{"id":3412,"date":"2023-09-27T01:28:22","date_gmt":"2023-09-26T23:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mapamundimusica.com\/?p=3412"},"modified":"2023-09-27T02:01:14","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T00:01:14","slug":"september-23-talk-with-ludovico-esposito-sud-sonico-after-balkanmost-aa-music-booking-news-from-babel-music-xp-open-calls-63","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mapamundimusica.com\/en\/newsletter\/september-23-talk-with-ludovico-esposito-sud-sonico-after-balkanmost-aa-music-booking-news-from-babel-music-xp-open-calls-63\/","title":{"rendered":"September 23. Talk with Ludovico Esposito (Sud Sonico), after Balkan:MOST, A&A Music Booking, news from Babel Music XP, open calls\u2026 #63"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Summary\u00a0\ud83d\udc47<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
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Editorial<\/span><\/p>\n

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A&A Music Booking,\u00a0joint venture between Mapamundi M\u00fasica and Asya Music & Management (Turkey)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Talk with\u00a0Ludovico Esposito, from the Italian association Sud Sonico<\/span><\/p>\n

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Update about\u00a0Babel Music XP\u00a0from its director\u00a0Olivier Rey<\/span><\/p>\n

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European Folk Day,\u00a0how it was<\/span><\/p>\n

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Brief news from the media, charts and sister projects<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Open calls\u00a0and more news from professional events\u00a0\ud83d\udcbc<\/span><\/p>\n

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Meet me at\u00a0\u2708\ufe0f<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u27a1\ufe0f This is the link for subscription<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Hello, <\/strong>how are you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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I am\u00a0well. I begin this editorial with a photo of myself and Ludovico Esposito. He is the protagonist of this edition. I met him at Balkan:MOST, but I had previously had my eye on him and contacted him to have a chat there.Some ideas I had seen on his profile on the festival’s intranet had caught my attention:\u00a0“Ludovico uses music as a medium for recreational, educational, tourism, and humanitarian-environmental purposes, producing concerts, festivals, capacity-building programs, and fundraising events in support of devastated geographical areas<\/em>“.\u00a0In recent times I have been reflecting a lot on questions concerning the use of music (and also the use of the musicians).\u00a0Also on other issues that I am recurrently mentioning here, such as the exclusion from\u00a0the world music industry of many artists who make “world music”, caused by several issues. I will not dwell on this now.<\/p>\n

<\/a>But related to this issues, at Balkan:MOST I also met\u00a0Amita Vempati<\/a>, development manager of the organisation\u00a0Artistic Freedom Initiative<\/a>, which is dedicated to creating the conditions for artists who are unable to develop their work in their countries because they are experiencing censorship, persecution, forced displacement, armed conflict or\u00a0humanitarian crisis.
\nThey support them in several ways, like\u00a0through legal and practical support to settle in the USA. They are also starting to work in Europe. We are talking about artists in situations like those who can be getting support from the French organisation\u00a0L’Atelier des Artistes en Exil<\/a>, about which I spoke in the previous edition in the conversation with Imed Alibi. Read that edition, the #62,\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These people I am talking about have been an important part of my Balkan:MOST experience. Another essential part has been David Sierra, my colleague with whom I share many things (I made him an interview for this newsletter, that is available\u00a0here<\/a>). I want to mention him because we had some fascinating conversations. I was also able to meet other old friends who have been through this newsletter before, such as Bojan Djordjevic, from the Todo Mundo festival (his interview, from 2019, is\u00a0here<\/a>)\u00a0and to meet in person others with whom I was in contact from afar, such as Andr\u00e1s Halmos, who was also a protagonist (his interview, much recent, is\u00a0here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The truth is that I feel very privileged to meet these people and to be at these events. All of this gives me a lot of food for thought. Perhaps for other people, being in these environments comes as no surprise. For me, it is still very exciting. Well, I have a lot of excitement coming up in October…\u00a0I’ll tell you about it below. But now, it’s time to give a voice to others.\u00a0They are sure to be of great interest to you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Remember: if you have any news of interest for our community, let me know. Thank you very much for your attention.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Araceli Tzigane | Mapamundi M\u00fasica\u00a0|\u00a0+34 676\u00a030 28 82\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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A&A MUSIC BOOKING, JOINT VENTURE BETWEEN MAPAMUNDI M\u00daSICA AND ASYA MUSIC & MANAGEMENT<\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n

