A very busy May has seen the ABO team at Specialist Manager Meetings for Chamber Orchestras, Education and Development & Sponsorship Managers. We have also met on your behalf:

ACEVO Arts & Heritage Group meeting with Barbara Follett MP; Henry Little, Orchestras Live; Susan Adams, Southbank Centre; Munira Mirza, London Mayor’s Office; ACE London; Arts Council of Wales; Roger Wright, BBC Radio 3; BBC SeeHear; ROH/LOCOG; BBC Sounds Group; Susannah Simons, BBC; Ken Hoffman; the Healthy Orchestra Panel; Julie’s Bicycle; DHA Communications; Cranfield University; TMA; and the DCMS.

The ABO staff have also attended the RPS Awards; the Classical Brits; YPIA; PEARLE Conference in Geneva; OAE season launch; Sound and Music housewarming; Peter Grimes at ENO; and concerts given by the BBC Concert Orchestra and New London Orchestra.

We are delighted to announce the publication of the first in a series of briefings we will be producing over the coming months, as part of the ABO communications campaign. Beyond the Concert Hall draws on evidence from ABO members and explores the extent of the work that orchestras are doing outside traditional concert settings in reaching isolated areas. You can download a copy of the briefing off the ABO website here, and do please circulate it to anyone you think would be interested. The purpose of the briefing is to communicate the value of the work our members do to government, local authorities, funding agencies, corporate sponsors and other key stakeholders.

Specialist Manager Meetings are coming to a close but you can still attend the following before the summer truly arrives:

4 June: Concert & Orchestra Managers' Meeting, Royal Albert Hall, London

Please note that the afternoon of this meeting will be dedicated to a workshop on Withholding Tax, in association with IAMA, and will examine the minefield of issues surrounding withholding tax for orchestras and artist managers, particularly when organising tours to Germany. 

Speakers include Thorsten Vree, PriceWaterhouseCoopers AG; Karen Clark, Baker Tilly; Burkhard Glashoff, Konzertdirektion Schmid; Dr. Dick Molenaar, All Arts Tax Advisers.

Tuesday 9 June - All that you ever wanted to know about fundraising but were afraid to ask!, Course leader Sarah Gee, Senior Consultant with Dixon Raines. Royal Over-Seas League, London.

Tuesday 23 June - Introduction to Press & PR, Course leader Kate Whyman, a freelance PR consultant specializing in music and the arts. Her client list includes BBC Radio 3, Cadogan Hall, Mayor of London, British Arts Festival Association, Festival and Events International, The Old Market and Brighton Festival of World Sacred Music. She was PR consultant for the ABO from 2004 - 2009. LSO St. Luke’s, London.

Tuesday 21 July - Finance for non-Finance Managers, Course leader Maureen McCulloch, a chartered accountant with extensive experience in charities and the arts who has been freelance trainer for twenty-one years. LSO St. Luke's, London.

Limited spaces are available to attend these excellent courses, however, there are discounts available for multiple bookings so if you or / and your colleagues would like to find out more information or to book a place please visit the Brass Tacks page of the ABO website.
 

Presented by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) in association with BBC Radio 3, and sponsored by PRS for Music, the British Composer Awards celebrate the music of today’s composers. The categories for 2009 are as follows:

Instrumental Solo or Duo
Chamber (three or more instruments written for one player per part)
Vocal (solo voice(s) with or without accompaniment from a single instrument up to orchestra)
Choral (a cappella or accompanied including choir and orchestra)
Wind Band or Brass Band
Orchestral
Stage Works
Liturgical (for works used in the context of an act of worship of any faith)
Sonic Art (for example live electronics, interactive installations, collaborative multi-media performance)
Contemporary Jazz Composition
Community or Educational Project
Making Music Award
International Award

Nominations are invited for works that have received their UK première between 1 April 2008 and 31 March 2009. Winning works will be recognised by a presentation to the composer at the Awards ceremony on 1 December 2009 and will be the focus of a BBC Radio 3 broadcast on 2 December 2009.

