2007 Conference Report
FAE Training Days, Folk Industry Focus Days, AFO Conference
15-18 November 2007
Eastwood Hall Conference Centre, Eastwood, Nottingham
“It was a great Conference…I feel empowered…and the information I have come away with is invaluable.” Sandra Surtees, Shrewsbury Folk Festival
“I learnt more at your Conference that I have in the last 18 months of working in ‘the industry’….it has really allowed me to consolidate my skills, what my vision is and where I need to take it.” Sam Lee, Magpie’s Nest
"Immensely interesting and useful." Trish Winter, University of Sunderland
"The most organised and interesting music conference I have ever attended......I am genuinely inspired by what a great industry [folk] is to be involved in." Tom Rose, Reveal Records
"If people don't realise just what a selection of experience and influence you've assembled to be on panels and hopefully network with them, and fail to rush to attend, they ought to be forcibly retired!"
Ian Anderson, fRoots
So the Conference was hailed “a success”. Time will tell what effect the debates will have on the Folk Industry.
From 15-18 November, over 350 delegates attended a series of FolkArts England events which included the Annual Conference of the Association of Festival Organisers. Held this year at Eastwood Hall Conference Centre, near Nottingham, this event hosted the biggest gathering of folk activists since the 1960s boom years and featured two Focus Days, two Training Days, the annual AFO Conference, a dedicated Trade and Agents Market and two free Showcase Concerts.
There were at least 50 events programmed over four Conference days, featuring more than 70 speakers. Delegates included two senior television producers, two national radio producers and three prominent national journalists as well as agents, promoters, festival organisers, administrators, development workers, educators and musicians. A wide and varied range of topics were discussed including publicity, marketing, media, fundraising, environmental issues, online ticketing, youth development, security, insurance, legal issues and website development.
The event provided a unique and valuable opportunity for delegates to exchange ideas, to showcase their work and to make plans for the future development and further growth of the Folk scene. The overriding agreement of the Conference was that Folk is once again in a boom period. Now moving in circles of The Arts, Festivals and Cultural Tourism, the Folk world is being noticed in many new areas including the tourist industry and the Government.
A resurgence of interest in Folk music, dance and song has been developing over the last few years, resulting in ever-increasing audiences and new and exciting opportunities for artists, festivals and promoters. The success of artists like Seth Lakeman, Cara Dillon, Eliza Carthy, Kris Drever, Kate Rusby and Bellowhead and the increase in the number and size of Folk festivals in the UK (now over 350) have proved that there is an increasing appetite for Folk. The FolkArts England Conference provided an opportunity for the people at the very heart of this growth and development to re-group, evaluate the progress made so far and continue building networks and plans for the future.
Speakers handouts, presentations and summaries of the sessions are available to download for free.
General Manager’s Report
Folk Industry Focus Days
Why and What Next?
The Folk Arts in England have never been in better shape (well not in my lifetime). As a young person working in Folk Music I understand why this music is so important and have been proud to talk about the field in which I work, even though this has been met in the past with varying degrees of laughter, sinicism or whimsy. In recent times however, this enthusiasm has attracted real interest, understanding and more often than not a discussion about Kate Rusby (discussions I encourage if this is a route into Folk music).
Why am I telling you this? Well, our (FolkArts England) desire to run an event for those working in the Folk Arts and our belief that now was the time in which to do it came from this incredible boom that our music is going through and our conviction that we must capture all that is good about the work people are doing. Getting key players, enthusiastic young people, well meaning and devoted amateurs and really anyone with an interest in the future of our music together in a room and letting them share ideas, tell stories and learn from each other, so that more and more people will understand what we mean when we say Folk Music.
The Association of Festival Organisers Conference has been doing just this for the Folk Festival sector for years, so where better to start than to bolt onto the front of this successful event and allow its reputation to help launch this new idea. This linking of events also gave those that wanted to, the opportunity to stay on and do the whole thing, which many of them did. Launching a new event into a musical genre that is at times fractious and engages with everyone from high flying professionals and those that do it in their spare time was never going to be easy and we thought long and hard about where to pitch it. In the end the most important thing was to have engaging subject matter and good networking time and offer the best opportunity to meet everyone working in folk in one place and at one time.
