Ash Wallace PHOTO : Tom Grut
Cameron Foster PHOTO : David Dudfield
TERNSHIPS me – Meet Three Alumni
However back in 2018 , the group had only just begun releasing singles and Wallace was fresh out of university ( studying music and economics ) so was wondering where she might find work in the industry . She says that being accepted as an intern at rights organisation APRA AMCOS gave her a great grounding :
‘ For me it was just a bit of a crash course . I didn ’ t know much about copyright or about any of those organisations that worked behind the scenes for creatives - APRA , NZ On Air , New Zealand Music Commission , and Recorded Music New Zealand . APRA was a great place to start in terms of understanding the fundamental copyright that musicians rely on and are protected by . It instilled in me the real value of music . I also met so many people in the industry that I never would ’ ve come across otherwise . It provided me with that classic foot-in-the-door opportunity and the chance to learn a lot really quickly .’
Wallace particularly appreciated getting to move around APRA during the three months of the internship , so she gained an appreciation of what each part of the organisation did . At the end of the internship , she successfully applied for a full-time job at APRA in members ’ services , which involved communicating with composers , managing APRA ’ s social media accounts , and helping to run events .
After a year , Wallace moved on to work at NZ On Air as a music funding advisor and continues to employ some of the skills she gained at APRA :
‘ APRA was my first experience of running a business social media account , where you have to find that line between being professional but also being friendly enough to be relatable to musicians . That has continued on at NZ On Air , and helped me to clearly communicate with artists .’
Not only did the internship help her find a job , but Wallace says it also helped with her group Foley since it gave her a chance to meet people in the industry and find out what kinds of support are available for musicians starting out . She therefore encourages other young creatives to apply :
‘ Definitely do it . Read through all organisations that are involved and try to work out where you want to land and what you want to get a taste for . What ’ s cool about it is that it ’ s only three months so if it isn ’ t what you end up wanting to do , it isn ’ t forever . You can test it out and get a chance to meet other people in the industry . So take a risk and apply for somewhere that you think could be cool and different . Then you ’ ll get a crash course in an area of the industry that you didn ’ t know about before .’
CAMERON FOSTER - Interned at : Creative Sounds Society ( The Stomach )
Growing up in Palmerston North , Cameron Foster considered The Stomach to be an iconic institution in their community . It was first started in the late 1980s to nurture musical talent in the city and since that time has provided local musicians with a recording studio , rehearsal space , and live venue .
When Foster came back home from studying audio production and contemporary music at the Southern Institute of Technology , he jumped at the chance to be an intern at the Stomach :
‘ I gained a lot of industry experience because I was pretty much alongside the engineer Nigel the whole time , helping him out . We had a different recording project every week , which was awesome because I learnt about different recording techniques . The Stomach didn ’ t have too many gigs at that time because of COVID , but I assisted with a couple of live shows at the end of my internship when we were back to Alert Level two .’
Foster moved into guitar tutoring after this , but still keeps a strong connection with The Stomach and regularly volunteers there . He is also getting his own band up-andrunning so is looking forward to putting his sound engineering experience to use when it comes time for his group to record .
Foster also hopes to retain his contact with The Stomach going forward :
‘ The internship opened doors for me at The Stomach . I still go up there to volunteer and help out . Because I did the internship , I know the workflow and how everything operates so I can just help out if it ’ s needed for big projects . It ’ s a great atmosphere to be in and it ’ s cool being around all the different musicians who go through there and connecting with all the people involved .’
nzmusic . org . nz / resources / industryinternship-programme /
NZ MUSIC COMMISSION MAY BOOK 2021 • 17