2026 Junior Academy 4-11 July

APPLICATIONS OPENING FEB 2026

Intern EOI 2026 Junior Academy

Applications close 5pm on Tuesday 3 March 2026

APPLY NOW

Staff EOI 2026 Junior Academy

Applications close 5pm on Tuesday 17 February 2026

APPLY NOW

2026 Senior Academy 5-16 January

APPLICATIONS CLOSED

2026 Junior Academy Graduation Concert

Saturday 11 July 2026, 11am at Moonshiners Honky Tonk Bar

TICKETS COMING SOON

Maton Guitar Raffle Tickets

Drawn 5pm, Tuesday 31 March 2026
Troubadour Dreadnought (valued at $3599)

BUY RAFFLE TICKETS

2025 CMAA Academy Sister Cities Nashville Exchange

APPLICATIONS CLOSED

Groups of performers singing around 3 microphones

The Academy is Australia’s premier music program for emerging, talented singers/songwriters/performers and instrumentalists.

We offer two intensive residential courses each year for junior and senior participants and additional online programs.

Our award winning team of music professionals, mentors and industry leaders
will bridge the gap between your existing experience and your professional career.

Join The Academy alumni of successful music artists.

theacademycmaa

Find Your Tribe
See Yourself
Share Your Story
Press Play
@ The Academy
Junior, Senior and online courses available

INTERN APPLICATIONS OPEN - JUNIOR ACADEMY 2026 Jo

INTERN APPLICATIONS OPEN - JUNIOR ACADEMY 2026

Join the black shirt brigade! 🖤 Applications are now open for the roles of interns at our next Junior Academy, which will run from 4 - 11 July 2026 in Tamworth. As part of developing these roles, our aim is to offer internships to past graduates who may be interested in working at and giving back to The Academy, not only to assist us in running the programs smoothly, but to offer more up-skilling opportunities to those interested.

As an extension program for previous Academy graduates, intern positions are open to past Academy alumni ONLY and applicants must have a sound knowledge of music theory and the ability to write charts, have a can-do attitude and be willing to “muck in”.

For more information and to APPLY, visit our website here: https://academycountrymusic.com.au/

Pictured are our three wonderful interns from the 2025 Junior Academy: @joshbeveridgemusic @milliemaymills and @abigailwighton with Musician in Residence @roryphillipsau

📷 @roamingcreatives

#theacademy #interns #jointheteam

We’re at the sold out @matonguitars Showcase thi

We’re at the sold out @matonguitars Showcase this morning, selling raffle tickets to win this beautiful Troubadour Dreadnought acoustic guitar (valued at $3599). All money raised goes towards our @scnashville exchange program to help cover expenses, modelled here with our current exchange student from Nashville, Grenon 🇺🇸

If you don’t manage to get tickets while we’re here, you can still purchase online. Tickets are drawn at 5pm Tuesday 31 March.

Purchase online tix from our website (link in bio).

SOLD OUT‼️ Thank you Tamworth for selling out

SOLD OUT‼️

Thank you Tamworth for selling out @moonshinershonkytonkbar tonight! We can’t wait for you to watch our students shine ✨ We have 25 original songs plus some extras up our sleeve and we know you’re going to love it!

#theacademy #senioracademy2026 #tcmf2026 #soldout

DAY 2 - Tuesday 6 January Songwriting The creati

DAY 2 - Tuesday 6 January
Songwriting

The creative juices were flowing on the second day, with professional co-writing sessions with @maxjacksonmusic and @mattscullionmusic scheduled, plus songwriting workshops with our GM, @rogercorbett1. So many wonderful songs have been born here, we can’t wait for you to hear them all!

@imogenhallmusic
@lilygrace.grant
@garyjamesmusician
@charlijade_music

📷 @roamingcreatives

#theacademy #senioracademy2026 #songwriting #cowriting

DAY 2 - Tuesday 6 January Morning Warm Ups When y

DAY 2 - Tuesday 6 January
Morning Warm Ups

When your day starts like this, how could it not be a good day?! Getting the bodies moving with lots of laughs and connections is how we like to do it.

#itsnotacult 😆

📷 @roamingcreatives

Can you believe we managed to fit all of this into

Can you believe we managed to fit all of this into Day 1?

🎵 Getting to know each other
🎵 Media opportunities
🎵 Random group rehearsals & performance
🎵 Media training

Each day is jammed packed and we’ll share as much with you as we can…as soon as we get a chance! 😅

📽️ @roamingcreatives
🎼 @jennymitchellmusic

#theacademy #senioracademy2026

DAY 1 - Monday 5 January Media Training Thanks to

DAY 1 - Monday 5 January
Media Training

Thanks to @shazbirkett from @tmfm955 and our own @countryjourno for running media training on Monday evening to round out our first big day at The Academy. We ran a series of mock interviews to demonstrate how live radio should (and shouldn’t!) go, giving the students practical skills to carry forward into their professional careers. To hear how it’s paying off, make sure you’re tuning into ‘Breakfast with Sharnae’ each morning for our students’ daily interviews.

📷 @roamingcreatives

#theacademy #senioracademy2026

DAY 1 - Monday 5 January Maton Guitars presentatio

DAY 1 - Monday 5 January
Maton Guitars presentation

@scnashville exchange student, @iamgrenon, being presented with her loan Maton guitar to use during her time here in Australia. HUGE thanks to @matonguitars for this ongoing support, which is not only helpful to our US exchange student, but also helps us to pay for our next Aussie to go over to America later in the year, as we will raffle this guitar when Grenon is finished with it to raise funds for flights. Stay tuned for raffle details coming soon!

