Hats off to the Taste’s music program

I WOULD like to commend the Taste of Tasmania and its restructuring of the music program. Music is a key part of the Tasmanian cultural experience.

Tasmania punches well above its weight when it comes to local music and in recent years Hobart has overtaken many major Australian cities as a leader in the field. It’s about time the Taste and other groups realised it. When festivals decide to not have any formal music but welcomes buskers, what they are really saying is they know they should have live musicians and that they value live music, but they have no intention of paying for it or genuinely supporting it. As a result, these events are shunned by top-shelf acts and attract amateur music that does not reflect the talent in Tasmania.

This year, the Taste went above and beyond, liaising with bodies that represent high-quality, professional, career musicians such as Music Tasmania and they got it right. Well done. If only other events would do this. If you want good music, just like any product, you need to create the environment and partnerships that make that happen, instead of opening the field to amateurs while shutting out professionals then complaining about the quality. Anyone can chuck a snag on the barbie, but not everyone can open a fine dining restaurant.

Well done, Taste of Tasmania. Looking forward to next year’s acts.