Let me tell you a story. In February I travelled to Istanbul. It was the same week as the earthquakes. I’m sure you remember it. I almost didn’t go… I was going to travel for a concert of Ali Do\u011fan G\u00f6n\u00fclta\u015f. We were going to shoot a video of the concert and do a photo session.<\/p>\n

Both things were cancelled but I kept the trip. I had already paid for everything and I had some meetings that we were still able to keep.<\/p>\n

One of the meetings\u00a0was with Martin Greve, who I was going to meet for the first time, after the suggestion by Birgit Ellinghaus. Martin and me had arranged to meet in \u00dcsk\u00fcdar, in the Asian part of Istanbul. But due to a misunderstanding, I ended up in Kad\u0131k\u00f6y…<\/p>\n

Martin came over, we had coffee, dinner, and at one point it occurred to him to call his friend Asya Arslanta\u015f, who is in more or less the same line of work as me and she lived close to that place. Well, all this seems like a chain of events linked in a very fragile way, which led us to meet each other.<\/p>\n

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The truth is that\u00a0everything in life is like that.\u00a0It has all been so improbable as to be almost impossible. But it happened!<\/p>\n

Asya was my protagonist in this edition of March<\/a>.\u00a0The truth is that we saw that we had a very similar approach to working with music and after several conversations, we decided to start a common path, of which this concert programme that you have here is the first proposal.\u00a0Soon we will also have a website\u00a0\ud83e\udd73.<\/p>\n

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You can download a dossier with more information,\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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AND NOW THE FLOOR IS FOR: <\/span><\/strong>LUDOVICO ESPOSITO<\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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“Sud Sonico is a cultural association & platform whose aim is to promote musical diversity and innovation through recreational and educational activities like festivals, seminars, conferences and concerts.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sud Sonico is formed by a a team of music professionals specialized in the field of music consultancy, event organization and music therapy. It operates in Lecce, South Italy, and had been collaborating with worldwide operators since 2012.<\/em><\/p>\n

Our ethical and professional values are innovation, diversity, quality, accessibility and inclusion, which are strongly communicated to citizens, institutions, public bodies and organizations.”<\/em><\/p>\n

From the page\u00a0Association of www.sudsonico.it<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Ludovico is the president of Sud Sonico. He was invited to Balkan:MOST to make a keynote during the pitching session. I took the picture above during his speech. He talked there for 4 minutes. But I was priviledged with more than 40 minutes of conversation with him\u00a0<\/strong>\ud83e\udd73.<\/strong><\/p>\n

His artistic focus is what he calls as advanced music, with a strong pressence of electronics. That is a very different focus than mine, as I work mainly with acoustic music connected with the tradition. However, many of the things he explains seem to me to be very interesting and useful and applicable to any cultural initiative, especially when we work with material that is far from the mainstream.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But without further ado, I will share the content of the interview.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

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Mapamundi M\u00fasica: You have the Association Sud Sonico, the Festival Avant, the Xenomorph Sounds concert series, and Sagra Elettronica.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ludovico Esposito:<\/strong>\u00a0Sagra Elettronica is not going on. The project stopped since Covid. It was designed to be a modern food and electronic music event. In South of Italy,\u00a0sagra<\/em>\u00a0is a street food format dedicated to specific ingredients. It might be sagra of octopus, sagra of aubergine\u2026 So the usual is to go there and listen to folk music and eat non-quality dishes. We wanted to create a modern sagra as a very high-quality street food and with quality electronic music. So we did two editions, but since Covid we could not bring it forward. As a 1000-people capacity event, it was challenging to keep the public security-capacity balanced. Although it was a successful project, we just stopped investing energies in it, and instead worked on \u201csafer\u201d and smaller event concepts. Food, installations, people gathering, dancing and eating in old farms\u2026 Sagra Elettronica has been a great format, it has been done in the right time, and looked ahead of it proudly.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Sagra Elettronica @\u00a0Atraz Emilia\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
.<\/span><\/div>\n

