IQ FOCUS VIRTUAL PANEL SERIES LAUNCHES
Our friends at IQ Magazine have launched a series of panels that are not to be missed by anyone in the international live music industry!With much of the international live music business home working in lockdown, IQ is launching a weekly series of livestreamed panels, IQ Focus.The fully interactive sessions will be streamed live to both Facebook and YouTube, with forthcoming topics including the European festival summer, venue recovery plans, innovation and new business models, and the agency business 3.0.The first session – Staying Safe & Sane During Covid – will consider how to best protect the mental health and wellbeing of music professionals and artists alike who are juggling disruption to working conditions, employment & financial concerns, a difficult global outlook and more.Chaired by Stacey Pragnell at ATC Live, the conversation will feature Lollapalooza Berlin promoter Stefan Lehmkuhl (Goodlive), Babyshambles member and psychotherapist Adam Ficek (Music & Mind), the Music Industry Therapists and Coaches founder Tamsin Embleton, tour manager Andy Franks (Music Support) and booking agent Lina Ugrinovska (Password Production).“With much of the business physically fragmented right now, it’s more vital than ever that we keep communicating and exchanging ideas,” says ILMC head Greg Parmley. “We hope these new Focus sessions will help bridge the gap between the current situation and this magical, inspirational sector exploding back into life.”The full line up of forthcoming sessions is below (some include calendar links), with further details about each session being announced shortly.Staying Safe & Sane During CovidThursday 7 May @ 16:00BST/17:00CETSurviving Covid-19 is not just a case of beating the virus itself. ATC Live’s Stacey Pragnell leads a conversation between industry pros and mental health & wellbeing practitioners to give practical advice as they consider how best to stay sane and safe during these tough times.Festival Forum: Here Comes 21Thurs 14 May @ 16:00BST/17:00CETThe 2020 festival summer will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. With much of the season already cancelled, and the rest awaiting their fate, how are Europe’s festival elite coping? In unprecedented circumstances, what’s been learnt, and how have such monumental challenges been faced? And looking to the autumn and beyond, what does the road the recovery look like for the vital summer sector?The Venue’s Venue: Building BackThurs 21 May @ 15:30BST/16:30CETThe touring world has changed considerably since ILMC’s Venue Summit in March. All of the key arena and stadia are currently shuttered or repurposed in the fight against Coronavirus. IQ’s third Focus session invites leading venue professionals to discuss strategies for weathering the storm, what the key learnings have been so far, and what emerging from life under lockdown might look like.The Innovation SessionThurs 28 May @ 16:00BST/17:00CETWhile the catastrophic impact of Covid-19 continues to resonate throughout live music, the halt in normal business is seeing a flurry of innovation, fledgling business models, and new ideas. From an explosion in livestreaming to 3D venues, tipping and online meet & greets, what green shoots are rising from this current situation? Paradigm’s Mike Malak invites a line-up of freethinkers and experts to discuss what shape the live business 2.0 may take.Grassroots Music Venues in CrisisThurs 4 June @ 16:00BST/17:00CETOne of the hardest hit areas of the business, grassroots music venues may well also be the first to emerge from the current crisis over the coming weeks and months. Across Europe, the fate of these vital stages on which talent is born and grown, is mixed, with some facing closure. How are our small venues being protected by the organisations and industry around them, and what still needs to be done? And once their doors are open again, how different will gig going be?The Agency Business 3.0Thurs 11 June @ 16:00BST/17:00CETFor multinational agencies juggling investors, cashflow and large numbers of employees, the Covid-19 crisis has presented significant challenges. And for the smaller boutique outfits, the hiatus in touring is no less impactful. But when the business does return, will this period have changed how agencies are structured, and how they work? What routes back do agents see working, and what new opportunities might emerge? In an industry fuelled by creative thinking, what comes next?The Live Business Steps UpThurs 18 June @ 16:00BST/17:00CETNo sooner had the C-word become a ‘thing’ in early March, companies across the live music business had sprung into action, raising funds; producing face masks and incubators; shipping or freighting medical supplies to those in need. Proving time and again that a positive, entrepreneurial spirit can move mountains, there’s much to be proud of about our industry during this period. We meet some of those who stepped up, as they tell their own story.