After many happy years in our offices in Soho the ABO is off to pastures new! We will be moving just down the road to Covent Garden to join our friends at the Society of London Theatre and Theatrical Management Association. From Monday 31st October our new contact details will be:
 

32 Rose Street, London WC2E 9ET
Tel: 020 7557 6770 Fax: 020 7557 6799

The ABO is also looking to sell an NEC XN120 phone system (with one digital and three analogue handsets) – only one year old and as good as new – and a Samsung SCX-6345N printer/photocopier. If any member is interested in purchasing these, please email mark@abo.org.uk.

A very busy month has seen the ABO team spread far and wide. We have run fringe events at the Lib Dem, Labour and Conservative party conferences, the SMM season has started with a bang with the Scottish Members, Archivists and Education Managers all turning out in force and conference planning is also proceeding apace! 

We have met with the following people on your behalf: Darren Henley, Classic FM; Clare Cooper, MMM; Dominic Fyfe, ACE; Dorothee Irving, Paul Hamlyn Foundation; Cathy Graham, British Council; Henry Little, Orchestras Live; Rob Wilson MP; Chaz Jenkins, LSO Live; Annabel Jackson; Jenny Goodwin, MPA. We have also attended meetings of the Sounds 2012 Steering Group; British Association of Concert Halls; the All Party Parliamentary Group on Classical Music; and the launch of the Labour Party Creative Network. 

We have attended concerts given by Aurora Orchestra, LPO, and The Passenger at ENO.

The following meetings are now confirmed for this autumn and we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at these Specialist Manager Meetings:

07 October: Opera & Ballet Managers' Meeting, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Birmingham
11 October: Development & Sponsorship Managers' Meeting, Wigmore Hall, London
14 October: Digital Fundraising Seminar and Digital Managers' Meeting, Barbican Centre, London
18 October: Chamber Orchestras Meeting, Cadogan Hall, London
20 October: Concert & Orchestra Managers' Meeting, Wigmore Hall, London
03 November: Finance Managers' Meeting, SOLT/TMA, Rose Street, London
11 November: Marketing Networking Meeting, Barbican Centre, London

If you or a colleague would like to attend one of these meetings please log into the Members Area of the ABO website and then click on Events and book the relevant Specialist Manager Meeting.
 

One additional date for your diaries is the ABO's AGM / CEOs Forum which will be held from 4.30pm-6pm followed by drinks on Tuesday 15th November. The venue will be the Council Chamber, Broadcasting House, London, and our thanks to the BBC for hosting us on this occasion.

The Autumn/Winter series of the ABO's popular Brass Tacks courses are now all confirmed and can be booked via the ABO website. 

22 November 2011
10am - 5pm All that you ever wanted to know about fundraising but were afraid to ask!
Royal Over-Seas League, London SW1A 1LR

29 November 2011
10am - 5pm Introduction to Press and PR
LSO St. Luke's, London EC1V 9NG

06 December 2011
9.30 am - 4 pm Finance for Non-Finance Managers
LSO St Luke’s, London EC1V 9NG

08 December 2011
10am - 5.30pm Introduction to Marketing
Mountbatten Room, Royal Over-Seas League, London SW1A 1LR

Expired Bronze Awards will start to be revalidated over the coming months and orchestras who have previously not gained Bronze are encouraged to use the newly re-designed process and resources which are on the Healthy Orchestra Charter pages of the Musicians Benevolent Fund website. Click the button to visit the site.

The Council of the European Union has adopted a directive extending the term of protection of rights for performers and phonogram producers of music recordings from 50 to 70 years.

The directive also harmonises the method of calculating the term of protection of co-written musical works to 70 years after the death of the last person to survive : the author of the lyrics or the composer of the music.

For further information see here.

Arts Council England, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) have announced further details of the £100 million Catalyst scheme that will boost private giving to the cultural sector and build long-term resilience, sustainability and innovation.

Catalyst is designed to attract new money to the arts by increasing the pool of donors whose generosity continues to make such a vital contribution to our mixed economy funding system. The £100 million Catalyst fund has three strands which encompass the wide range of fundraising requirements of arts and heritage organisations:

Catalyst Endowments:  a £55m fund jointly funded by Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). Full criteria and guidance for applicants wishing to apply to Catalyst Endowments can be found here. Applications for Catalyst Endowments Arts awards opens on 1 November 2011.

Catalyst Arts capacity building and match funding scheme: a £30m Arts Council capacity building and match-funding scheme. Full criteria and guidance for applicants wishing to apply to Catalyst Arts capacity building and match funding scheme can be found here. Applications to the scheme open on 1 November 2011.

Catalyst Arts and Catalyst Heritage fundraising capacity building programme (to be launched spring 2012):  a £7m Arts Council capacity building small grant scheme and a £5m HLF investment in capacity building, including a small grant scheme.

The Department for Communities and Local Government have published their ‘best value’ guidance to local authorities on how to protect voluntary and community groups from disproportionate cuts to their funding. The guidance emphasises that in deciding how to achieve Best Value in their areas local authorities should be making decisions not just based on cost for local taxpayers, but also the wider social and environmental benefits above and beyond the services they provide.

2012 will see the start-up edition of Classical:Next, a new annual professionals forum for classical and art music in Munich's Gasteig from 30 May - 02 June 2012. Full information is now available online at www.classicalnext.com.

Classical:Next is a democratic forum - by the community, for the community. Add your voice and your expertise to the project's content and development.

Classical:Next aims to ...

- unite the art music community in every category of classical music, from early to contemporary, traditional to experimental.

- improve networking and knowledge sharing between individual sectors: performing artists, composers, agents, concert promoters, managers, publishers, labels, distributors, journalists or educators.

encourage new talent, creative ideas and future-oriented business practices.

Classical:Next will present ...

- soloists, ensembles and productions in a series of short, live performances or video screenings as part of the showcases section. Propose to present your work here: www.classicalnext.com/program/showcases

- the information you need to keep up to date and orient towards the future. Submit your ideas for conference session themes here:  www.classicalnext.com/program/conference

- companies, festivals, institutions and other industry professionals in the expo section. Find out how to participate here:  www.classicalnext.com/delegates and www.classicalnext.com/program/expo

Please join us! We would be happy to speak directly with you regarding questions or additional information.

Contact Jennifer Dautermann at tel: +49 (0)30 318 614 13 or e-mail: jennifer.dautermann@womex.com

James Murphy, currently Director of Communications at the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, has been appointed Managing Director of the Southbank Sinfonia.

Rosa Corbishley is the new Head of Development at Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

Keith Stubbs has joined sinfonia ViVA as Education Manager as maternity cover for Marianne Barraclough.

Caroline Smith joins the Monteverdi Choir & Orchestra as Development Manager on 10 October.

Jenny Lomas will be joining the ABO as Finance & Events Officer on 17 October.