Folk Industry Focus Day - Folk in Education & Development
15 November 2007
For a couple of years now we have been working closely with the FolkArts England Education Advisory Group on establishing some clear and achievable goals for FAE to take forward. These are now coming to fruition and this gathering offered an opportunity to collect ideas and thoughts on one or two of these strands. It was also a chance to continue the good work that the Folk Arts Network Conferences had delivered in the past.
Over 50 delegates engaged in topics and debates on developing folk activity in schools through workshop provision; discussing the highly successful Folk Degree at Newcastle University and how others might look at this model; graded tests in Schools for Folk and the challenges this throws up and many others. It was probably the most in depth look at the state of Folk in Education that our scene has ever had and out of it came an enthusiasm and desire for more Focus Days of this kind. Delegates took away some invaluable advice and support that will hopefully enable them to go out into the wider education world and fly the flag for Folk.
My particular favourite from all these great sessions was the session on “Changes to the Curriculum” with Ray and Bev Langton. Which clearly delivered the message that there will be big opportunities in the coming years for Folk practitioners to get Folk into music teaching.
Folk Industry Focus Day – Publicity, Marketing, Media and Promotion
16 November 2007
A constant hot topic on the Folk Arts scene (and wider arts scene) is that of publicity, marketing, media and promotion. After all, we all strive to get more people watching, listening and engaging with what we do! Here in the FolkArts England office we are often asked how to go about marketing an event, who to talk to, how to get coverage in the wider media and where to target our efforts. This Focus Day brought together some of the key players in the world of media and promotion along with almost 100 delegates ready to learn the tricks of the trade.
This Focus Day was full of practical advice and tips for delegates to take away and use in their own work and it linked in well with the Education Focus Day and the following Association of Festival Conference. We were pleased to see so many delegates choosing to attend one or more of the events available and several delegates have already asked for more of the same next year.
Particular highlights of the day for me were the in depth and fiery discussion on the ever-changing world of Folk CD sales with Steve Kersley of Proper Music Distribution and the engaging description on how Seth Lakeman has broken into the mainstream from his manager Dave Farrow. Another major session had Mark Cooper, Creative Head of Music Entertainment at the BBC, Michael Proudfoot director of The Proudfoot Company and John Leonard from Smooth Operations discussing how we might make better use of Folk in broadcast media; and (top of our requests for next year) the presentation on how to eMarket from Purple Seven.
FAE Training Days
Running parallel to the Focus Days were two Training Days concentrating on two different and very specific topics. The Training Days are a dedicated full day of training on one topic in small groups. They give the opportunity for delegates to spend the day learning from an ‘expert’, sharing experiences and getting advice on their own projects. The small groups enable a more focussed approach and allow delegates time to discuss their own particular issues.
Choosing the subjects for the Training Days are always tricky as FolkArts England members always suggest a whole raft of current issues and topics they would like to discuss. (we are now planning 2008 so now is your chance to request the topics you wish).
On Thursday 15 November 2007 Wendy Smithers, Ben Lane and Polly Robinson from the hub, arts consultancy led 20 delegates through the in and outs of Fundraising for Folk.
On Friday 16 November 2007 Marilyn Tucker and Paul Wilson from Wren Music took a group of dedicated individuals through Roots into the Community with the aim to equip delegates with everything they need to plan and deliver a successful Community Arts project. The Training Day then finished with a hands on music session – we are, after all talking about music so it was great to see and hear some live stuff after what had been a very busy couple of days.
The Association of Festival Organisers (AFO) Conference
16-18 November 2007
Friday evening saw the annual AFO Conference get underway with a Folk in the Media presentation from Colin Irwin. What started from a small group of like-minded individuals who ran festivals back in the 1980s, this Conference saw over 230 delegates learning and sharing their experiences from each other and industry experts.
