Olivia Dean Pledges Donation to Support Australia’s Grassroots Music Venues

Olivia Dean has committed a donation from every ticket sold on her 2026 Australian arena tour to support Australia’s grassroots music venues, via a partnership with the Australian Music Venue Foundation (AMVF).

$1.10 from every ticket will assist the AMVF in their work protecting, nurturing, and supporting music venues throughout the country. She is the first artist to formally throw support behind the Australian organisation since its launch earlier this year.

The AMVF formed earlier this year with assistance from its sister organization in the UK, the Music Venues Trust (MVT) under the guidance of MVT co-founder Mark Davyd. The organisation’s remit is to engage all sectors of the music industry to focus on the need to support grassroots music venues, which provide an essential pathway for emerging local and international artists, deliver significant economic and cultural benefit, and offer affordable access to music-loving fans in both regional and metropolitan areas.

AMVF CEO and Chair Tam Boakes said she is excited about the opportunity Olivia Dean’s donation gives the organisation. “It’s amazing to see an artist like Olivia Dean, who is not only culturally impacting the world with her music, also make a real impact for artists, venue owners and audiences – wherever they might be in the world.

“Her amazing generosity means that we will be able to assist all parts of the Australian live music eco system. At the AMVF we firmly believe that big music starts in small venues, and this donation is an acknowledgement of that,” she said.

Olivia will be touring arenas across Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Auckland, in October next year, in support of her recently released album The Art of Loving.

Featuring standout singles “Man I Need”, which has sat atop the ARIA Singles Chart for 15 weeks and is certified Platinum in Australia, “Nice to Each Other”, and “Lady Lady”, the album explores love and relationships, deepening her lifelong study of love.

It will be her third time in the country in two years, having made her Australia and New Zealand touring debut in February as a Laneway Festival headliner, with additional headline shows in Auckland, Sydney, and Melbourne. Rolling Stone AU/NZ‘s glowing four-star review of her Sydney show highlighted her star power, noting that next time “she’ll need a bigger venue”: “It’s clear Olivia Dean is already a star – Australia just needs to catch up,” the review reads.

She returned last month with a one-night-only outdoor concert set against Sydney Harbour at Mrs Macquaries Point, an a performance at the 2025 ARIA Awards.

Olivia has been on a monumental rise to the top. Her long-awaited debut album, Messy, released in 2023, was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize Album of the Year and reached No. 4 on the UK Official Album Chart. It also earned her the role of soundtrack artist for the recent Bridget Jones film Mad About The Boy, with “It Isn’t Perfect But It Might Be”.

Her music resists easy classification, marrying soul, pop, and classic singer-songwriter structures with diaristic detail and featherlight production. Tracks like “The Hardest Part” and “Dive” gave listeners a front-row seat to her inner world, while live performances, from Jools Holland’s Hootenanny to Glastonbury and Coachella, have affirmed her quiet magnetism.