The EC is proposing to set up a new fund for cultural and creative industries. It will be part of a new 1.6bn euros 5 year programme called Creative Europe, which will include loan and equity financing instruments to be administered by the European Investment Bank. The new programme would start in 2014. The EC published its proposal last night.

This new financial instrument is expected to help increase lending to music and other cultural companies by guaranteeing loans by national banks. This would address the existing market failure in terms of accessing finance and growth capital. IMPALA estimates that up to 400 million euros could be allocated to loan guarantees and other financial instruments.

Reporting from the 66th Conference of the League of American Orchestras in Minneapolis St. Paul is really tricky: some 1000 participants from a broad range of orchestras are dicussing problems for orchestral organizations from the US and Canada. Volunteers, donors, board members, musicians, conductors, staff members from the fulltime professional orchestras are mixed up with those from youth orchestras, community and non permanent orchestras. There is a big awareness of the necessity of a change in business models, in safer capitalization of orchestras, in new patron models, in new accessability for audiences and in new dialogues between management and musicians before (!) collective bargaining. Two third of the major US orchestras do have a deficit in their bugdets and they will need a robust innovation. The recent bankrupty of Honolulu, staff cuts, shortening seasons, the six month strike at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the financial problems of the Philadelphia Orchestra are symptoms for the topic turmoil situation of US orchestras, after the economic downturn.

American orchestra managers do have a very special problem: nobody does want to tell bad news to his board members, donors, patrons or sponsors. Nobody wants to jeopardize giving and contributions with bad news. There was a great willingness at the conference to talk more open on the real problems of orchestras than in earlier years. There seems to be a need for the renewal of dialogue cultures in American orchestra organizations.

Hosted by the Sinfonia ViVA the 26th ABO annual conference in Derby (Midlands) from February 16 -18 with many representatives from British orchestras discussed their future. These are dangerous times for arts organisations, but the annual conference is grasping the nettle and looking at how its members can ride with the punches, wrote Andrew Stewart in the conference magazine. Arts Council of England is to be expected announcing its cuts end of March 2011 which will mean some "bloody" decisions.

Gerald Mertens (German Orchestra Association) reports on the ABO annual conference 2011.

June 10th 15th, 2011

With this international study tour for young choral managers, the competition team is offering a chance to combine the musical impressions and experiences gained during the competition with an intensive seminar on how to organize such an event.

The work in a small and effective group of 8-10 people, the observation of the competition, the direct contact to its director and manager and the possibility to talk to the staff and to have a look back stage are an excellent opportunity for young organizers.

In the early 2000s the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM), one of Montreals foremost cultural institutions, underwent two upheavals. First, management was thrown into turmoil by the unexpected departure of the OSMs celebrated music director, Charles Dutoit, just as the orchestra and its Swiss conductor were about to mark 25 years of successful partnership with celebrations planned for the 200203 season. Then, in May 2005, the orchestras management and board were faced with a strike by the orchestras musi-cians. The authors describe the efforts of the orchestras general manager, Madeleine Careau, to revive its fortunes, notably through a campaign to restore the OSMs prestige, which had been severely eroded by these two events.

Have you ever wondered what a conductor really does? Or how she (thats right!) picks the music? This website offers fans and first-timers a 140-character backstage pass to the wonderful world of classical music.

#askaconductor is the first #askthemusicians Twitter event. On December 8, 2010, conductors from around the world will come together to engage with fans, first-timers and complete strangers.

Music China, Asia-Pacifics most established music industry event will be held during 12 15 October 2010 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC), Shanghai, China. Hugely popular with Asian and international visitors, Music China is the Asian counterpart to Musikmesse in Frankfurt.

In 2009, Music China attracted more than 42,000 visitors from 86 countries and regions who visited 1,164 exhibitors from 24 countries and regions. There were six exhibition halls covering an area of 65,000 sqm.

A team of Oliver Wyman consultants applied cutting-edge customer-based strategy methodologies to find out what drives symphony concertgoers to return or churn. They found a sobering trend:

* 90% of first-time concertgoers never return

* 60% of occasional concertgoers dont purchase tickets the following season

Now, symphony orchestras across the US are applying solutions from the Audience Growth Initiative (aka "Churn Report") to entice first-timers back and develop a new generation of orchestra supporters.

Fortaleza/CE, in the northeast of Brazil, is going to feel the cultural manifests of all over its country this month. The TEIA 2010 Digital Drums is going to take place at the Dragão do Mar Center of Art and Culture from March 25th until the 31st.

The TEIA2010, as the name implies (Teia means Network) is a tangle of cultural events of different regions of Brazil. It is an opportunity to reveal the many different Brazilian cultural manifests through the decentralization of production.

The program will count with the completion of the Third National Forum of Cultural Points, seminars, panels, debates, round-tables discussions, among others. Still, the program counts with audiovisual exhibitions and scenic presentations and an Economic Solidarity fair.

Encouraged by the huge success of the first symposium "The Art of Music Education" in 2008 the Körber Foundation in cooperation with the Elbphilharmonie, has invited well- known experts from all over Europe, the USA and Asia to an international symposium to take place in Hamburg from 24 to 26 February 2010 in the KörberForum. This year the theme is »Creating a mindset for music among young people aged between 15 and 25«

What are we hoping to achieve by offering music education programmes to young people? How do they need to be designed to motivate a younger audience to go to a classical music performance? What sort of a world do our potential listeners live in? These and other questions will be discussed by a panel of concert hall managers, directors of education programmes and dramaturges, to exchange ideas about the opportunities and limits of their work with young people..

LOS ANGELESNovember 23, 2009MySpace Music, the premier online music community and leading independent music agency Merlin today announced a comprehensive global agreement for Merlins member labels to participate in MySpace Music.

The addition of the Merlin repertoire, representing 10% of the global music market, to MySpace Musics existing catalogue will create one of the largest independent music offerings on the web.

Time was when orchestras and ensembles wanted to reach out to new audiences, they took their instruments out to the park and shopping malls where teens and young families tended to gather. In todays world, increasingly, people are meeting online. Some intrepid, tech-savvy musicians and ensembles are out there in the virtual community, presenting virtual concerts in the new virtual park. Who are they? What are their experiences and what are the lessons we can learn?

The search for a concept that will draw the public of tomorrow is releasing unforeseen energies in the opera. Since 1996 Cologne has possessed a children's opera as part of its rich cultural offering, and now Dortmund too has one.

2ND4TH OCTOBER 2008, HELSINKI

The Art of Music Fair is to become the annual creativity fair for the contemporary Art&Classical Music landscape in Europe, initiated by the composers of Europe.

John Willan, the chairman of IAMA, had the pleasure to welcome 460 delegates in the Konzerthaus Berlin. For the committee chair Cornelia Schmid (Konzertdirektion Schmid, Hannover) it was the amazing cultural scene of Berlin responsible for the decision to come to the conference.

During the symposium "The Art of Music Education" in Hamburg we've got to learn the example of The Sage Gateshead near Newcastle (UK), which is indeed not only an outstanding arts venue, but also a centre where music education is an essential part of the whole programming. We spoke with the head of the education department, Joan-Albert Serra, asking him to share with us about his success.

Paris, 27 February 2008 The International Federation of Musicians is organising the first International Conference of Orchestras from the 7 to 9 April 2008 in Berlin, an event which, targeting orchestra musicians and directors alike, will be of major global impact.