Its first round attracted 36 applications, with 20 artists receiving grants of up to $50,000 to cover as much as half of eligible touring expenses, including transport, accommodation, production, venue hire, marketing and musician fees.<\/p>\n
Collectively, they planned shows stretching from Whang\u0101rei to Invercargill, including dates in regional centres and smaller towns often left outside traditional touring routes.<\/p>\n
Rolling Stone AU\/NZ wanted to hear from three impacted artists \u2014 Rei, Kaylee Bell, and Sola Rosa \u2014 to find out more about how the fund helped them.<\/p>\n
For a M\u0101ori artist like Rei, visiting regional areas is vital.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI love going to smaller towns on my tours, towns that usually get over looked by other artists,\u201d he told us. \u201cThis is especially important for me, having a heavily rural M\u0101ori fanbase. The tour fund helped me reach the smaller towns and sell affordable tickets where I might not have been able to go to otherwise!\u201d<\/p>\n
He singled out a show at Smash Palace in Gisborne as a particular highlight of his tour.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was my first time playing there and I loved it! The venue owner was super nice and was super appreciative of us making the trip from Auckland,\u201d he said. \u201cThe crowd was great too, there was a group of aunties sitting at the back the whole time. They weren\u2019t the type to get up and dance but they were still giving me the best energy!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c[\u2026] given the last two tours we have played hit regional NZ, I find a lot of my fans travelled to see us play and that created such a buzz around the places we played,\u201d Kaylee Bell said.<\/p>\n
Andrew Spraggon, the musician behind Sola Rosa, enjoyed a recent visit to the Nelson region.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Nelson show was part of the Small Hall Sessions, although it was actually in quite a large hall out in Puketapu, so I guess that would count as a regional show,\u201d he told us. \u201cI often find those audiences are incredibly appreciative, and they also tend to support more by buying merch, which genuinely makes a big difference for independent artists like us.\u201d<\/p>\n