On the other hand, we invested in another project, in Avant, a different concept but the same soul. It is a boutique festival to create an intimate atmosphere and unite the beauties of our traditions with avantgarde music. We basically welcome 300 guests over a weekend of events. We have daytime and evening activities. During the day, we present wine tasting, food tasting and hiking or trekking on the Adriatic Sea. And in the evening, we present avantgarde music concerts, electronica, experimental electroacoustic and any hybrid sound or performance. But also, DJ sets. So we listen to quality music and we dance and we enjoy a weekend of togetherness in our spectacular panoramas and with our spectacular food and wine. It functions as a slow intimate tourism experiences, through music. It is a \u201cmore-adult\u201d and intimate format than Sagra Elettronica. It is basically the same concept, but designed for a different fruition and for different targets.<\/p>\n

MM: I have seen that your approach to music or to art is recreational, educational and therapeutic. And you focus the art somehow for equality, it has kind of political or philosophical approach\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

LE:\u00a0<\/strong>Yes, we have a benefit approach, so our association works and, in general, uses music for different purposes. When I mean recreational purposes, I refer to social cohesion and togetherness through live events like the festivals Sagra Electronica and AVANT, or the concert series Xenomorph sounds. These are different projects that serve to enable people to have fun and to stay together.<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

“The idea of our educational approach is that, today, a sustainable and impactful project needs vertical skills and vertical vision. So it’s not only about marketing, communication or fundraising, but it’s about having a vertical approach, a vertical vision on projects.”<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n

About educational. We produce \u201cAvant Learn \u2013 Advanced Music XLR8R\u201d, a training program to enable young people or even freelancers to work better on music projects. This project was funded by MusicAIRE last year and it is pretty unique in Europe. The idea of our educational approach is that, today, a sustainable and impactful project needs vertical skills and vertical vision. So it’s not only about marketing, communication or fundraising, but it’s about having a vertical approach, a vertical vision on projects. So we organize free-entry master classes about music marketing, communication, fundraising, production, but also contemporary and modern ones like music tourism, sustainability, international fundraising, digital project management, data & science, copyright. We help the students to be independent to and produce independently any sort of projects, from a festival, a record label, a technology start-up. I think that the reason why it got co-funded is because it is \u2013 and looked \u2013 as necessary for music organizations to cover so many different areas in terms of management, or at least, to have a clue on what it means to work on sustainability, music tourism or fundraising, and be able to delegate. We cannot do everything by ourselves, but we must be able to handle any area of a project and to delegate, to supervise and to track the impact.<\/p>\n

About the therapeutical approach: we did few seminar and laboratories on music therapy, we did such activities for children, but even for adults or for disabled people. So we help people to feel better through sound and music. We recently slowed down our focus on music therapy too, at the moment is not a primary activity for us.<\/p>\n

MM: You, about the educational part. You\u00a0have at least to know that those areas of activity are there and they must be covered. You have to know that they exist.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

LE:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cAvant Learn\u201d is indeed meant to compensate such gap. For any educational section of the program, we hire a specialized professor, or we cover them ourselves. I can teach myself fundraising, project management, administration\u2026 For music tourism, I ask a colleague from Milan. For sustainability, I asked an Italian collegue, plus we collaborate with other entities in Italy and Europe that works on music festival impact reduction in terms of energy, water, waste recycling, purchase – any sustainability topics of the Agenda 2030.<\/p>\n

\u201cAvant Learn\u201d offers a highly advanced learning model, as the students satisfaction rate was very high. In terms of scaleup, we work on different scaling approaches. We are considering if and how to evolve in also in a e-learning program, to develop a digital methodology-sharing platform and not only an in-presence project. We also envision it as a point of touch between European organisations seeking to hire new talents, and new talents looking for traineeships in Europe.<\/p>\n

We are working to export it in several nations, by designing training programs tailored for the needs and goals of music organizations. For example, an organization in Europe asked us to train five of their volunteers in arts fundraising. So we designed an advanced learning project for that organization. A booking agency ask us to design a program for their artists to reinforce their skills in digital copyright, contracting, intellectual property\u2026 So we just produced one course, and not a complete training program. It results to be scalable, and shaped specifically for one organization or one specific project.\u00a0We aim to help organizations, citizens, people in any form which is possible through sound and music.<\/p>\n