📷 @roamingcreatives

#theacademy #sistercitiesexchangeprogram #matonguitars

DAY 1 - Monday 5 January Random Group 3 Performan

DAY 1 - Monday 5 January
Random Group 3 Performance

📷 @roamingcreatives

DAY 1 - Monday 5 January Random Group 2 Performanc

DAY 1 - Monday 5 January
Random Group 2 Performance

📷 @roamingcreatives

DAY 1 - Monday 5 January Random Group 1 Performanc

DAY 1 - Monday 5 January
Random Group 1 Performance

📷 @roamingcreatives

DAY 1 - Monday 5 January Random Groups Monday aft

DAY 1 - Monday 5 January
Random Groups

Monday afternoon was spent with students split into random groups to put a concert together for us in the auditorium later that night. A great testing exercise to see how the students collaborate and support each other, and what skills they all brought to the table.

📷 @roamingcreatives

BAND JAM Folsam Prison Blues @tahlawardmusic

BAND JAM

Folsam Prison Blues
@tahlawardmusic

BAND JAM Islands In The Stream @roryphillipsau &

BAND JAM

Islands In The Stream
@roryphillipsau & @jimmymcgrathmusic duet!

DAY 1 - Monday 5 January Media Opportunities It w

DAY 1 - Monday 5 January
Media Opportunities

It was great to have the local @channel7 and @nbnnews on site today to interview some of our students and staff. We cover media training as part of our course, but nothing’s better than the real thing! Interviewed today were @r0chellerob3rts (@uninewengland Scholarship recipient), @iamgrenon (@scnashville exchange student), @cheapciggie (John Minson/ @tamworthregionalcouncil Scholarship recipient) and Academy Director, @lynbowtell 🎥📺

Thanks to Academy Publicist @countryjourno for arranging.

📷 @roamingcreatives

#theacademy #senioracademy2026 #mediatraining

DAY 1 - Monday 5 January Welcome & Icebreaker We

DAY 1 - Monday 5 January
Welcome & Icebreaker

We are officially underway here at The Academy and the first day has been jam-packed with good vibes 🥰 Our 29 students were greeted with their goodie bags for the course and then after orientation, were treated to a visit from one of our sponsors (and new owners/parents) Zoe & @codywalker_music from @capitolmusictamworth, who not only are supplying us with a drum kit to use during Academy, but are also donating gift vouchers to all the students! Everyone then paired off for the “getting to know you” icebreaker, which proved to be a lot of laughs 😆 And all this before morning tea... 🧁🍎🍌

📷 @roamingcreatives

#theacademy #senioracademy2026

By now we hope you’ve read all their bios, so he

By now we hope you’ve read all their bios, so here’s your reminder to come along and meet the students in person! If you are planning on being in or around Tamworth on Friday 9 January, come along to our free event at @thepubtamworth where you will get your first look at what the Senior Academy Class of 2026 can do. Then make sure you book tickets to the 2026 Senior Graduation Concert on Thursday 15 January at @moonshinershonkytonkbar so you can see just how much they grow and develop during their time with us. We are so excited!!

📷 pictured: Senior Academy Class of 2025 by @roamingcreatives

#theacademy #meetthestudents #senioracademy2026

One of our major sponsors, @matonguitars, will be

We are so grateful for the support of local Tamwor

We are so grateful for the support of local Tamworth businesses, including the wonderful @thetamworth, who are not only one of our valued sponsors, but also provide paid performance opportunities for some of our selected graduates at our official “The Academy Showcase” during @tcmf_official. Join us in the beer garden on Monday 19 January 2026 from 12pm - 3pm to soak up the sweet sounds from these handpicked 2025 Junior and Senior Graduates.

@ellahartwigmusic
@lachlan.cwojdzinski
@olivemaewilliams
@lucybeveridgemusic
@sallyjbalfour
@henry_catania_music

#theacademy #showcase #thetamworth #tcmf2026

VALE SHARON RUSSEL It is with deep sadness that w

VALE SHARON RUSSEL

It is with deep sadness that we share the news of Sharon Russel’s passing. @sharon.russel.cowboy was a 2020 CMAA Senior Academy graduate and attended The Academy in the Instrumental course alongside his dear friend @thericknroller, who undertook the Singer/Songwriter/Performer course. They were both recipients of a very special scholarship that brought them from India to Australia to take part in The Academy. Lawrie Minson was pivotal in making this opportunity possible.

Sharon was a brilliant young musician whose kind heart and striking presence lit up every room he entered. He was unfailingly polite and thoughtful, yet also cheeky and playful, with a wonderful sense of joy and humour. We absolutely loved having him as part of The Academy community, and he will be very deeply missed.

The @tcmf_official Opening Concert in @toyota_aus

The @tcmf_official Opening Concert in @toyota_aus Park has been announced today and we are thrilled to have our 2026 Senior graduating class included, as is tradition. A massive thank you to @tamworthregionalcouncil for their continued support and what an impressive lineup! Make sure you get there early to get a good spot ⛱️

#theacademy #senioracademy2026 #tcmf2026 #openingconcert

Load More... Follow The Academy on Insta

SPONSORS AND SUPPORTERS

BEHAVIOURAL CODE OF CONDUCT

SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work and pay our respect to Elders past, present and future. We acknowledge the stories, traditions and living cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on this land and commit to building a brighter future together.

The Academy is an ally of the LGBTQI+ community and all students, guardians, staff and guests, regardless of how they identify, will be treated with respect.