The closing dates for nominations are as follows:
All awards except International and Making Music: Friday 10 July 2009
International Award: Friday 24 July 2009
Making Music Award: Friday 25 September 2009

For further information click here.

Sustain, Arts Council England’s response to the impact of the recession on arts organisations is now open for applications.

Sustain provides additional financial and technical support, over and above ACE's existing funding programmes, and will be made available to organisations to help them maintain their artistic, financial and organisational viability during the recession and implement essential changes to ensure their long-term sustainability.

Sustain is an open programme available to arts organisations in England. Sustain will make one-off awards between £75,000 to £3 million (unless there are exceptional circumstances) to cover the period 2009-2011 and spending must commence within 12 months of the award being granted. Applications to Sustain will be assessed within four weeks of being received. There is no closing deadline for applications, however the programme has a limited budget of £40 million.

Potential uses for Sustain funding include:
• resolving cash flow problems
• maintaining the quality of artistic output
• purchasing essential capital assets
• continuing education, community and audience development work
• completing building repairs and renewals
• developing necessary organisational capability

You can download a copy of the Sustain application pack here.

‘Shaping the Future of Contemporary Music’

Glasgow, 29th October – 1st November 2009

ARTMUSFAIR/2009 is open to representatives from the entire contemporary classical music scene and aims to attract some 500 composers, music publishers, record labels, musicians, promoters, managers and agents from across the European Community. Key objectives will be the building of new and closer partnerships, the exchange of new music ideas, and the sharing of the latest best-practice examples of innovation in the contemporary music world.

The City of Glasgow has been chosen to host ARTMUSFAIR/2009, following on from the pilot event that took place in Helsinki in October 2008 as part of the Nordic Music Days Festival. Glasgow is an especially appropriate choice following the City’s recent designation as a UNESCO City of Music.

The four day event has been planned to coincide with celebrations of Scottish composer and Master of the Queen’s Music Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ 75th birthday. The programme will feature concerts by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra as well as a number of performances of the very latest contemporary music by smaller Scottish, UK and European ensembles and by students from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. The programme will also include a number of project presentations and workshops on specific subjects, a late night concert lounge and various other live performances.

A major thrust of the conference programme is expected to be a series of high level seminars on public service broadcasting, the commissioning of music by orchestras and ensembles, arts funding and copyright. The aim is to stimulate an intensive and path-leading debate as a first step towards producing a "European Composers' Manifesto" for the future of contemporary music. There will also be a special ABO session, which will revisit our New Music Seminar held in 2004 and look at new music commissioning by British orchestras five years on.

For further information click here.

The next deadline for all submissions is Friday 24th July. Please contact Keith if you intend to submit an application and feel free to call for any advice or assistance you may require.

The Home Office has announced that it will be taking in full the recommendations from the Migration Advisory Committee, which means that Orchestral Musicians will be included on the list of Shortage Occupations. This followed evidence submitted by the ABO and means that there is an improved mechanism for bringing in full time orchestral musicians from outside the EEA to fill orchestral vacancies. This new Shortage Occupation List will go live from 15th June 2009. Orchestras will need to ensure they are Tier 2 sponsors as well as Tier 5 if they want to use this route.

The UK Borders Agency has also asked us to remind members who are planning on bringing in temporary artists and soloists and conductors for the upcoming summer festivals that they must be registered as Tier 5 sponsors. Please contact Keith with any problems or visit the UKBA website for further information.

The European Union Youth Orchestra is pleased to announce that Brendan Walsh has been appointed as its new Development and Marketing Manager.  Brendan completed his musical studies at Huddersfield University and Utrecht School of Arts before completing a 3 year Master's in Management at business school, ESCP Europe.  He has corporate experience in companies such as L’Oréal, Société Général and Lausanne Consulting.