MM: My newsletter is sent to professionals working on what I do and also from festivals. If they want to have a consultancy with you about those topics, can they contact you for that service?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LE<\/strong>: Of course. This specific project \u201cAvant Learn\u201d, but in general our organization Sud Sonico, works in two different fields: the production of our own projects and\u00a0advise and support to improve specific areas of an organization or project in terms of management, fundraising, cooperation and scaleup, engaging with citizens, artists, public administration and municipalities, cultural bodies or festival organizations\u2026 We can cover pretty much any area which is needed today to make projects sustainable, make individuals independent, smarter, more flexible and ready to afford the new challenges of the music and creative industries.<\/p>\n

MM: And do you make all this under the frame of Sud Sonico?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LE<\/strong>: Yes and no, my role in Sud Sonico as a President is not only to do fundraising, but to improve the non-profit projects of the organization in any possible capacity and scale. As a freelance, I offer music fundraising and project management consultancies. Our organization can collaborate with you mostly in some capacities, me as an individual, in others. Our associates and volunteers are amazing and their support in production and execution is fundamental. We are always open for collaboration ideas.<\/p>\n

We recently launched a new project, that expanded our vision. It is called M\u00fasica Etica (in English, Etic Music). It is a project which aim is to use music as a medium for humanitarian or environmental awareness purposes. We produced one even this year. As simple as it may sound, we played electronic music and we choose a humanitarian cause to support, asking donations to help us supporting it. This year, we wanted to support the victims of the earthquake in Syria and Turkey. So, we settled a partnership with Save The Children Italy, and they were happy to help us promote the event and distribute the donations on site to children and families. We are trying and open to boost this project on an international scale, to open bridges with Middle East and, in general, with real humanitarian and environmental organizations supporting the planet in any form.<\/p>\n

Sud Sonico is using music in many capacities, with many ideas and concepts, but the key goal is the same: to create benefits, to create a positive impact, not locally but worldwide.
\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Banner of\u00a0Musica Etica, from\u00a0Sud Sonico’s Facebook page<\/a><\/p>\n

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MM: About Xenomorph Sounds, tell me more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

LE<\/strong>: It is a concert series, so it is a single one-day event. It is a kind of Avant Festival, in a smaller proportion. If there are not enough financial resources, we produce smaller, but always quality events, and Xenomorph Sounds is Sud Sonico\u2019s live music event project. We have produced 4 events with Italian and international experimental solo performers. Xenomorph is about showcasing a wide range of new music genres: electronic, experimental, electroacoustic, ambient, jazz, impro, and anything we think can fit the context. Equally to Avant or Sagra Elettronica, or like Musica Etica, we have no sound limit: as far is it avantgarde music, we can book any act. And depending on the venue, the atmosphere, the period, if it is summer or autumn\u2026 we shape, we design a program that unites a series of goals and needs. We produced this concert series in castles, in cultural centres, in bars\u2026 our aim is to make avantgarde music the most accessible as possible. We invited exceptional musicians like Italy\u2019s ambient wizard Gigi Masin, Italian saxophonist Laura Agnusdei, Austrian drummer Katharina Ernst, Japanese noise performer Yuko Araki, the band Give Guitars to People.<\/p>\n

MM: Why did you come here to Balkan:MOST?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LE<\/strong>: Because I was invited as a delegate from the festival to run keynote about the topic \u201cMusic as a Medium for Impact\u201d. I was invited in Athens earlier this year for another conference festival, Athens Music week, and in a panel we discussed a few project ideas – funding opportunities – to create a new expanded Southern Europe Network including Balkans. It is a vivid geographical area that has a lot of potential, and still not much attention from corporate and media. So, Georges Perot, the founder of Athens Music Week, together with other delegates, discussed the possibility of expanding the cooperation, vision and operational projects from Spain and Portugal until the end of the Balkans, with the idea to create a network for cooperation and collaboration in a broader sense and capacity. I\u2019m here at Balkan:MOST to try bringing ahead this idea, and share it with other music professionals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Athens Music Week 2023<\/span><\/p>\n

