Contemporary Music and its Audiences
Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
26 November 2004
Schedule from the 2004 Symposium
This symposium aims to involve everyone with an interest in the promotion of contemporary music in informed discussion about the relationship between new music, its presentation and performance, and audiences.
The morning session will be open to people working in the field of contemporary music, whether for a producing company, promoter, festival, publisher, special interest group, in the media, or as an academic. The programme highlights research on audience development for contemporary music, and will also feature presentations from the Arts Council of England, from CMN, and from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport.
During the afternoon, a public forum will present a range of perspectives exploring the question of whether new music can win new audiences on its own terms, or whether this can only be achieved through ‘bells and whistles’ – film, lighting, cross-artform projects, or new performance spaces such as clubs and factories.
Above all, this will be a unique opportunity for everyone involved with new music to meet together, to share experiences and to discuss issues affecting the way music is funded, presented, written about, and perceived.
Morning Session (10.00-12.30, Town Hall, Reception Room)
- Introduction and welcome
Susanna Eastburn, Artistic Director, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
Ed McKeon, Development Manager, London Sinfonietta, and Chair, Sound Circuit
- Presentations and panel discussion
1. Selena Virrels, Classical Music Marketing Manager, South Bank Centre. Selena will present key findings from audience research conducted by Sound Circuit, and outline its audience development programme.
2. Janice White, Director, The Cogency. Janice will introduce the Contemporary Music Network, and describe The Cogency’s experience of marketing CMN and other contemporary music projects, and working with venues to build audiences.
3. Mark Allen, Team Leader, Grants for National Touring, Arts Council of England. Grants for National Touring is the main source of public subsidy available for touring projects. Mark will explain how it works, and the priorities that ACE considers, including issues of artistic risk and audience development.
4. Alan Davey, Director of Arts and Culture, Department for Culture, Media & Sport. Tessa Jowell recently published Government and the Value of Culture, starting a dialogue on the reasons Government supports the arts and the values that these represent. Alan will introduce these issues and invite people to comment.
Afternoon Session, Bells & Whistles (14.30-16.30, The Festival Hub, The Piazza)
- Presentations and Q&A forum
1. Pete Martin, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Manchester University, author of Sounds and Society (1995). Peter will chair this session, introducing the issues raised in the live performance of contemporary music.
2. Tom Service, broadcaster (Music Matters), journalist (The Guardian and many others), musicologist and Guest Artistic Director, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. The critical reception of music plays a crucial role in introducing and interpreting performance for the public. Tom will add some well-informed argument to the discussion, presenting the case for new music on its own terms.
3. Heather Maitland, marketing consultant, specialist in contemporary arts, and author of Is it time for Plan B? produced for the Arts Council of England. Heather has a wealth of experience and case studies to illustrate what influences audiences in deciding to attend contemporary music and other arts.
4. Glenn Max, Head of Contemporary Culture, South Bank Centre. Glenn formerly ran the programme at the Knitting Factory, New York, and is highly experienced in producing contemporary music events to reach large audiences. He will talk about the role of presentation in producing new music events. He will be joined by Gillian Moore, Artistic Director, London Sinfonietta and Project Manager for Audience Development, South Bank Centre. Gillian is one of the most experienced programmers of contemporary music in the UK, and set up the first education programme attached to an ensemble in 1983. She will talk about building new audiences whilst developing an artistic programme.
5. Christopher Fox, composer, academic and writer on music. Christopher will present the composer’s perspective: what sort of audience do composers imagine they are addressing when they create new music, and if they don’t imagine an audience what do they think they are doing?
