Support Act Limited

Support Act Limited is an organisation I only became aware of recently. It was through hearing about the work these wonderful people did for John Cave before he sadly passed away. They had helped him pay a few bills and sorted some accommodation for him when he fell on hard times. That’s what they do. They help when industry people fall on hard times.

from their website:

Mission Statement

“Support Act Limited is a registered charity and non-profit organisation which raises funds to provide relief arising from hardship and/or illness amongst those working in the Australian music industry, the only benevolent fund for this purpose”.

About Support Act

Support Act Limited was formed in 1997 by a group of concerned music industry veterans who could see that there was a definite need for an organisation to assist members of the industry who were in need or suffering hardship. As the baby boomer population grows older, so do our heroes and their contemporaries and many of them were doing it extremely hard.

So, Support Act was born. The Board comprises twelve members. Four of these positions are held by representatives from the music industry peak bodies AMCOS, APRA, ARIA and PPCA and these are permanent positions.

John Bromell was responsible for the original idea behind the formation of a music industry charity which subsequently became known as Support Act Limited. This charity has gone on to assist hundreds of clients who have found themselves in need and we’d like to acknowledge John’s efforts assisted by Jane English and Jaqui Bromell which resulted in the formation of the original Support Act Board in 1997.

To give you an idea of how dedicated and how generous these folks are, today I received an email from Dominic Barbuto who is a member of the “Debonairs”. They assist Support Act greatly with their fund raising. Even though Support Act don’t officially help to fund funerals, behind the scenes is another story:

Hi Mark
I’ve been running an entertainment based design company here in Melbourne for the past 25 years, we’ve worked for everybody doing tours, events, TV, Radio, music theatre etc.
I convene the entertainers lunch group, The Debonairs here in Melbourne. Brian Cadd put it together as a lunch for a few friends 7 years ago, we’ve been lunching ever since, it’s now in 5 states with over 2000 musicians/entertainers on our books. We’re involved with Support Act and raise money for musicians in need. I’m hosting our Xmas lunch tomorrow with around 190 attending the lunch proper and another 100 turning up after lunch for Xmas drinks. A few of the gang are going up for Pat Pickett’s funeral tomorrow and we’re passing round the hat during lunch to help raise some money for Pat’s funeral expenses.
Check out www.supportact.com.au and look up the Debonairs on the site and that’ll fill you in on what we’re about.
Keep me in the loop
Regards
Dom

If you aren’t already a member, then please take a minute to join up and help to support these wonderful people who look after our industry’s vulnerable. You never know, you may need them yourself one day!