Artist managements are vulnerable in spite of emergency funding

Norman Lebrecht’s blog Slipped Disc spat fury at the substantial cash from the Arts Council England’s Cultural Recovery Fund that was awarded to large artist management organisations, Intermusica and IMG Artists.

Lebrecht generally seems to work from the position that artist managements are leeches on the classical music industry, while not always demonstrating intimate knowledge of what artist managers actually do… and of the narrow profit margins the vast majority work to. His outrage this time around (partly on behalf of managements not receiving funds) disregards the fact that any company could apply provided it met strict criteria/guidelines. And it takes little digging to reveal that the money is not being given as a ‘bail-out’ for either company, but rather is rigorously geared towards originating performance projects rather that underwriting mainstream day-to-day artist management. Hard-pressed venues and musicians will directly benefit.

Ringing round before the ACE announcement, it was clear enough that artist management thinking about recovery is hardly at odds with Arts Council funding priorities. Managers appear less concerned about government bail-outs specifically targeted at their profession (welcome though that might be) than the viability of performing venues/organisations on the one hand, and the interlinked financial wellbeing of the artists they represent. 

On the other hand, nothing seems to have stirred artist management ire more than Rishi Sunak’s apparent inference that freelance musicians (the artist manager’s stock-in-trade) should consider ‘re-training’. ‘Outraged,’ says one manager. ‘We were optimistic when the £1.5 billion cultural recovery package was first announced, but that ‘re-training’ comment spoilt things.’

However, artist managements remain bruised and vulnerable. November brings an end to the government’s furlough programme and the introduction of the job support scheme under which, according to International Artist Managers’ Association chief executive Atholl Swainston-Harrison, ‘many companies will find the cost of employing staff part-time prohibitive.’ 

Take-up of the furlough scheme in the profession was widespread, of course, but when you ask managers to review its effectiveness, the common response is to compare it with the much-admired Kurzarbeit (‘short-time work’) scheme in Germany. The British system was ‘clumsy and inappropriate’, says Jasper Parrott, executive chairman of HarrisonParrott, the problem being that for government support to be awarded, furloughed staff could not work. Says Parrott: ‘If individuals are unable to work they lose contact with the business and the artistic relationships on which everything depends. They lose their viability.’

So what of the ongoing Kurzarbeit scheme? This administers government funds to businesses on a sliding-scale basis (depending on hours worked) with the aim of keeping staff on the job. ‘This has operated very well,’ says Cornelia Schmid, managing director of Kozertdirektion Schmid and chairman of IAMA, ‘and is available at least until the end of 2021. Artist managers have been able to keep their full staff on board, with no redundancies. When things pick up again these people will be there ready to move things forward rapidly.’

Schmid nonetheless bemoans the fact, perhaps surprisingly given her country’s reputation for high culture, that German politicians have been slow during the crisis to support the full breadth of public/private classical music performance. ‘Culture isn’t seen as important as Lufthansa or VW,’ she muses.

By contrast, take the Canadian example. Here, government financial support for artist managers like Barbara Scales (of the Latitude 45 Arts office in Montreal) is merely a stiffened continuation of the country’s longstanding practice of underpinning the work of all players involved in making performances happen. OK, the commercial/cultural environment is very different to the big musical markets elsewhere in the world, but the fact remains that this financial support is rooted in a fundamentally positive government attitude to the arts. ‘I and my colleagues count ourselves lucky to live in a country where the state fully understands the benefits that classical music brings,’ says Scales. ‘There’s a realisation that what we do as artist managers for performing artists contributes to citizens’ sense of wellbeing as well as helping give Canada a profile internationally.’

Jasper Parrott isn’t slow to make the comparison with the UK. ‘The unfortunate truth is that the governmental classes here find it somehow embarrassing to think that music and the creative arts are important to sustaining a healthy society.’

So, how else would UK artist managements like to see government displaying greater cultural empathy? It’s much to do with nuts and bolts. The London-based Sulivan Sweetland office didn’t expect to be marking its twentieth birthday in such a dystopian environment. High on the wish-list for Angela Sulivan and Emma Sweetland when it comes to stimulating concert activity is for a more realistic attitude to the quarantining of arriving foreign musicians and returning UK ones that matches the perceived government approach to film stars and elite sportsmen. ‘For example, a bubble could effectively be created between hotel and concert hall, in conjunction with rigorous testing,’ says Sweetland.

Equally, Angela Sulivan would welcome government cash to help ensure that the rapidly accelerated movement of music-making into the online space during the crisis is associated with quality product in the longer term. ‘Digital software for editing and mixing is very expensive,’ Sulivan notes. ‘It makes sense for government to help fund state-of-the-art digital facilities for concert halls and performing organisations. It’s then the role of managers to set parameters for usage of the material, in line with the artist’s media strategy and record company relationships.’

However, is the classical music industry — artist managements and all — too shy of shouting loud enough in making its various cases, preferring a measured diplomatic approach? ‘I think you could be right… but how to go about that?’ one prominent manager responds to the idea. Says another: ‘We should be learning from Extinction Rebellion. Seriously.’