APRA AMCOS has opened applications for its 23% Music Creator Mentorship Program, offering 14 places for women and gender diverse songwriter and producer members across Australia and New Zealand.
by Paul Cashmere
APRA AMCOS has opened applications for its 23% Music Creator Mentorship Program, with 14 places available for women and gender diverse songwriter and producer members. The six-month initiative is designed for creators at a pivotal point in their careers and is open across all genres. Applications close Sunday 3 May, with successful participants receiving tailored mentorship and $3,000 in project or professional development funding.
The program continues APRA AMCOS’s broader commitment to addressing gender imbalance in the music industry. Named after the 23% figure of women and gender diverse members at its inception in 2018, the initiative is positioned as a long-term development pathway rather than a short-term funding scheme. It focuses on matching participants with established industry mentors based on career stage and creative goals rather than stylistic alignment.
Each of the 14 selected participants will be paired with a mentor for a six-month structured program that includes creative guidance, industry navigation and project support. The $3,000 grant component can be applied toward recording, travel or career-related expenses.
Mentors involved in the broader APRA AMCOS ecosystem have included Kristy Lee Peters (KLP), Nat Dunn, Ngaiire, Claire Collins and others, with potential mentors for this intake including Alex Hosking, Anna Laverty, Chelsea Warner, Imogen Clark and Mahalia Barnes.
Since launching in 2018, the program has supported almost 100 music creators across Australia and New Zealand. Alumni include Athanasia, Ayda Akbal, BVT, Eliza Hull and Victoria Pham, spanning songwriting, production, composition and performance fields.
Composer Naomi Geste, who participated in the 2025 intake under mentor François Tétaz, described the impact of the program as foundational to her creative development.
“This mentorship has been valuable beyond words. After almost 10 years of tertiary and post grad study, I was really struggling to adjust to having less structure, less feedback and guidance. I was completely paralysed and unable to move forward with my craft,” Geste said.
“Franc immediately confirmed I had the ability, but I needed to develop my personal artistic voice and flesh out what it is that I do, outside of a brief or a uni assignment.”
The 23% program forms part of APRA AMCOS’s wider equity framework, including its 40/40/20 commitment targeting at least 40 percent representation of women across programs and decision-making panels. The mentorship model reflects a growing industry shift toward structured career development, particularly for independent creators navigating fragmented revenue streams and rapidly evolving production environments.
Since its launch, the program has expanded in response to ongoing structural imbalances in music authorship and production roles. While participation by women and gender diverse creators has increased across certain sectors, industry leadership and technical production fields continue to show slower parity gains.
Mentorship programs like 23% have become a key mechanism for bridging that gap, pairing emerging creators with experienced industry figures to accelerate skill transfer and professional network access.
APRA AMCOS acknowledges that initiatives like 23% are part of a longer-term corrective strategy rather than a complete solution to structural inequity. The organisation has noted that while progress is measurable, representation disparities persist across both commercial and creative leadership roles.
Applications for the 23% Music Creator Mentorship Program are open now and close Sunday 3 May. Successful applicants will be announced following the selection process, with the six-month program scheduled to commence later in the year.
https://www.apraamcos.com.au/about/supporting-the-industry/programs/mentorships
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