The Trade & Agents Market was buzzing all weekend and lots of good business was conducted in a vastly improved open area within the Conference Centre hallways. The two Showcase concerts were well-attended and gave delegates a chance to relax and unwind after a busy day of seminars, presentations and networking and the sessions themselves proved more engaging than ever.
A leading thread that seemed to get everyone talking was that of wet weather procedure and cancellation policies. Not a real positive you might think, but on the back of one of the worst summers to ever hit the events industry, AFO tackled the issues and in most parts delivered the answers. We talked about ticket policies, insurance against cancellation and simply better preparing your event for bad weather. Let’s hope for a better summer in 2008 but let’s also get our events as weather proof and safe as they can be.
One of regular comments from our delegates is the sheer wealth of information that is available to them throughout the Conference. As Sam Lee from Magpie’s Nest commented “I learnt more at your Conference that I have in the last 18 months of working in ‘the industry”.
All in all it was a truly remarkable 4 days, the like of which the Folk world has rarely (if ever) seen. Key players that had never met finally did so. Opportunities for younger activists to meet those seasoned and more experienced professionals were afforded and taken and more high level networking than is usually done in a year was packed into 4 days in Eastwood Hall.
Future plans for our Conferences and events include developing the spread of live music on offer, continuing to book key-note speakers that both engage and entertain, striving to address the current issues and hot topics that are effecting our industry and developing our campaign to encourage everyone that works in folk to come along and be part of these key folk industry events.
Do give us your thoughts and ideas for all of our 2008 Conferences and events and we look forward to seeing you there.
Joe Heap, General Manager of FolkArts England
Editorial by Ian Anderson in fRoots, December 2007
A tale of two conferences. The only down side to this year's much-improved Seville Womex was a sense of doom engendered by the series of negative essays about the state of the business in the event's handbook. By only talking about the world music industry in mainstream terms, they missed the vital point that our sector is driven by very different forces, priorities and circumstances - as eventually pointed out by Belize's Ivan Duran in his fine acceptance speech for the Womex Award. So there were endless depressing conversations with lachrymose defeatists talking themselves into holes in the ground. To me, it was all pointlessly bewildering. There's no space or need to repeat the myth-busting theme of this column from our Aug/Sept double issue, but I do encourage you to re-read it.
What a contrast, then, to go to the Folk Arts England / Association of Festival Organisers conference in the UK a few weeks later where I was participating in the media panels. I was really struck by the boundless optimism everybody I talked to was showing for the folk scene in England right now, driven by the astonishing quality of the new generation of artists and the new professionalism that the scene has finally taken on board. There was even a widespread acceptance that having high profile, charismatic young stars to open doors onto the scene like Seth Lakeman, Eliza Carthy and Kate Rusby was actually to everybody's benefit - you'd have been slaughtered for even suggesting such heresy in the not too distant past. There was a remarkable level of realism, not only that we've entered a different era where new rules and models apply, but that it's nevertheless still the very special, unique methods and motivations of our scene, outside the norms of the mainstream music business, that are its very strengths.
And just in parenthesis, I had occasion recently to renew my acquaintance with a few of the movers and shakers from the punk explosion of the late '70s. Though not many recognised it at the time, they'd harnessed their energies to a model and ethos not dissimilar to that which the folk scene had adopted for the previous decade - that anybody could play if they had the enthusiasm, that you could start your own gigs, labels and magazines, and that there could then be a viable scene outside of the mainstream music business if you did it with dedication and integrity.
So it struck me that what's happening on the world music scene right now is nothing more than a repeat of where things had reached in the UK folk world several decades back, twenty years after the big bang that burst it into action. Remember the early '80s? Doom and depression were rife. Audiences, performers and organisers had aged, got jaded, lost their motivation. But now we know: the cyclic nature of history predicts that time will bring rebirth. We dreamed that the English folk scene might renew itself but hardly dared imagine that it might come to pass and produce what we have now.
Ian Anderson, fRoots
www.frootsmag.com