Mixing it

To merge or not to merge? This is a decision that may face an increasing number of arts and charitable organisations over the coming months and years, as the consequences of what could prove a profound and long-lasting economic downturn start to work their way through the structure of our society. Amongst a group of small organisations active in the cause of contemporary music and experimental sound art, a corner of the arts world in which I have spent much of much my working life, the merger issue is a discussion that has been held many times, though not always as a result of a precarious financial outlook. Other, more expansionist factors have also come into play, such as the ambition to increase our impact with audiences, create a fit-for-purpose venue and home for our work, to be a more effective partner internationally or to broaden the scope of our output.
Discussions around mergers can meander inconclusively on for years, but in our case, we have finally, and gratefully, reached the point of decisive change. Sound and Music officially opens for business in May. A merger of four organisations, it has been created to address a particular issue – how to build audiences for and engagement with new and innovative work in the medium of music and sound. I became Sound and Music’s first Executive Director in February this year, but the talks that in due course led to its creation began five years earlier, and those in turn built on ideas that have been in the air since the late 1980s, if not before.
 

Starter for ten
Our most recent discussions, brokered by Arts Council England (ACE), initially saw no fewer than ten organisations around the table. To the outside observer we would have appeared a heterodox bunch – touring networks, live events platforms, professional development agencies, organisations with niches in specialist genres or with particular audiences, others working across genre. All were producing important and high quality work, yet on small-scale resources in terms of either budget, structure or personnel – often all three. There was shared identification of a common problem – how to overcome a perception that, through scarcity of resources and self-limiting outlook, we were missing out on audiences that other art forms were capturing more successfully. There was a real hunger in the room to share the work in which we believed so passionately with a wider audience. Was a venue-based solution part of the answer? How could we best address the systemic issues around funding, communications and marketing that held back our impact? Was a more fundamental realignment of some or all of our organisations necessary to spark a decisive change?
Initially, ACE continued in a facilitative role within the discussion, there being no one organisation or group clearly placed to take a lead. As members left the process, however, almost always for very good reasons of their own, a smaller, more cohesive grouping began to emerge, equipped to take charge of and own the project. In 2007 this group raised a £1.2m development grant from ACE Thrive!, marking the true turning point of talk into reality. And two years on, four of us have taken the decision that we have a better future combined than on our own and that therefore a brand new organisation should be created.
Band of brothers
Sound and Music’s founders, British Music Information Centre (Bmic), Contemporary Music Network, Society for the Promotion of New Music and Sonic Arts Network all carry different elements into the mix, yet come with a track record of shared people, common practice and of working together. This has made success possible for what in anyone’s analysis is a high-risk move, as failures in merger are common, and whilst the merger of two or (at a push) three partners is recognised practice, the full merger of four is an exceptional occurrence. Even given a merger that has been carefully planned and well capitalised, we know there will be many challenges ahead in forging our new culture, although we also recognise (and like our politicians, can claim no prescience) that, without this realignment, survival let alone growth could have been a tricky prospect in the current economic climate.
So, what changes in the landscape will be visible, and what difference will Sound and Music make? Immediately, the four organisations’ own brands will be replaced by Sound and Music’s. But many of the founders’ sub-brands, performance platforms and professional development opportunities will continue, combining or evolving naturally into new programmes as the organisation develops and finds its authentic voice. Our new website will be a radical advance on the individual online presences of the four founders. Looking to the future, Sound and Music’s progress will ultimately be judged by its ability to make a difference not only to audience numbers for the work which it champions, but also to the range and diversity of that audience and the depth of its engagement. For the past 18 months we have been working in partnership with Audiences London to develop a better understanding of both our core and potential audience, and the changes we must make to address them effectively. In this context, the role of learning, often implicit in the founders’ work, will be made more explicit and integral to all Sound and Music’s programming and activity. We also see big opportunities in the digital environment, in publishing, and in the potential to build on our international platforms, networks and partnerships. [[we have finally, and gratefully, reached the point of decisive change]]
Don’t shoot the pianist
And what of me? I come to Sound and Music having been Director of Bmic, one of the four founders. For more than two decades I have been promoting the extraordinary creativity of composers and their performers, often on very slender resources. With a background as a pianist and conductor, I also know at first hand what it means to promote work of challenge and difficulty, particularly in the context of non-professional musicians, and the deep fulfilment those musicians and their audiences can feel when these very real challenges are successfully overcome.
Having been around long enough to have played a part in most of those earlier discussions, it is an immensely fulfilling, and in many ways unexpected opportunity to lead a change with such a potential to make a difference for our sector. For the past two years, I’ve been part of a small but intensely committed staff and board team supported by professional advisors. Inevitably, there is an element of loss as well as gain in such a radical change process, and leading the transition is a big part of my role. But looking ahead, adding value through acting in partnership, not duplicating or competing, will be crucial in delivering our goals. Working with colleagues to develop those partnerships is an aspect of the job to which I am most looking forward.