Gondwana Voices

Gondwana Voices encompasses two of the world’s finest children’s choirs, the Gondwana Voices and the Sydney Children’s Choir. Philanthropic funding has helped Gondwana Voices strive for creative excellence and be accessible to talented young people from all across Australia.

Gondwana Voices manager Alexandra Cameron says " We are very proud of the fact that almost half our participants come from regional and remote areas across Australia. We aim to give them a fantastic musical and cultural experience as well as the opportunity to meet other like minded young people."

Gondwana Voices’ reputation is such that their choirs regularly receive invitations to appear at music festivals around the world.  However, the organisation found that these additional opportunities also came the need for additional funding.

Gondwana receives triennial funding from the Australia Council for the Arts.  Artsupport Australia was able to complement this funding with a strategy to attract philanthropic support and raise Gondwana Voices’ profile among the business community.  

With only four full time staff Artsupport has suggested a strategy to seek support from individuals, trusts and foundations, rather than try to secure corporate sponsorship.

With two international tours planned for 2007, including an exclusive appearance at the BBC Proms a comprehensive funding strategy was developed at the end of 2006. General manager Alexandra Cameron explains that earlier in 2007 a fundraising event for Gondwana Voices 10^th anniversary international tour to Canada, France and the UK was held the home of parents of one of their choristers.

“We used existing social networks to invite guests, all of whom loved the intimate feel of the event. We received a number of strong donations and pledges as a result and we held a similar event for our Sydney Children’s Choir to Scandinavia as well”.

The new strategies are paying off, with the tour fundraising proving a success,  more than $50,000 raised for the organisation’s 2006 bursaries and over $100,000 for 2007. Gondwana Voices and Artsupport Australia hope these achievements will be developed and further built on, giving the organisation plenty to sing about.