The ANU Community Music Centre, funded by artsACT, has officially begun the 2024 programs under our new grant cycle. Our Wamburang Women's Choir had their first rehearsal for the semester on 5 February and have already had two public performances: the National Apology Breakfast and the Multicultural Festival. Our Chamber program, which consists of 13 ensembles this semester, began on Friday 9 February and welcomed 57 new and continuing participants to begin a semester of classical ensemble work. Our Jazz Combos program began on Tuesday 13 February, which has had a particular interest from adults and enabled the formation of three groups all overseen by Ben Marston. Our younger jazzers in the program have been spending time with tutors James Luke and Lachlan Coventry. Girls Jazz+ began on Thursday 15 February, led and tutored by Jess Green and Leisa Keen, and we also began our CATS (Creative Aural and Theory Skills) program on the same day, which consists of 5 classes and 4 streams: classical, jazz, adult, and composition. We are looking forward to commencing the My Song: Gugan Gulwan program in early March!

With our weekly programs mostly well underway, participants will be spending the semester preparing for the end-of-semester concerts and a few other performance opportunities that are on the horizon. We are looking forward to launching some of our shorter courses in March. 

Many thanks to all of the musicians and colleagues who joined us from various ACT community organisations and the ANU School of Music on Friday 9 February, to launch and share our new program structure. The feedback that we recieved at our last community gathering last year informed our grant proposal, and we are grateful to connect and build strong networks with our ACT musical community.