The MusicACT Mentorship is designed to strengthen creative partnerships and music industry education in Canberra. It is an opportunity for early/mid-level career artists and industry workers to further their networks, and gain personalised professional skill development.

Applications open on Friday 30 May 2025 and close 11:59pm Friday 20 June 2025.

Apply here.

With support from Moshtix, MusicACT is pleased to run our Mentorship program in 2025 again. Designed to strengthen creative partnerships and music industry education in Canberra. It is an opportunity for early/mid-level career artists and industry workers to further their networks, and gain personalised professional skill development.

Applications are now open through this link and will close midnight, Friday 20 June.

With only 6 opportunities available and always in high demand, we recommend you get your application in quick! 

As always, we always strongly encourage those who identify with an marginalised community to apply and reach out if support is needed during the application process.

How will the mentorship work?
Upon independent assessment by the mentors, 6 successful applicants will be paired with 1 of their selected mentors to meet 4 times between July and August 2025.
Each meeting should be a minimum of 1 hour, with all dates and times agreed upon by the mentor, mentee and MusicACT.
With information provided in the applications, mentors will provide guided and practical advice tailored to each mentee and their short-to-long term goals, as they continue to build their practice. Mentees are to work towards developing knowledge on creative practice and the professional industry at large. The mentor will work on a bespoke session plan that suits the needs of the mentee and this will be provided at the 1st session.
A short feedback report will be submitted at the conclusion of the mentorship by both the mentor and mentee.

2025 Mentors

  • Austin Buckett (UTILITY, TRACKWORK)

    UTILITY aka Austin Buckett is a Sydney-based composer, producer and founder/director of local label Trackwork. His work has brought together some of the finest underground artists from across the world including Kelman Duran (US), Brodinski (France), Mall Grab, Logic1000, Formation Boyz (South Africa), and Clementaum (Brazil) to work with local and diverse Australian artists in rap, club and electronic music.

    UTILITY’s work reaches beyond solely producing music to developing both the sonic and visual branding of projects with innovating local, emerging artists and producers across multiple genres, with collaborators including: Vv Pete, T Breezy, Walkerboy, Snoee Badman, Jesswar, Gino October, Lil Jaye, Eco$ystem, Sevy, Bayang, DoloRRes, Cherry Chola and Mali

    Curatorial & Performance Highlights:
    SXSW Austin 2025 - Vv Pete x UTILITY showcases

    Trackwork label showcase at Barrabuwarri, Sydney Opera House

    Dark Mofo with T Breezy, Walkerboy & Vv Pete

    ‘Club Service’ Vivid Sydney feat. LA-Based Dominican ‘Dystopic Reggaeton’ pioneer Kelman Duran (Beyoncés Renaissance)

    Phoenix Central Park, Sydney

    Live: Listen out, Promiseland, Mode, Denzel Curry’s Australian tour with Vv Pete.

  • Becki Whitton (Aphir, producer, engineer)

    Becki Whitton is an engineer, songwriter and producer working out of Melbourne’s Carriage Studio. Respected and sought-after for her sound work, Becki has received ARIA, AWMA, MPEG and Music Victoria Award nominations for her engineering and production across a range of genres, from pop and hiphop (Jessica Mauboy, Allday) to theatre soundtracks (Fangirls) to post hardcore (Closure in Moscow) to left-field and classical work (Josh Hooke, Gelareh Pour, Rainbow Chan, Brambles). 

    As Aphir, Becki has been hailed as part of ‘Australia’s new wave of female electronic innovators’ and has performed around Australia and internationally including performances at Music Tech Fest (Berlin), Denmark Arts (WA), and Falls Festival. Her sixth LP, ‘The Halo Is Shapeless’, was released in May 2023 and was created from vocal improvisations manipulated using a combination of guitar pedals and Ableton-based effects processing.

  • Jack Biilmann (ACT based artist)

    With the saltwater of the Far South Coast & crystal clear water of The Snowy Mountains running through his veins, Jack Biilmann has been surrounded by inspiration his whole life. This has been absorbed and used to write a signature brand of blues, rock, soul, country and folk influenced song collections. The adopted Canberran has seen 10 years of national and international touring festival appearances, world famous Fender & Maton guitar endorsements, millions of streams, five albums and a reputation for a world class live show, Biilmann is widely known as one of Australia’s most talented artists in blues/roots/rock circles.

