That arrangement, in my opinion, no longer works meaningfully.

The second realisation was that what has always actually got us out of bed in the morning was supporting independent artists. We realised what artists and audiences had always responded to at Lazy Thinking, was our commitment to never programming commercially, nor charging fees for use of the venue and to always, always prioritising providing the venue to new and emerging artists seven nights a week without any financial risk.

It’s always a massive buzz to program really exciting artists who have already built healthy audiences. Everyone loves a full venue and an artist with real momentum at the peak of their powers. That electricity is impossible to resist. But new and emerging artists need places to play, without financial risk or overheads. Supporting them is how you start building that electricity all over again and allow it to regenerate.

The third, and probably most important realisation was that all of these things could potentially work together. That by moving even further away from commercial considerations, we could better support independent and emerging Australian artists, provide them with more meaningful practical support, and fund this through mobilised, and better organised community support and carefully targeted philanthropy, rather than relying almost entirely on alcohol sales and the occasional one-off project grants.

A year later, conditions on the ground are even harder for anyone involved in live music, or really anything tied to discretionary spending.

Here’s how it works in practice: the venue’s weekly takings generally don’t come particularly close to covering its operating costs, meaning the venue loses a significant amount of money every month. As a result, a very major part of my role has always been to manage the fundraising needed to ensure we have enough liquidity to keep operating.

We’re supported by an incredible small group of donors and supporters, alongside the very occasional project grants and targeted fundraising campaigns, including our recent silent auction featuring donated items from HTRK, Amyl and The Sniffers, Paul Kelly, Smudge, Daily Toll and Royel Otis, among others.

Lazy Thinking can’t survive without these additional funding sources. Not even close.

Full disclosure though: there were still several moments in 2025 where things were the very definition of touch and go. Last year, I personally borrowed money twice to keep Lazy Thinking operating. On top of this, and to answer a question several people have asked recently, the worsening economic conditions also slowed the finalisation of our charity status, which won’t formally be completed until we finish paying off our remaining tax debt to the ATO.

The good news, though, is that things have stabilised enormously over the last few months, and we’re now (finally) very close to clearing that debt completely. Hoorah.

Somehow though, almost miraculously, we’ve also spent the last year quietly building and launching a whole range of new initiatives that have cumulatively, finally seen Lazy Thinking evolve into the larger organisation we’ve envisaged for a while. An organisation that focuses on providing a range of meaningful support resources independent and emerging artists can draw upon.

If you want a quick overview of where we’re up to with all the strange little initiatives and projects we’ve been talking about over the last year or so, here you go:

Live Now

Lazy Thinking Live

Provides venue access without venue hire or staffing fees to emerging, independent and developing artists seven nights a week. 850 shows and counting.

Most recently, we’ve launched the new Lazy Thinking Residency, a year-round artist program providing practical support for independent artists, including free accommodation in Sydney, a weekly stipend, access to an in-situ studio, mentorship and production support, and access to a second rural property, among other things.

We've also launched Lazy Thinking Sync, a new initiative aimed at helping early career artists place work in film, television and other media, while creating new revenue opportunities for artists who increasingly cannot rely on touring or streaming income alone.

Over the last year, we've also been slowly working with quite a large range of really ace new artists through Lazy Thinking Records, helping them release new music by applying the exact same philosophy as we do at the venue, namely, supporting independent Australian artists at every stage of their careers. You'll be seeing releases fairly regularly from the label from June onwards.

And over the next year, we'll also begin rolling out Lazy Thinking Learning, a series of free talks, workshops and educational stuff designed to provide practical skills, knowledge and support to artists and the broader music community.

A lot of these initiatives emerged from the same place. The more time we spent talking to artists, the more we kept hearing about the same challenges. Uninterrupted time to write and record. Rehearsal space, some kind of financial support while doing this. Finding new opportunities to generate income they perhaps hadn't thought of. Plugging technical knowledge gaps. So many other things.

The interesting thing was that these conversations kept leading us back to exactly the same conclusion we'd already arrived at about the venue itself. Artists needed more support than ever, while the traditional bar-led model that has funded much of Australia's live music ecosystem for decades had reached end of life as its single source of income. For us, the two things go together. New models are needed that address both problems.

Many of the programs we've since launched grew directly out of those conversations.

Our artist residency provides artists with time, space and direct financial support to develop new work.

New and emerging artists need places to play, without financial risk or overheads.

Last year, I personally borrowed money twice to keep Lazy Thinking operating.

Over the last year, we've also been slowly working with quite a large range of really ace new artists through Lazy Thinking Records