The 2009 ABO Conference took place in Cardiff from 25-27 February, attracting over 260 delegates. A packed conference of eighteen sessions on a variety of topics dealt with the theme of sustainability, both in the environment and in the business, as orchestras considered the current economic climate. Thanks to all who attended and look out for the online feedback opportunities that will be coming your way soon. Notes and presentations from speakers and panellists will be posted online shortly.

We also featured in a number of news stories and in a week of Classic FM podcasts.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/charlottehigginsblog

Guardian - British orchestras must adapt to thrive, Vasily Petrenko

Guardian - Drinking problems rife in the great orchestras, Charlotte Higgins

Classic FM - Podcasts
 

The following meetings are confirmed for this spring:

3 April: Scottish Members' Meeting, RSAMD, Glasgow
17 April: Digital Managers' Meeting, Southbank Centre, London
23 April: Finance Managers' Meeting, SOLT / TMA, London
11 May: Chamber Orchestra Managers' Meeting, Barbican Centre, London
14 May: Education Managers' Meeting, LSO Bonhill Street, London
20 May: Development & Sponsorship Managers' Meeting, Wigmore Hall, London

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

Tuesday 28 April - Introduction to Marketing Course, leaders Selena Virrels, Head of Marketing Campaigns at the Southbank Centre and Melanie Ryan, Marketing Manager at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Royal Over Seas League, London.

Tuesday 23rd 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 has been PR consultant for the ABO since 2004. LSO St. Luke’s, London.

Tuesday 21st 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. To find out more information or to book a place please visit the Brass Tacks page of the ABO website.

Congratulations to Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the orchestra of Welsh National Opera who were both awarded Bronze Charter Marks at the ABO Conference on 25 February.

The next deadline for all levels of applications is Friday 24th April.

Although both to us and to the members it must seem like all the ABO did during February was conference related we also met with the following on your behalf:

Hywel Davies; DHA; UKBA; YPIA; IAMA; Andy Burnham; Chris Green; John Hartley, ACE; Marshall Marcus; MU.  ABO staff also attended concerts by English Classical Players, London Mozart Players, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, LSO Discovery and the LPO.

Mark Pemberton, Director of the ABO, had an article published on 11 February in the Guardian in response to the recent OFSTED report into music education in schools - see here. Guardian Arts also published an article by Vasily Petrenko on 27 February triggered by the ABO’s recent polling on public attitudes to orchestras in the recession. The results of the polling can be found on the ABO website here.
 

English Classical Players have asked us to circulate details of a conducting course they are arranging in collaboration with Radom Chamber Orchestra.

The course has a very limited number of places available because it aims to provide a significant experience of working with a professional orchestra - at least 2 hours rehearsal time over the week plus a performance - as well as an introduction to the techniques of Yuri Simonov's conducting school.

The full details are at www.conductorsacademy.org and the application deadline is March 31st.

Please send this link to anyone who might have an interest in this - or who might know someone else with an interest.
 

A new chart for "purely classical" music has been launched, the Official Charts Company has announced.

The specialist classical chart will be based on weekly sales of recordings which are 100% classical.

The OCC's long-running combined classical albums chart requires 60% of an album's repertoire to be classical.
 

On 25 February, the Arts Council announced its organisation review. Designed to realise cost savings of £6.5m, the restructuring aims to meet challenges raised in the 2008 McIntosh report and provide a better focused service to arts organisations. The proposed savings are to be achieved largely with the reduction of staffing levels in the regional and national offices.

The initiative would retain the existing regional offices but reduce the headcount from the current 422 staff to 311. The regions will be grouped under four area executive directors: the North; Midlands and South West; East and South East; and London, with the ‘Grants for the Arts’ processing team centralised in Manchester. The National Office in London will become Head Office and signal the cultural shift to ‘one organisation’, but with a strong regional presence. A streamlined advocacy and communications team, and a smaller executive board contribute also to the overall staff reduction from 162 to 112 at Head Office.

A consultation process is due to continue until May, with a final decision in July, and implementation before the 2010/11 budget year. For more information, read the Arts Council press release here.

On 24 February Fiona Harvey, the ABO’s Education Consultant, attended an announcement by the Conservative Music Education Taskforce of its proposal for an annual National Music Week. Unveiled by Michael Gove, Shadow Secretary of State for Education, and Jeremy Hunt, Shadow Secretary of State for Culture (who also spoke at the recent ABO conference), the scheme intends to promote music participation in schools through an effort to encourage collaboration between pupils, teachers, community groups, the music industry and broadcasters. The initiative looks to provide an annual festival to highlight the nation’s talent and generate youth participation. To read the Taskforce report, click here.
 

Measured on ten Hallmarks of Excellence, entry to The Charity Awards 2009 is free to all charities throughout the UK . Nominations are invited under ten areas of charitable activity, covering the full range of the voluntary sector with a specific category for Arts, culture and heritage.

The Awards are a landmark of the charity calendar and this year’s 10th Anniversary evening will not disappoint! Nominations are already pouring in but remember the entry date is fast approaching - nominations close on 9 March.

For bookings, entry forms and full details for the Charity Awards 2009, London, June 11 2009 go to: www.charityawards.co.uk
 

The Advanced Institute of Management (AIM) Research would like to draw your attention to an exciting upcoming opportunity to attend a free seminar at the London School of Economics from 18.00 – 20.00 on 11th of March.

Entitled Creative and Cultural Industries: Management Challenges and Solutions this seminar is a part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science. Featuring AIM Fellows Gerben Bakker (LSE), Bruce Tether (Design London, Imperial College). Irena Grugulis (Bradford) and Jonathan Sapsed (CENTRIM, Brighton), the event will focus on four key management challenges currently facing the creative industries and will invite assessment of proposed research-based ‘solutions’. With guest speaker Mat Hunter (partner of IDEO and Head of Consumer Experience Design) giving expert input from a creative practitioner perspective this seminar will be a great opportunity for debate and acquiring further information about AIM’s research agenda.

For further information about this free event and the online booking form, click here.

KENNETH IAN HYTCH is to be the next President of the musicians' professional body, the Incorporated Society of Musicians. Kenneth takes over at the ISM's Annual Conference in Brough, East Yorkshire, on Thursday 16 April. He succeeds the musicologist and broadcaster Roderick Swanston. Former Principal of Trinity College of Music, Professor Gavin Henderson, will succeed Kenneth as ISM President in 2010-11.