Maestro Arts and Sulivan Sweetland announce merger

Artist management agencies Maestro Arts with Sulivan Sweetland have announced they will merge on 1 June. The combined company will keep the name Maestro Arts, with Sulivan Sweetland’s team and artists joining the team based in the West Wing of Somerset House.

The merger creates a combined mid-sized artist management company of 20. The merger will also see the expanded Maestro Arts team welcome Tuck May Loke, currently associate director of international touring at Intermusica Artists Management, to manage interdisciplinary projects and tours.

Loke said: ‘Maestro Arts was ahead of the times in spotting the growing interdisciplinarity in our sector and has been at the forefront of supporting this approach. They are ambitious and I am delighted to join them at this exciting time as they continue to strengthen their portfolio and establish further creative partnerships with individual artists and organisations.’

Loke will also join the combined company’s board of directors, which combine the leadership of both organisations, with Maestro Arts co-founder Rachel van Walsum as executive chair. Van Walsom is joined by Maestro Arts managing director Jordi Martín Mont and Sulivan Sweetland director Emma Sweetland, plus Thomas Hull and Jurgita Santacroce. Angela Sulivan, also director of Sulivan Sweetland, will head up the new advisory board with Joeske van Walsum, both acting as non-executive directors.

Sweetland said: ‘Angela and I are excited about this new chapter, both for our artists and us. Having collaborated with Rachel, Jordi and Tom over many years, as well as serving on the board of the International Artist Managers' Association with Rachel, I have long admired their creative, strategic approach to artist management. Our companies share a nurturing, bespoke ethos and this development feels both natural and compelling.’

According to today’s press release, the new partnership is designed to offer ‘increased flexibility and strength to support talent, deliver ambitious projects and further expand international reach.’ The merger expands the company’s artist list and capacity for projects.

Martín Mont said: ‘Emerging from the pandemic and in a climate of general negativity within the classical music profession, this is precisely the time to invest in the future and to take bold steps. Bringing these two teams together creates an exciting sense of renewal by opening new opportunities for creative thinking and collaboration.’