For nearly two years, we’ve been working on the transition of Lazy Thinking from a music venue into a broader organisation providing practical support to independent and emerging artists.

Our original venue in Dulwich Hill has now closed, and we’re working really quite bloody quickly to finalise a new permanent home for Lazy Thinking and our live shows. In the meantime, our focus is on increasing and improving the ways we support artists, and raising the money we need to do it.

In our opinion, it is harder than it has ever been to survive as an independent artist. We’ve focused what we do around two things:

1) The resources artists tell us they most desperately need.

In no particular order: a free place to play; dedicated, uninterrupted time and space to produce work; financial support; access to equipment, particularly for shows; and somewhere to stay when travelling for their work.

2) Finding ways to provide that support by making better use of resources that already exist within our community.

Times are tough. There are a kazillion competing asks for your money from incredible organisations doing incredible things.

Fundraising remains extraordinarily important to us, but we’ve also been thinking hard about what else people can contribute.A lot of what artists need already exists: equipment sitting unused between gigs, spare rooms and apartments, spaces that can be opened up, and people willing to share their time, skills and knowledge. We’re trying to connect those resources with the artists who need them.

Our DIY equipment initiative combines Lazy Thinking’s own fairly extensive collection of equipment with gear made available by people and organisations across the community. We also help source additional equipment when artists and DIY organisers need it.

Our Artist Accommodation Network works on much the same principle, connecting touring, visiting and working artists who need short-term accommodation with people who have somewhere for them to stay.

Our Residency Program provides artists each month with free accommodation across two locations, dedicated studio space, financial support and access to professional recording studios.

We’ll shortly launch our free, open-access education program across two locations in Greater Sydney, while continuing the work of Lazy Thinking Records and our other existing activities. If anything, we’ve sped up, rather than slowed down, while we finalise our new home.

We don’t think all cultural infrastructure needs to come from governments, institutions or large organisations.

Government funding is important, and we’ll continue pursuing it. But it doesn’t need to be the only way this stuff happens. There are resources, skills, spaces and people throughout our community that can make a meaningful difference to independent artists.

We’re going to work really hard at finding better ways of getting those resources to the artists who need them.