Your Song.
Sometimes the best way a young person can express what they’re experiencing is through song.
Some experiences are too overwhelming, too significant, or too life-shaping to remain unspoken.
Your Song gives young people and communities facing significant life-impacting circumstances the opportunity to transform their story into a professionally recorded original song and visuals.
Whether it’s a young person navigating illness, grief or trauma, a community rebuilding after disaster, or a First Nations group sharing culture and identity through music, Your Song creates space for stories to be honoured, held and remembered.
Working alongside experienced songwriters, producers and mentors, each project becomes a deeply personal creative journey - turning lived experience into music that carries meaning far beyond the moment it is made.
For many, Your Song becomes more than a recording. It becomes a legacy.
Because Some Stories Need To Be Sung.
What is Your Song?
Your Song is a highly personalised music experience designed for young people and communities experiencing significant life challenges.
Each project is created collaboratively with professional artists and facilitators, and shaped around the story being shared.
Participants may receive:
Guided songwriting and storytelling sessions
Professional music production and recording
Creative mentoring and emotional support through the process
Collaboration with experienced producers and artists
A professionally mixed and mastered original song
A lasting digital keepsake for families and communities
No musical experience is required.
This is not about performance.
It is about expression, meaning and story.
Why music?
Music has a unique ability to hold what words alone sometimes cannot.
For many, creating a song can:
Support emotional expression and processing
Strengthen identity and connection
Build confidence and self-worth
Create moments of hope during difficult times
Honour lived experience in a lasting way
Bring communities together through shared storytelling
Leave behind something meaningful for the future
A song can become a way of saying what matters most.
Who Is Your Song For?
Your Song is designed for young people and communities experiencing significant, life-impacting circumstances where creative expression may offer meaning, connection or healing.
Projects may become:
A collaboratively written community song
A collection of individual stories woven into one work
A recorded anthem or narrative piece
A filmed or shared creative outcome
A lasting cultural or community legacy
Individual Young People
This may include young people who are:
Living with serious or life-limiting illness
Receiving palliative or complex medical care
Living with disability or complex support needs
Experiencing trauma, grief or significant loss
Living in out-of-home care or unstable housing
Experiencing significant disruption to wellbeing
Navigating circumstances that have deeply impacted their life trajectory
Communities & Groups
Applications are also welcomed for groups of young people and communities who share lived experience or collective circumstances.
This may include:
Communities recovering from floods, bushfires, drought or other natural disasters
First Nations communities sharing and preserving culture, language and story through music
Schools, youth groups or organisations impacted by significant community trauma or events
Communities experiencing collective grief, recovery or rebuilding
Regional or remote communities with limited access to creative opportunities
Youth groups supporting shared experiences of hardship or transition
The Nitty Gritty
Your Song is made possible through the generosity of donors, partners, volunteers and creative professionals who contribute time, expertise and resources.
Because each experience is highly personalised and resource-intensive, applications are carefully considered to ensure support is directed where it can create the greatest meaning and impact, and where we have the capacity to deliver it safely and well.
Priority is generally given to those experiencing the most significant life-impacting circumstances.
Every application is reviewed individually with care, respect and compassion.
Support Requirements
A parent, guardian or support person may be involved where appropriate
Additional information may be requested during assessment
All projects must be safe, appropriate and resourced to deliver well
Eligibility & Selection
Applicants should:
Be aged 12–25 years (for youth-focused projects)
Be based in Australia
Be experiencing circumstances aligned with the purpose of the program
Be willing to engage in a guided creative process
Submitting an application does not guarantee participation.
Applications are assessed based on:
The nature and significance of the circumstances
The potential impact of the experience
Timing and urgency
Participant readiness and support needs
Cultural and community considerations
Available funding and program capacity
Where demand exceeds capacity, priority may be given to those experiencing the most significant need or where the impact is likely to be greatest.
Application Process
Step 1 - Submit an Application
Tell us about the young person, group or community and their story.
Step 2 - Review
Our team carefully reviews each application to understand need, context and potential impact.
Step 3 - Contact
If the application progresses, we’ll reach out to discuss the story and explore what the project could look like.
Step 4 - Creation
Participants collaborate with MMAD artists and facilitators to create their original song and any accompanying visual content.
Step 5 - Delivery
The finished song is professionally produced and shared as a lasting keepsake.