south west sound report

01/08/2005

In April this year Dartington Plus held the second regional music symposium at Dartington. Newly named South West Sound, this exciting week-long event built on the successes of last year’s event to support, develop and celebrate the region’s music and musicians. South West Sound took place at Dartington Hall in Devon from 25-30 April, aiming to be the definitive music event for people either working in music in the region or starting a career in music, including musicians, bands, promoters, agents, programmers, music educators and community musicians.

The main aim of the event is to encourage and provide opportunities for the commercial and education sectors in the region to work creatively as partners to create new prospects for those working in music in the region, to enrich south west communities and to improve the region’s economy. The event is part of a programme aimed at stimulating the growth of music in the South West and contributing to national debate on current issues within music.

South West Sound has three strands: symposium, workshops and live music. Each day of the symposium focused on a particular area of music from Music Education to Rock, Pop and Dance Music and started with a keynote speech from experts and industry giants, including Music Manifesto Champion Marc Jaffrey, Eden Project founder Tim Smit and Marc Marot, the man who discovered Pulp, Massive Attack and Lemon Jelly.

Delegates were able to choose from a selection of inspiring presentations and case studies, including Setting Up Tours & Festivals by Andy Morgan (Festival in the Desert) and Running an Independent Music Record Company by Andy Ross, MD of Boss Music. There were frequent opportunities to share ideas, challenges and solutions with other musicians and industry professionals.

Practical workshops added another layer of learning opportunities to this year’s event. Workshops included Songwriting Masterclasses, Live Performance Techniques with My Life Story frontman Jake Shillingford and One-to-One Music Law Surgeries with music industry solicitor Helen Searle.

The week included headline performances from The Waterboys, Britten Sinfonia, Gavin Bryars and The New Scorpion Band, with over 40 performances by South West musicians including Chartwell Dutiro, Seth Lakeman, Totnes Jazz Collective, The **** Lovers and Stephensons Rocket.

South West Sound attracted 566 delegates to the Symposium element and 210 participants to the new workshop programme, while a total audience of 1855 attended the diverse live music programme both on the Dartington Estate and at King Edward VI Community College in Totnes.

The South West Sound CD, featuring 13 tracks from bands across the region, was distributed as a cover mount for the national industry journal Music Week at the end of March in the build up to the event, distributed to 11,000 contacts nationally. This CD has resulted in national interest and radio airplay for 2 of the bands.

Delegates feedback was very positive in 2005, with 79% of delegates categorising the event as ‘excellent’ or ‘very useful’ and 86% suggesting it would be beneficial for South West Sound to be an annual event.

The event was financially supported by Creative Partnerships, Arts Council England, Centre for Creative Enterprise & Participation, Devon ArtsCulture, PRS Foundation, Starland, Dartington Recordings and Generator.

Final attendance figures were as follows:

 

Symposium

Workshops

Live Music

Songwriting workshop

N/A

23

N/A

World & Folk

68

48

321

Community Music

61

22

160

Jazz & New Music

48 + 80 for AST Conf.

16

229

Music Education

110

58

286

Rock, Pop & Dance

113 + 24 SWMIF

N/A

559

Classical

49 +13 Music UK

13

300

Web Presence workshop

N/A

49

N/A

TOTALS

566

229

1855

 

"Thank you for including me in South West Sound 2005. The three days I attended, the people I met and the interactive seminars I took part in were truly outstanding. The benefits to me as a musician and my work in folk & world music, community music and the education field are already tangible"
Ian Smith, The Edge Music Project

"A very useful and thought provoking day. Great networking opportunity. Well worth the long journey"
Malcolm Pollock, Gloucestershire Music Services

"Best workshop seminar I've attended. Quality of the speakers and their knowledge and commitment to helping up and coming artists was superb"
Adrian Heyfron

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