With university campuses having long been a breeding ground for some of Australia’s most beloved artists, The Campus Revival Tour is looking to reignite that connection between students, emerging musicians and live music. Created by QUT’s student-led Vermilion Records and funded by Creative Australia, the four-part interstate project is bringing free live music back to university campuses, while giving emerging artists paid professional touring opportunities and students valuable hands-on experience across the music industry.
Kicking off in August with rising indie-pop artist Serendipiti as its headliner, the 2026 tour visits university campuses in Sydney, Wollongong and Brisbane, with the wider project set to continue through to 2028. Alongside the performances, the initiative is exploring the barriers and motivations influencing live music participation among university-aged Australians, while working to rebuild the sense of community that has traditionally surrounded campus gigs.
Ahead of the tour, Futuremag Music caught up with Serendipiti to chat about the importance of bringing live music back to university spaces, her own formative years studying music, the communities and collaborations she discovered at uni, and what she hopes audiences take away from the Campus Revival shows.
Futuremag: You’re releasing and performing the deluxe version of your EP, idealist (realist), as part of the Campus Revival Tour. How does it feel knowing these songs could potentially soundtrack some of the nights out and university years of a whole new generation?
Serendipiti: Oh, it’s so exciting. That is actually such a beautiful way to word it. I hadn’t even thought of it like that because the songs that I found in my uni years are still the most special things to me. I love the thought that they could be any part in soundtracking some of the really special years and communities of your life.
Futuremag: There’s something really special about university and live music being places where people find their community. What does being part of Campus Revival mean to you?
Serendipiti: It’s truly like being at uni and going to gigs — it’s where you find your community and your space. It’s really exciting to be able to be part of something that hopefully is nurturing that.
Futuremag: The original EP was called Idealist and now we have the Realist version. As a working musician, what’s something the idealistic version of you didn’t expect?
Serendipiti: It’s so much carrying stuff! Even today, I’ve just come back from rehearsal, and we’ve made the decision to bring a third guitar on the door, and it’s just like, man, it’s so many trips to the car. I think it’s more cardio than I anticipated — carrying stuff uphill — but that’s okay. It’s worth it for the music and the songs.
Futuremag: You’ve played BIGSOUND and supported incredible artists like Thelma Plum. Was there a particular moment from one of those shows where you thought, “Okay, this is really happening”?
Serendipiti: Completely. Both of those shows very much had that feeling for me. I think BIGSOUND has always been a really big dream for me because I volunteered there and then I worked there, and it was always my goal to one day play there. Then we won the triple j Unearthed slot and it was just like, “Oh my gosh, this is happening.” It was really special. It was a real moment that made me feel like, “Oh wow, I can do this thing.”
It was really affirming. It made me believe in it so much more. There’s a real element of sometimes pushing yourself to meet the standards that are being put upon you. Because that was a more high-pressure industry show than I’d ever played, I was like, “How can I make my show as big as I can?”
From there, that’s where we really found the Serendipiti live show, and being able to keep exploring, improving and working on it, which I really loved. So definitely, that show was really special for me.
The Thelma Plum one was crazy too because she was one of my biggest inspirations when I was little. I remember my first ever thing I uploaded on triple j Unearthed said that Thelma Plum was my reference and my influence. And then I was like, “What do you mean? I’m opening for her!” She’s so sweet.
Futuremag: I’ve seen people compare your sound to Florence + The Machine, who is obviously an incredible reference point. Are there any artists you’d love to be referenced alongside or compared to?
Serendipiti: I love Florence + The Machine — they’re such a big inspiration for me, so it’s really special that people have compared me to them. Aurora as well is actually my favourite musician in the whole world. She’s the person I discovered when I was 12 and thought, “Whoa, that’s what I want to do.”
Aurora, Florence + The Machine, Paris Paloma, Erin LeCount, who’s on tour in Australia at the moment — that whole kind of universe really inspires me. But also with some of the folk-girl energy of Lizzy McAlpine and the pop-girl energy of Maisie Peters, mixed in with a bit of Sigur Rós — that kind of Scandinavian, popcorn-sparkle sound. That’s my kind of concoction.
Futuremag: You’re showcasing new songs on the Campus Revival Tour. Without giving too much away, can you tell us a little bit about them? And how did you know the original project wasn’t finished and that there was more to add to it?
