Conclusions of the 3rd IOC
I. MUSIC AGAINST CHILD LABOUR
All orchestras around the world should support the global initiative “Music against child labour” by dedicating one of their concerts – including those already scheduled – until December 2014 to this campaign. They should also keep FIM and ILO-IPEC informed of their plans or decisions in this respect, so that this information can be used to encourage others to join in.
II. MODERN ORCHESTRA MANAGEMENT
1. Future of symphony orchestras: new concepts, new working practices
a. Symphony orchestras have the potential to perform the entire repertoire, while providing full employment.
b. They often have to face unfair competition from ensembles that exploit the precarious nature of freelance work. […]
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THE OSLO CALL
February 26th, 2014
“Representatives from musicians’ unions in more than 30 countries, meeting in Oslo on February 26, 2014, express their deepest concern about the situation of symphony and opera orchestras around the world.
In Greece, The Netherlands, Germany, the United States, a number of orchestras have been closed down, sometimes overnight. In many other countries, they are being threatened with reductions in funding and budgetary cuts.
In the context of the global recession, it is self-evident that orchestras suffer as well as other sectors of the economy. But destroying orchestras does not just impact musicians’ jobs. It also impedes, in territories where these orchestras pursue and develop their activities, the citizens’ ability to access great works and repertoire that cannot be provided by the commercial sector. […]
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Former SAMI Managing Director Hans Lindström Sentenced to Prison
Hans Lindström, SAMI’s former Managing Director, who was dismissed in 2006, was convicted on Friday 21 February 2014 for aggravated breach of trust and tax evasion and sentenced to 1.5 years prison with 24.5 million SEK damages.
The Stockholm District Court communicated on Friday 21 February that SAMI’s previously dismissed MD Hans Lindström had been convicted for aggravated breach of trust and tax evasion and sentenced to one year and six months imprisonment as well as 24,546,842 SEK damages to SAMI.
Hans Lindström was Managing Director of SAMI, the Swedish Artists’ and Musicians’ Interest organisation from 1996 to September 2006 when he was dismissed by SAMI’s board. […]
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International petition against the merger of SWR orchestras [campaign closed]
The fight against the Südwestrundfunk’s plans to merge the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg (SO) with the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR (RSO) did not abate following the publication of the composers’ and conductors’ open letters last year — rather, the protest has intensified and spread.
The organisation “Friends and Supporters of the SWR-SO” has made an appeal to Winfried Kretschmann, the minister president of Baden-Württemberg, asking him to take active steps towards preserving the existence of the SO, and this appeal has already been signed by more than 20.000 citizens of the German ‘Bundesland’. Politicians are also starting to finally take notice of this important problem: last weekend, a non-partisan declaration against the SWR merger was made public, signed by 40 members of the federal (Bundestag) as well as the provincial parliaments (baden-württembergischer Landtag). […]
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EU | Parliament adopts regulation facilitating the transport of musical instruments in cabins
On the 5 February 2014, the European Parliament adopted the text reviewing community regulation 2027/97, certain provisions of which aim to facilitate the transport of musical instruments on planes as hand luggage.
FIM is delighted that its long-haul work, led with the support of Pearle*, successively met with attentive attitudes on the part of the European Commission, the support of the Parliament’s Committee for Transport and Tourism and the backing of an overwhelming majority of MPs during the plenary session vote on the 5 February.
The 580 votes for the text (41 against, 48 abstentions) give it considerable legitimacy. Despite this, the work of explaining and persuading must, however, continue at Council level, where reservations have been expressed. […]
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SafeMUSE becomes an independent organisation
On Dec. 19, 2013, the Safe Music Havens Initiative became an independent, non-partisan and non-profit membership association with the main purpose of offering persecuted musical artists a safe place to stay and work through development of Safe Music Havens and Safe Music Residencies. The City of Harstad (Norway), the very first Safe Music Haven, is ready to receive the first guest musician as soon as all formalities are in place. The first residence musician is expected to arrive in Norway early this year.
SafeMUSE works in close cooperation with Freemuse. It is based on and supports the universal principles of human rights, as they apply to the rights of musical artists. […]
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The Symphony Project: a crowed-funded documentary on orchestra musicians
Zerosun Pictures productions intend to raise $150,000 US via crowd-funding before the 11 January 2014 on the Kickstarter website to produce their project of a documentary on the profession of orchestra musicians ($17,000 US in commitments have already been raised to date).
The aim of the Symphony Project is, for the first time and basing itself on the testimonies of American and European musicians, to describe and help understand the personal commitment, work and sacrifices that makeup musicians’ everyday life up to and throughout their professional life.
The documentary will also try to highlight the pressure to which musicians are subjected when they enter into competition with each other to access the phalanxes of international fame. […]
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The European Parliament’s TRAN Committee comes out in favour of specific rules facilitating transport of music instruments on planes
On the 19 December 2013, FIM and PEARLE* issued a joint press release in which they expressed their delight over the TRAN Committee’s vote of the 17 December 2013. It was an important stage in the parliamentary procedure which determines the form in which the text will be submitted for a first reading for vote by the Parliament during the full session of the 4 February 2014.
The vote of the TRAN Committee prevented dangerous amendments from being included which would have made the EU Commission’s provisions to meet the concern of the music sector meaningless. On the contrary, provisions enhancing the transparency of information and enabling musicians to better prepare and manage their plane trips have been adopted, which should reduce hindrances to occupational mobility caused by the incoherent or unpredictable policies practised by airline companies. […]
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