Music Webs. Weaving connections and untangling cultural policy in Europe European Music Council

In this episode, our host Miceál Mullen is joined by Katharina Jeschke, Secretary General of the IMZ International Music and Media Centre, the international business network dedicated to the promotion of the performing arts through audiovisual media.

Katharina talks about the intersection of music and media and explores the current challenges facing the creative and cultural industries, including the future of audience engagement in the digital age and how cultural industry professionals can learn from each other and from players from other industries who are, or have been facing similar challenges. Katharina also discusses the importance of collaboration and the benefits of an international organisation and how the IMZ tries to nurture this with their event Avant Première Music + Media Market (18-22 February, 2023, Berlin).

In this episode, our host Miceál Mullen is joined by Mila Georgieva from the Bulgarian Music Association (BMA), the largest representative music organisation in Bulgaria.

Throughout their conversation, Mila discusses how the Bulgarian music scene looks post COVID and how it is responding to current challenges that the wider European music sector is facing. We also hear more about the work of BMA, including their involvement in the MOST project and the impact of this project on the Balkan region. Mila explains how BMA is working towards creating an appropriate and efficient cultural environment that Bulgarian performing artists deserve.

Today, we're joined by Audrey Guerre (Live DMA) to discuss the effects of COVID-19 pandemic alongside current challenges that the European live music sector is facing. We also learn more about the work of Live DMA and the importance of building and growing networks of like-minded organisations which strive for the benefit of live music towards the same common ultimate goals: promoting live music as art and culture, improving the conditions of venues, clubs and festivals, and empowering live music professionals.

This latest edition of the EMC podcast was published on 25 November on the occasion of Orange Day - International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (www.un.org/en/observances/endi…e-against-women-day).

The podcast at hand is a conversation between two men interviewed by one woman, EMC Secretary General Ruth Jakobi. Both men, Merlijn Poolmann (The Netherlands), Night Mayor of Groningen and Moritz Eggert (Germany), composer and professor for composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich have been actively engaged in the protection of women’s safety in the music ecosystem. Both of them contribute to decrease the number of cases of gender based violence and both have created initiatives to make a change. At EMC we are convinced that this topic needs to be talked about, by people from the music field, by people who care about the safety of women. This podcast includes colloquial use of language and vocabulary, and it explicitly mentions examples of harassment in order to clearly condemn this misbehaviour. We believe that this topic needs to be debated at every level by everyone, and especially including men in the conversations.

The EMC is involved in more actions with regards to gender equality and power relations:

► EMC is a member of Keychange www.keychange.eu/

► In the frame of the SHIFT project, the theme of Gender & Power Relations (with IETM as a theme coordinator) was also addressed. You can find the outputs here:

Annotated Bibliography
shift-culture.eu/wp-content/uploa…er-Relations.pdf

Newsletter on best practices
www.emc-imc.org/press-news/newsle…ms-to-structures/

Key Findings on #MeToo in the cultural sector
shift-culture.eu/empower-gender-o…ft-key-findings/

More to follow, please check here shift-culture.eu/empower-gender-o…xual-harassment/

► Also EMC members contribute to the debate with publications and activities:

Best practices - Gender equality and diversity from European Composers & Songwriter Alliance (ECSA)
composeralliance.org/media/333-best…-diversity.pdf

Live Style Europe #9 podcast from Live DMA
www.live-dma.eu/lse-podcast-9-november-2019/

Manifesto on Gender Balance in Jazz and Creative Music from Europe Jazz Network (EJN)
www.europejazz.net/sites/default/f…der_balance.pdf

Play it loud from JM International (JMI)
jmi.net/media/article/play-it…-mainstreaming-in-jmi

PRIHME from Association Européenne des Conservatoires (AEC)
aec-music.eu/project/prihme-202…tegic-partnership/

The podcast music for Music Webs was exclusively composed by Moritz Eggert for the EMC, it is performed by Luise Enzian (baroque harp) and Moritz Eggert (piano).

Music Freedom Day is on 3 March. On this occasion, and to honor the 5 Music Rights, we want to take a closer look at freedom of musical expression in Europe. To learn more about the situation in Hungary and Poland, Simone Dudt (EMC) is joined by music journalist and curator Monika Pasiecznik and journalist András Stumpf for the second episode of our podcast. They talk about importance of public spaces and support for musical diversity and expression, specifically public broadcasting and public funding and how those spaces have increasingly been limited over the last years for artists that do not follow the narratives of the government. They also highlight the specific challenges and barriers for independent artists that have been made even more difficult by the COVID-19 crisis.

On 3 March 2021, Freemuse and partners in 40 countries around the world will celebrate the 15th annual Music Freedom Day and stand united in solidarity with artists facing challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown, through local and online events.   This year, by focusing on the theme "Imagine a Pandemic Without Art", Music Freedom Day intends to raise awareness of the challenges faced by artists and performers during COVID-19, and to remind us not take art, and the space for artists for granted.www.musicfreedomday.org

In our first episode, Simone Dudt (EMC) is joined by Silja Fischer (IMC) and Giambattista Tofoni from Europe Jazz Network. They talk about:

the effects of the Corona crisis for the jazz field and Italy in particular

solidarity in Europe

how to endure the crisis with live concerts still being rare

musicians as well as the “invisible” workers of the music sector struggling for survival

The podcast music was exclusively composed by Moritz Eggert for the EMC, it is performed by Luise Enzian (baroque harp) and Moritz Eggert (piano).