WOMEX Academy & Consultancy
Advice, education and a foot in the door with the help of the organisers of WOMEX through WOMEX Academy and Consultancy.
- NEXT EDITION
- 25-29 OCT 2023
- A Coruña, Galicia, Spain
Consultancy
Drawing upon 25 years of expertise and experience producing WOMEX, eight years of Classical:NEXT and co-organising numerous global events and professional meetings, we provide hands-on consultancy, curatorial knowledge and production expertise to a broad range of partners including institutions, industry events and networks.
Our activities started years ago with world music circuits and evolved to a far broader range of international events and musical genres. We have actively promoted cultural diversity on a global level giving artists and stakeholders of the music sector an international platform – not only in the scope of world music, but also across a broad variety of other genres.
We ares a pioneer in working at an international level in several continents, in supporting the global mobility of artists and music operators and in promoting cultural diversity. To support and foster cultural and musical scenes and international professional exchanges, WOMEX provides its global network, its expertise in the cultural development and its rich and diverse production knowledge.
We have a proven track record of producing and consulting on events of different shapes, on different continents, including training sessions and capacity building programmes, conferences, showcase festivals, cultural markets and networking platforms, education and IT projects.
We collaborate with a diverse range of partners ranging from governments (national to municipal level), the European Union, UNESCO, NGOs, GIZ (German Agency for International Cooperation), Goethe-Institut, Caribbean Development Bank, universities, arts councils and foundations to private operators, such as event producers, networks or festivals.
Some of our recent projects and collaborations:
- Part of the Steering Committee for the European Agenda of Music, a consultation initiated by the European Music Council.
- Evaluation of candidate cities to the UNESCO Creative Cities of Music Network
- Capacity Building Seminars ‘Accessing Global Markets’ in Barbados and Jamaica, with the Association of Caribbean Copyright Societies ACCS and the Caribbean Development Bank.
- LusAfro, a project aiming to facilitate musical exchanges between Lusophone Africa and Germany funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation.
- WOMEX Academy: training and fellowship program (see next pages for detailed information).
We are also proud to have contributed (and still provide ongoing expertise and technical assistance to some of them) to the following events in various parts of the world:
- Porto Musical in Recife, Brazil; 2005 - ongoing
- Atlantic Music Expo in Praia, Cabo Verde; 2012 - 2017
- Sound of the Xity in Beijing, China; 2014- 2016
- Circulart in Medellin, Colombia; 2015 - ongoing
- Primera Linea in Havana, Cuba; 2016 - ongoing
- AMFEST Expo in Lagos, Nigeria 2018
Please contact us in order to find out the details or apply.
Email consult@piranha-arts.com
References
Circulart, the platform for all music from Latin America, is a space for reflection, attended by a great mix of young audience members and professionals from all over Latin America, This dynamic and vibrant continent is becoming more and more a very important player in the global music landscape.
Along with conferences and showcases, a strong part of Circulart is its Business Meetings: Via the dedicated online system developed by Redlat, more than 2,500 meetings between over 100 promoters, labels, aggregators and over 120 selected artists took place.
https://circulart.org
Cuba is an island full of music, which has pleased many ears and hips worldwide. The country's formidable music scene is now also home to an emerging, ambitious music business.
After a successful two edition in 2016 and 2017, Primera Linea returned in Septemer 2018 associated with Cubadisco, the celebration of Cuban records with conferences, worshops, showcases and dedicated networking opportunities. It offered the opportunity to meet local players, get an inside view behind the stage curtains on sightseeing tours dedicated to music and find out more about opportunities for foreign artists in Cuba.
www.primeralinea-cuba.com/
The 'oldest' WOMEX World Tour event started in 2005. In eight editions, Porto Musical has become an established event with an international visibility. It has a major gateway for the Brazilian music market as well as a networking platform for music movers and shakers coming from different regions of Brazil and from different fields of music and digital activities.
