Melbourne’s iconic buskers are set to take over the city’s streets and laneways in the lead-up to Christmas, thanks to a partnership between the City of Melbourne, the Victorian Government and ANZ.
The ANZ City Vibes program will see up to 20 buskers a day perform across 20 Melbourne CBD locations until the end of the year, to encourage people back into the city to support our shops, restaurants and cafes. Filling our streets with music is a great way to support local artists and attract people to boost our local economy.
More than 1000 performance spots for buskers and street artists are available, which is also part of the Let’s Melbourne Again initiative to bring life back to Melbourne’s streets.
The ANZ City Vibes program will help provide a vital lifeline for Melbourne’s busking community, who’ve been unable to perform throughout the COVID-19 lockdown.
Busking locations include Hardware Lane, Bourke Street Mall, Flinders Lane, Southbank Promenade, Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne Town Hall and more. The program will also help attract customers to city traders that have had to endure some of the most difficult trading conditions our city has ever experienced.
The buskers will be integrated with upcoming events including the Melbourne Christmas Festival, Melbourne Fashion Week and Melbourne Music Week Extended to provide entertainment across the city.
To further support the busking community a digital payment platform will be piloted. At each site buskers will be able to receive contactless QR code payments or tips via people’s smartphones.
This initiative is supported by the Melbourne City Recovery Fund established to reactivate Melbourne in the wake of COVID-19.
Attributable to City of Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp:
“Encouraging people to come back into the city through activations and events is critical to support local businesses and their staff.
“What better way to celebrate Melbourne’s re-opening than to catch our favourite buskers performing across the city. Melbourne is Australia’s cultural capital and we’re determined to come out of lockdown better than before.
“We’re delighted the State Government, our iconic buskers and ANZ have jumped on board to help bring music back to Melbourne’s streets to support our busking community and local businesses that have been doing it tough.”
Attributable to the General Manager, Retail Distribution at ANZ, Mike Wake:
“Melbourne is a big part of our identity at ANZ and like everyone, we have missed the vibrancy of the city. Bringing music back to the city streets, with the ANZ City Vibes program, is a very Melburnian way for ANZ to support the street performers impacted by COVID and to fill the Melbourne streets with joy for city visitors to rejoice.”
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