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MM: So, in the artistic part, the focus of your work is the avantgarde music. Do you have any relationship also with the traditional music from the region of Lecce?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LE<\/strong>: Not that much, because of my personal choice, or yes, depending on the perspective. The music heritage traditional music in Lecce is mainly traditional music, and has little to do with avantgarde. Not many traditional musicians here contaminate with contemporary languages. If musicians play just one instrument, it normally doesn\u2019t fit on our idea of avantgarde programming, although we made exceptions. It is not that we don\u2019t like traditional music, but our artistic direction selects avant-garde music and not traditional-only artists. One exception is Maria Mazzotta: a local singer who recently started a project with Raul Refree, a Spanish composer and producer who also released music on Mute Records. I appreciate much their new project, because it is about our tradition, and about electronic music. We have several folk avantgarde projects that we would like to invite but it depends on the kind of event, the funding\u2026 There are many things that should come together for us to give space to an avantgarde yet traditional performers.<\/p>\n

MM: Why do you do all this? Which is your personal background that took you finally to make this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

LE<\/strong>:\u00a0I started to work in the field almost 10 years ago. I started to play music by case, 15 years ago I played electric guitar, and 10 years ago I started to collaborate for the organization of some music events. I attended a lot of events in Berlin, which shaped my vision and taste very much. When in Berlin, my taste and my vision kept improving and I started my own agency We Care PR. It was a promotional & pr agency for artists, record labels and festivals. I collaborated from the smallest blog to BBC Radio, placing electronic, experimental and club music in different channels, media and helping artists to reach new audiences. At the same time, I was organizing club events in Lecce, my city. First, semi-legal techno events, inviting the artists I was dancing to when in Berlin. The success and network were getting stronger and stronger\u2026 And 8 years ago, I started to realise that the projects should find a sustainability in medium-long term. As I have a degree in social & consumer psychology, and a master in marketing and communication, it was natural to me to approach fundraising. So, my background helped me approach medium-big corporations and get funding from the beginning. And I continued to diversify my vision and skills. I continued to invest on myself in advanced training, and to share new skills and goals with my team. I started to do fundraising myself, starting from corporate, and\u00a0moving to public funding and philanthropy. I think there must\u00a0always be space and time to learn new skills. In my opinion, individual donations and philanthropy are the solution for music, arts and creative industry on an international scale.<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“I work on Sud Sonico\u2019s fundraising, but also support other organizations in achieving new funding, and expanding the network of potential funding partners. I believe this is the solution for us to be independent and to continue to work with creativity even without public funding which, in my opinion, will be continued to be cut down, year per year for the next 15 years.”<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Here on Balkan:MOST we have just listened to Mila Georgieva talking about the major part of the cultural organizations relying too much on public funding. I realised this myself 5 years ago and I started to work on fundraising diversification for my own organization, but as well to advice other organizations to start diversify and not relying only on municipalities, Minister or Creative Europe. I work on Sud Sonico\u2019s fundraising, but also support other organizations in achieving new funding, and expanding the network of potential funding partners. I believe this is the solution for us to be independent and to continue to work with creativity even without public funding which, in my opinion, will be continued to be cut down, year per year for the next 15 years. The cultural and economic panorama of Europe is changing, it is decreasing, and we need to work on other directions. As a person with wide interests in geopolitics, humanitarian topics, cultural topics, circular economy topics\u2026 I try to look very much ahead and be ready for the change that is imposed for the cultural organization.<\/p>\n

MM: What are the corporations searching for, to decide to give you some thousands of euros?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

LE<\/strong>: The goal of corporate can be focussed on the improvement of different areas: social & cultural impact; environmental & green sustainability goals; employees\u2019 welfare; sponsorships. Corporate basically support non-profit projects to achieve results in one or more of the aforementioned areas of public interest. Marketing and external relation offices do look actively for projects, and the best fundraising consultants would analyse the profile of the corporation, the marketing managers, the corporate external relations manager and, from the analysis, the consultant will find strategy to penetrate. Which is not easy. It takes time, effort and knowledge, sensibility and capacity of negotiation, flexibility of approach.<\/p>\n