  • Josh Milch (Phoenix Central Park)

    Josh Milch is a music programmer and digital producer living and working on Gadigal land. At Phoenix Central Park, Josh leads the curation of its contemporary music and digital offerings, supporting a plurality of local subcultures and presenting many Australian debuts for visiting international acts. Phoenix is a performing arts centre and gallery in Sydney’s inner-city created by Australian philanthropist Judith Neilson AM. He has contributed programming for the 24th Biennale of Sydney, Vivid Sydney, Sydney Festival and SXSW Sydney

    Previously Josh has developed video content, livestreams and podcasts for the Sydney Opera House, working with artists such as The Cure, Solange, Jon Hopkins, Kelsey Lu and Iggy Pop.

  • Heather Shannon (The Jezabels)

    After graduating from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with a Bachelor in Classical Piano Performance, Heather became best known for her work as one quarter of internationally renowned independent rock band, The Jezabels. The band has sold over 300,000 records worldwide, won an ARIA award and the Australian Music Prize. Shannon has spent most the past decade writing and recording award winning albums and performing in venues such as the Sydney Opera House, The O2 Arena (London), Webster Hall (New York) and at festivals such as Glastonbury (UK) and Lollapalooza (USA).

    As a composer, Heather has received commissions from the Australian Chamber Orchestra (2019), the Queensland Symphony Orchestra (2018) and The Metropolitan Orchestra (2023). In 2021 she released a solo piano album titled Midnight Sun which was described by Guardian Australia as a “collision of perfection and punk” and was written whilst partaking in ArtsIceland, an artist residency in the Wesfjords of Iceland. Other composition experiences include writing the score for three independent Australian Films ‘Book Week’ (2018), ‘Broke’ (2016) and Sharko (2024). Most recently, after recording with Peter Garrett on 'The True North' (2024) Heather has been touring nationally with Peter Garrett and the Alter Egos.

    Heather holds a masters in composition from the Sydney Conservatorium and teaches contemporary music students at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and TAFE NSW.

  • Liz Ansley (Special Interest, publicity, curation)

    2025 AIR Independent Publicity Team of the Year nominee Liz Ansley (she/they) - trading as publicity and curation agency Special Interest, founded in 2018 - is an autistic multi-disciplinary professional with 10 years experience in the music industry across publicity, curation and music library management - they were 4ZZZ’s Music Coordinator between 2017-2020 - as well as artist management and consulting, presenting & public speaking, radio production and presenting, live events, music journalism, copywriting and more.

    Across her years of experience Liz has led campaigns for artists like history-makers ARIA winner Emily Wurramara and 3x ARIA-nominated artist Miss Kaninna, MUNA, Jesswar, Nilüfer Yanya, Arlo Parks, Damon Albarn, Milan Ring, Rainbow Chan, Merpire, Selve, WAAX, Ezra Furman, Tiana Khasi,Bumpy, Moonchild Sanelly, Mykki Blanco, HAAi,Annie Hamilton, Wet, Sevdaliza, Kojey Radical,Röyksopp, Okay Kaya, Arig, Ampe-kehne Ahelhe (Children's Ground Central Australia), Sia Ahmad, Miss Blanks, Ella Haber, LÂLKA and many more, worked with labels like ABC Music, [PIAS] Australia, Soul Has No Tempo, Angus Andrew’s (Liars) No Gold, Hobbledehoy Records; and via her work with Super Duper: artists like Tiny Habits (US),  Ruby Gill, A. Swayze & the Ghosts, and venues like City Recital Hall, also working across campaigns for the likes of Soccer Mommy and Indigo De Souza, ARIA-nominated artist Georgia Mooney, Winten, Papaphilia, Jerome Blazé and many more, with recent curation work for the Wettest 100 2024.

    Particular passions include building a rock-solid foundation for emerging artists and helping them to grow & tell their story in a way that feels good to them, introducing international artists to new audiences, supporting and nurturing fellow or aspiring industry professionals, and centring safety, accessibility, accountability and inclusivity in all endeavours.