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is to advance public knowledge and appreciation of all kinds of music by
raising the number and quality of musicians giving public performances within a
defined geographic region. Simply put, SEMS selects talented musicians and
groups offering unusual, interesting and innovative programmes and offers them
to promoters, venues, educational organisations and festivals in the region.
The genre are
broadly acoustic including classical, contemporary, folk, jazz and culturally
diverse work.
Promoters benefit from a quality product at discounted rates,
and this encourages experimentation with artists or genre outside a normal
programming range.
Artists benefit from the provision of concerts,
commissions, recordings, educational work, training, management, administrative
support and other forms of assistance which help to advance their careers and
gives them a foundation for developing both their performance and promotional
skills.
South East Music Schemes is a registered charity and a company limited by
guarantee. Its remit extends to cover Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of
Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex and the unitary authorities of
Bracknell Forest, Brighton and Hove, Medway, Milton Keynes, Portsmouth, Reading,
Slough, Southampton, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead and Wokingham.
SEMS is governed by a board of Trustees and Directors, who meet 4 times a
year. The current trustees are:
 | Nicolas Chisholm (Chair) - Headmaster of the Yehudi Menuhin School. Nicolas is also a tenor who performs widely in the South of England in
opera, oratorio and recitals. |
| John Fordham - Journalist and author of books on jazz. He currently
writes regularly for the Independent, Guardian, is editor of Jazz UK and
wrote, produced and presented the Jazz Legends series on Channel 4. |
| Alastair Hume - a founding member of the King’s Singers, and sang
with them for 25 years, also freelancing as a double bass player with most of
the major London symphony orchestras. |
| Keith Parfitt – now retired, but previously Director of External
Relations at Fina (UK) plc and for many years a sponsor of the Young Musicians
Platform Scheme, a forerunner of the current SEMS portfolio. |
| Susan Wanless is Director of Music at the University of Kent at Canterbury,
and is a conductor, performer and promoter. |
| Mike Lindup - one of the founding members and keyboard player of
"Level 42", is now involved in developing new opportunities for young players. |
| Pauline Johnson – Artistic Director of the Guildford International
Festival, and Chair of Surrey Arts Marketing. |
SEMS is managed and administered under contract by Judith Clark Arts Services,
led by Executive Consultant Judith Clark, previously Director of St Mary in the
Castle, Hastings and earlier Director of Performing Arts at South East Arts.
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Members of SEMS Board talking to Jessica Hartridge, a designer
from Surrey Institute of Arts and Design. Photo by Simon Evans.
| Open Selection:- |
An annual process which selects and supports a range of ensembles and solo
artists working
in classical, world, folk, jazz and other genres of music. It offers the
selected performers opportunities to work across the region and offers
administrative and marketing support for up to two years.
| Face to Face South East Music
Schemes runs a number of advisory services to cope with specific questions
from artists and promoters. Part of this programme is the establishing of
specified days for one to one surgery-type consultations in a variety of
geographic locations across the region. For details of dates please
phone or e-mail the office. Each Face
to Face appointment is expected to last for 20 – 30 minutes. If the matter you
wish to discuss is complicated or detailed analysis is needed, please give
details in writing beforehand, more than one week in advance of the surgery
day.
In addition, supplementary telephone appointment days have
been initiated for less intricate matters or more urgent and immediate
problems - it is unlikely that these calls will last more than
15minutes.
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| Artists Professional Development Menu:- |
Together with SEMS's Executive Consultant and other specialist advisers each
artist/group is invited to create a professional development plan for
themselves during their tenure. This may include recordings, web-site design,
commissioning new work, cross art-form projects, participation in education
and community schemes, new costumes or lighting, and/or help with applications
to other schemes and Trusts. The Professional Development Menu is devised
specifically for the needs of each artist/group and SEMS has a small,
dedicated budget for each group to assist in this development.
| Real World Seminars |
There are many extremely talented musicians with whom SEMS has contact and
whose work has quality and style but who are not eventually chosen through the
Open Selection Process. Many of these musicians have much to offer the region
and SEMS is seeking ways to develop a method of assisting them to develop
their own competent administrative and marketing base. The recent HEFC/Youth
Music report highlighted the lack of effective ‘real world’ training in
conservatoires and colleges across the musical genres. From SEMS experience,
this is not wholly the fault of the conservatoires, as students focussed in
academic and performance studies are often divorced from the practicalities of
running a business and of concert giving. Some months/years later after
experiencing the practicalities, they will at least know the right questions
to ask!
SEMS aims, in this new project to give both novice and mid-career musicians
a number of one-day seminars covering all aspects of establishing and
sustaining a career - excepting the artistic issues. These conferences are not
intended to be exhaustive in every detail but will have an introductory,
‘equipping yourself’, ‘where to go next’ type aesthetic. We intend to offer
advice on
tax, VAT, insurance, recording, website, marketing and publicity,
administration, presentation, broadcasting and other subjects as recommended
by our advisers and as requested by musicians, in a variety of formats. We will
offer ‘Ask the
panel’ style question times and surgeries, with keynote addresses to top and
tail each day. We are currently fundraising for £3,000 per event to enable
this seminar programme to take place.
| Promoter Consortia |
South East Music Schemes hopes to initiate collective collaborations
between promoters and to commission programmes and tours from artists as
requested by these groups of promoters/venues. This ‘commissioning’ would take
place through a series of regular meetings and mailings and existing concert
return forms.
Please also see our Copyright & Credits
notices; a full Site Map is also available.
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