Conferences, workshops, speed meetings, daycases and showcases offer many opportunities to connect in the very buzzing and unique set up of Pernambuco's Carnival preparations.
www.portomusical.com.br
A project we ran in 2017: Music from Lusophone African countries Cabo Verde, Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau and São Tomé & Príncipe and their representatives have a lower profile than music and artists from Anglophone and Francophone music scenes.
The musical scenes of Lusophone African countries are highly dynamic and creative, especially in the field of urban and dance music. The project LusAfro seeks to increase the profile of musicians from Lusophone Africa in Germany and beyond, and promote artistic and professional exchange between them and German artists and professionals.
http://lusafro.org/
We have been involved in the concept and making of Atlantic Music Expo (AME) and its first five editions. AME has established itself as a music professionals’ meeting for Cabo Verde, Africa, and all sides of the Atlantic around conferences, showcases and an open air trade fair.
Classical:NEXT, the little sister of WOMEX, was born out of the simple idea to bring the diverse scenes of classical and contemporary music together – and take them to the next level together! The idea of innovation expressed in the event’s name is evident throughout the entire project: In addition to being a networking event, delegates come to Classical:NEXT in order to explore new creative ideas and shape future-oriented business practices.
Both the annual meeting and the worldwide community are steadily growing: 1,300 classical music professionals from more than 45 countries attended Classical:NEXT 2019 in Rotterdam, the corresponding year-round online platform C:N NET features more than 5,000 contacts. The community’s members are cultural multipliers ranging from grass-roots DIYers to established institutions such as Carnegie Hall, Lucerne Festival, Deutsche Grammophon, Orchestras Canada, Association of British Orchestras, Naxos, Southbank Centre and many more.
Next edition: 27-30 September 2021 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Established in 2011, SOTX provides professionals with an unparalleled access point to both China's flourishing music scene and the international industry. The SOTX conference 2016 saw 1000 delegates from 120 companies and 25 countries and a big majority of China's dynamic music scene attending. It affirmed itself as the leading gateway between China and the international music world.
SOTX Fest takes place in various clubs and venues, and has enjoyed a growing interest not only from artists (Chinese and internationals) but also from the local audience.
WOMEX Academy
WOMEX Academy is our homemade initiative, which trains and prepares artists and other music professionals to access international circuits and markets.
The world out there is full of opportunities but key questions remain: how to get a foot through the right door(s)? How to make substantial first steps in international circuits? How to network?
Thanks to specific partnerships, WOMEX provides a practical and fully hands-on programme to learn about global music trends and business, to identify international circuits and to gain inspiration. It is also a compelling place to meet new colleagues and potential partners and establish long-lasting professional networks at an international level.
Initially, the WOMEX Academy included a WOMEX attendance with dedicated workshops and mentoring, The pandemic has animated us to develop new online training and mentoring formats, which sticks to the same concept:
- Totally dedicated programmes developed for each partner and group of fellows
- Contents focused on the practical experience with trainers coming from very various horizons of the music industry
2021 an hybrid year
We have carried on the partnership with Goethe-Institut Senegal and the GIZ (German Agency for International Cooperation) with online trainings for fellows from Senegal.
We have started a collaboration with the Aga Khan Music Programme giving online training and mentoring to artists and music professionals from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
We will have on location students from the Sibelius Academy as well as artists ‘representatives through a partnership with Transcultura (Integrating Cuba, the Caribbean and the European Union through Culture and Creativity) and professionals from the PALOP countries and Timor Leste thanks the support of PROCULTURA PALOP-TL.
The first steps of the WOMEX Academy:
WOMEX Academy always works with dedicated partners and adapts the programmes and the formats based on the needs, experience, and background of the diverse groups of fellows.
- SuCarMus (Sustainable Careers in the Music Sector) lead by the Cyprus Music Information Center, further partner: Institute for Research on Music and Acoustic in Athens, Greece.
- WORLD PITCH lead by Forum Folk Art Fund (Hungary), further partners Maetka, Hangveto, Veszrpem CoC 2023 (all Hungary), BOZAR (Belgium), Songlines (UK).
WOMEX Academy is an initiative of Piranha Arts Consultancy.
For further information or to participate in WOMEX Academy, please contact us.
consult@piranha-arts.com