The goals of corporations are different from the goal of other private bodies, like foundations. Private foundations release funding in order to pursue social, cultural, environmental purposes, and more. Of course, there are some foundations supporting health, foundations supporting welfare and so on. Foundations are ruled by their own statutes, so it is necessary to analysing the formal aspects too. The analytical process we applied for corporate, should be reshaped for other funding partners.<\/p>\n

And the approach to request funds is different from corporation to corporation. It needs to be a tailored fundraising approach, it is not possible to automatize the process: I would never suggest a non-profit organization to send the identical request to many corporations and many foundations. Fundraising is about a constant analysis, design and craft of words, goals, perspective of project development, perspective of project scale up, impact tracking, and budgeting. It’s very complex: there are many areas to enhance in one system. This approach to project management and development is, in my opinion, the only solution for non-profit organizations to survive, be independent, and getting a decent remuneration.<\/p>\n

MM:\u00a0Do you want to share any last idea?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

LE:<\/strong>\u00a0I would like to specify once again \u2013 in case it was not clear \u2013 and I and we want to use sound and music as a medium for worldwide impact. We desire and want to cooperate for humanitarian projects, environmental projects, cultural projects, cultural heritage projects, tourism projects, educational projects, performing projects, networking projects. We are a young organization but incredible skilled and ready to face any project in any capacity, and we look forward to continue our growing path and continue helping as many people as possible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Thank you, Ludovico!\u00a0<\/strong>\ud83d\ude4f<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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 <\/p>\n

UPDATE ABOUT BABEL MUSIC XP FROM ITS DIRECTOR, OLIVIER REY<\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

A few days ago I corresponded with Olivier Rey. I asked him if they already have the jury for the selection of the\u00a0Babel Music XP<\/a>\u00a0showcases. He told me that they are working on it and updated me on a few things. Of course, he mentioned the\u00a0decease of Bernard Aubert<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

I asked him for permission to shape his message and share it with you, as I find it interesting:<\/p>\n

“The Fiesta des Suds, Marseille’s biggest and most historic festival, runs from 5 to 8 October. Its director and founder, Bernard Aubert, passed away in mid-August. This news has obviously affected the teams and has forced us to offer additional content to pay tribute to Bernard’s character.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

About Babel Music XP, we’re delighted with this relaunch edition in 2023, which has been acclaimed by everyone. We brought together 1,500 professionals from 72 countries.but we’re also aware of the areas we need to develop to make the market more attractive. This means going international, working with world music players, opening up to contemporary music, which often programmes our styles without realising it, and many other things.<\/em><\/p>\n

The dates for Babel Music XP 2024 are 28 to 30 March. A number of projects have already been launched. The call for applications received 2,300 projects, demonstrating the extraordinary expectations surrounding an event like Babel. The good news is that we’ll be able to use the Dock des Suds for showcases once again this year. Quite apart from the acoustics (especially of the venue), it’s vital for me to have the 3 stages under the same roof, so that all the professionals can come together. The showcases are open to both professionals and the general public (10,000 spectators last year).<\/em><\/p>\n

As far as the selection committee is concerned, it will meet in mid-November and we hope to announce the selection in mid-December (a month earlier than last year) so that everyone can get organised and plan their visit to Marseille. The jury is currently being finalised. I’d like to renew a third of it each year, both to bring in new blood and to keep a record of our work from one year to the next.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you, Olivier!\u00a0<\/strong>\ud83d\ude4f<\/span><\/p>\n

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Update
\nEUROPEAN FOLK DAY<\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n

<\/p>\n

Finally, the first ever\u00a0European Folk Day took place on 23rd of September. It gathered 226 events in 32 countries. The call for tracks for the Music Repository\u00a0got to collect 104 tracks on the from 28 countries.\u00a026 radio stations members of the European Broadcasting Union dedicated part of their program to the Day. You can sign up for the news from the European Folk Network,\u00a0here<\/a>, and receive the news directlly from the organization that has coordinated this project.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The European Folk Day is a pilot project co-ordinated by European Folk Network (EFN) with financial support from\u00a0the MusicAIRE project jointly organised by the European Music Council and Inova with funds from the Creative Europe programme of the European Commission.<\/p>\n

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BRIEF NEWS FROM THE MEDIA, CHARTS AND SISTER PROJECTS\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n
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