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Australian
Musical Futures
| Australian
Musical
Futures is a series of symposia, think tanks or summits offered
each year by the Music Council of Australia to look into major issues
faced by the music sector. The mission statement of the MCA says in
part that it aims “to bring together all sections of the music
community in order to advance a diverse and vibrant musical life
throughout Australia”. This is one of the most important strategies for
implementation of that objective. Below are links to the programs for
2008 and 2009, and the upcoming Classical Music Summit in 2010. |
Go to
Australian Musical Futures 2008: Towards
2020 Summit
Australian Musical Futures 2009: The
Digital Distribution Think Tanks
Australian Musical Futures 2010: The Classical Summit
To go straight to the detailed pages for the
Classical Summit, click here.
Introduction:
The world is changing extraordinarily rapidly but the
core repertoire
for the engine of the classical music sector, the orchestra, is stuck
in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. There is a decline in
audiences in the USA and some European countries, although big
developments in China, Japan, South Korea, possibly in some parts of
South America. In Australia there is a mixed picture but generally
audiences have been sustained and probably the standards have never
been better. Nevertheless, there is cause for concern about the
interest of the younger generations as their world view changes,
classical music has departed from many schools and on the popular level
looks like music your grandparents might like. You could look at a
SWOT
analysis of the situation.
At the 2009 Assembly of the MCA, a classical music
breakout group
brought together a small group of people from across the sector.
They
said, as so often happens, how good it was to be able to discuss these
issues, especially with people from beyond their own interest groups –
chamber ensemble people talking to orchestras to radio broadcasters to
youth and so on. They made a number of recommendations and endorsed
enthusiastically the idea for the Classical Summit.
Given the disruption overseas, it would seem prudent
to take stock of
the situation in Australia, identify problems actual or incipient and
 look to the future. Australian Musical Futures will organise focus
groups around the country, elicit perceptions and ideas, and later in
the year organise a national meeting of interested parties to decide upon actions, hopefully to be taken collaboratively across the sector.
MCA has conducted a literature survey to quantify
trends here and overseas. This is available from
the 2010 Australian
Musical
Futures: The Classical Summit
page where you'll also find:
- Contributed papers
- Reports from the Preparatory Focus Groups
- Other research and some things to think about
- A bulletin board where you can join in the discussion
- Administrative arrangements and how to register to
attend
For more information on Australian Musical
Futures 2010
and on the situation of classical music here and abroad, please click here.
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