Serendipiti: Definitely. When I first started working with my manager, I sent her the demos of my songs. She really loved them and always had this idea. She was like, “Oh my gosh, wait, we should put that one out.” And I was like, “Oh, haha, no.” Then I thought about it more and I was like, “What if we played into that more and did that?”
What I really wanted to do with this extended EP was pay tribute to the roots of the songs and where they evolved from.
We’ve got a demo of 'Feather' from the moment we created it, and you can feel the excitement in the recording. It’s faster than the original recording, and you can just feel us getting so excited layering and layering when Amelia and I wrote it together.
When I wrote 'A Jar', it was a really sad, sitting-on-the-floor kind of song, but we produced it into this really sparkly pop song. I really enjoyed making the alternative version sad on purpose. We wanted it to have its sad-girl moment.
Then we popped in a little live-from-the-garden recording of another song called “Tomorrow”, which I’ve always wanted to release, but it never felt like it belonged in a big, produced world. It felt really special. We recorded it in my co-producer’s garden — and with kittens, so there were kittens!
Futuremag: The purpose of the Campus Revival Tour is to bring live music back into university spaces. Looking back, what was your relationship with music like when you were at uni?
Serendipiti: When I was at uni, completely immersed! I studied music at uni, so I was completely immersed. I met all my closest friends, or a really large blob of my closest friends, and my collaborators.
I met my co-producer Brian, who I made the entire EP with, in my first year. I heard him because he put a demo up on a sharing workshop, and I was like, “What is that? We must work together.” We just haven’t stopped, and he’s one of my best mates now too.
I feel like the sense of community and belonging that you find from going to these gigs and finding these places — and even just the artists that are around at that time — is so special. For example, my friends and I listened to a lot of Middle Kids and Gang of Youths, and whenever I listen to those songs now, I feel nostalgic for the first year of uni.
That sense of community, friendship and the third spaces that live music creates — I think that was everything.
Futuremag: So many young bands and artists start out at uni, particularly those studying music together. What do you think it is about university that brings people together creatively?
Serendipiti: I think it really forces you to do it, which is good. Sometimes when you’re young, it’s scary. I remember them asking, “What do you feel like you want to learn the most?” And I remember sitting there thinking, “I have these songs in my head, but I don’t know how to put them into the universe.”
I don’t know how to get them out of my head and into worlds that I can share with people. I feel like it taught you how to project-build. At least my degree was so awesome — it really taught you how to do that.
I think collaboration being the key element of it puts you in these rooms where you hear other people’s stuff and go, “Ooh, I like that. Let’s work together. Let’s make some things.”
The more you practise working with people, the less awkward and scary it gets. Now, collaborating with people musically is just my favourite thing to do, like writing. But I just have to do it to make it feel okay.
Futuremag: You’re playing three university cities on this tour — Sydney, Wollongong and Brisbane. What are you hoping happens at these shows that you can’t necessarily plan or rehearse?
Serendipiti: I always hope that maybe people might know some of the words to my songs. That’s always the craziest, most special feeling.
At the launch show, when everyone was singing along, specifically 'A Jar', everyone was singing it so loudly back. I was like, “Guys, this is my dream.” So definitely that.
And I hope people make friends with each other. For me, it’s always about the connection with yourself, with the music, the moment and the people around you. I really hope that people come away finding that sense of community from these shows.
Futuremag: I love that. I always make an effort to listen to an opening act before I go to a show so I can sing along and support them, rather than standing there thinking, “I don’t know any of your songs.”
Serendipiti: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I really hope that they’ve come away with new artists that they connect with, and hopefully the supports as well. I hope people come for the supports and find their music too.
Futuremag: After the tour, what else do you have coming up, and what are some ways people can get behind you and support what you’re doing?
Serendipiti: Coming to shows is always so helpful, and buying merch. We’ve got a beautiful handmade merch run. We’ve got screen-printed T-shirts, bracelets and earrings that we designed specially. There are also seeds — you get free seeds with the shirts!
Our shows also have a sensory corner, a little gratitude-note corner and a beading corner, so come and get engaged.
Streaming the music is always helpful, and following on socials — just coming along, engaging on socials and being part of the journey. I’m under Serendipiti Music, with an “i”, not a “y”.
And what I’ve got coming up… well, we have exciting things in the works. My manager would say you’re not allowed to say too much, but we are building a new body of work. I’ve been spending a lot of time in the studio writing for it, and we’re doing some more producing. I’m really excited about these new songs.
