters:

Allen & Unwin
Allens, Arthur, Robinson
APRA
Cape Lodge
EMI
Essential Art Services
Falls Gallery
FDC Building Services
Grand Banks
Grandiflora
Hertz Car Rental
ICAP
J Albert & Son
QBE
Quadplex
Simply Beautiful
Showgroup
The Think Ahead Group
Trippas White
Voyager Estate

Art of Music could not have taken place without the support of a number of people and organisations. Special thanks to:

Edmund Capon, Leith Douglas and the staff of the Art Gallery of New South Wales for making this event possible

The remarkable Jenny Morris, whose imagination, passion and hard work has brought this event into being

The indefatigable Peter McLaughlin for laying the foundations for this event

Sydney Children's Choir under the direction of Lyn Williams OAM and conducted by Sally Whitwell

Reg Mombassa for the wonderful Art of Music logo

Glenn A. Baker for the songwriter biographies and for putting the songs in their historical perspective

Mike Ripoll and Firoz Ginwala of The Tandem Group for their patience and design expertise

The production team: Event Manager - Henrietta Hartford Davis; Production Manager - Stewart Verrells

DJ - Andy Glittre

Alex Wright for organising the major raffle prize

The unflappable Nick Hampton for everything

The Chair, Judith Rutherford, and Board Directors of Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Australia

The staff of Nordoff-Robbins and the Golden Stave Music Therapy Centre

  Link:Art of Music