The Australian Festival of Chamber Music (AFCM) has been awarded two significant funding grants. Ahead of its first festival presented in Cairns-Gimuy, AFCM has received $180,000 over two years through the Queensland Government’s Cultural Tourism Fund.

Additionally, it has received $45,000 from the Donald and Joan Wilson Foundation, which will support this year’s AFCM Fellowship Ensemble, the Orpheus Quintet, as it embarks on a tour of regional northern Queensland.

The Orpheus Quintet. Photo © Adam Taylor

The support from the Queensland Government will be put towards launching Global Chamber Voices, a two-year cultural tourism initiative that will aim to bring international chamber ensembles to Cairns for exclusive performances to “[strengthen] the city’s growing reputation as a world-class cultural destination”.

“AFCM is in a moment of tremendous change,” said Executive Director Ricardo Peach. “Global Chamber Voices will create distinctive, high-quality and accessible cultural experiences designed to cement AFCM’s position as a premier event for international and interstate visitors in its new home of Cairns, with particular emphasis on strategic markets throughout the Indo-Pacific region.”

With funding from the Donald and Joan Wilson Foundation, the Sydney-based Orpheus Quintet will return to AFCM as...