Financing Classical Music' Workshop as a part of the #synergy project held in Ljubljana
Workshop Financing Classical Music: different funding opportunities and ways to achieve financial sustainability organized by Festival Ljubljana team was held from October 4 to 6 at the Križanke Knights’ Hall in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Workshop entitled Financing Classical Music: different funding opportunities and ways to achieve financial sustainability was held at the Križanke Knights’ Hall in Ljubljana, Slovenia from 4 to 6 October 2021 as the first set of activities of the EU project #synergy: Sharpening the capacities of the classical music industry in the Western Balkans. It was hosted by the Festival Ljubljana, and it brought together representatives of the project partners, but also welcomed representatives of the local cultural scene, as well as cultural professionals and managers.
The workshop was held with the objective to address specific issues, exchange mutual experiences, and share individual know-how when it comes to finding different ways of financing cultural programs. The topic was presented and discussed by some of the highly respected Slovenian cultural managers: Mr. Darko Brlek (Ljubljana Festival general and art director), Mr. Andrej Drapal (management consultant at Consensus d.o.o.), Mr. Blaž Peršin (director of Ljubljana City Museum and Galleries) and Mr. Tibor Mihelič Syed (managing director of the Slovenian Youth Theatre).
-Success of any financing starts with the audience. If there is no audience, you are just walking around and begging for money. It is the question of how to show sponsors and city or authorities, politicians, that they are benefiting not just giving you money. (...) Most festivals have a problem that they are depending on only one source. If you just play on the existing market, you are struggling. The market is expanding so you have to search. The role of financing, marketing, sponsoring is to expand it – Andrej Drapal pointed out during his presentation.
This workshop was a first out of six workshops that will be organized during the #synergy project. Six two-day workshops, part of the #synergy project activity Classical Music: Behind the stage organized in all 6 participating countries will address the lack of systematized collaboration between cultural professionals, organizations and practitioners coming from the project countries. They will tackle as well the lack of cultural policy and management research, lack of comprehensive strategic analyses of the classical music industry, aiming to bridge the gap between the classical music market’s needs, the education and professional practice of cultural managers working in the field of classical music. Next one, entitled Programing Classical Music, is to be held in Kotor on November 23 and 24, 2021. The final result of all the workshops conducted will be presented in the Classical music production Guidebook, which will summarize and cover all the topics discussed. The Guidebook will be developed by an independent expert Research group consisting of emerging cultural managers and researchers, and distributed and promoted throughout the region and Europe.
The project #synergy: Sharpening the capacities of the classical music industry in the Western Balkans, supported by the Creative Europe program of the European Commission, brings together six important festivals from the region: the KotorArt Don Branko’s Music Days (Montenegro), Dubrovnik Summer Festival (Croatia), Belgrade Music Festival (Serbia), Ljubljana Festival (Slovenia), Vox Baroque Festival (Albania), and the Chopin Piano Fest Prishtina (Kosovo). The project aims to strengthen the capacities and sharing of know-how on a regional and European level, to provide new skills and connect cultural professionals, primarily those who work in the music festival and classical music sector, to encourage composers to write new pieces inspired by the local heritage of partner countries, as well as to facilitate networking and collaboration between young musicians, composers, and classical music organizations in the Western Balkans.
During 34 months, #synergy will gather twelve composers and over fifty emerging musicians and cultural managers. Six workshops for cultural professionals will be realized, along with twelve residencies for composers, which will result in twelve new pieces of music inspired by cultural heritage of the region and Europe.
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