Brass Bands England (BBE) is putting the final preparations in place to host its Brass Band Conference 2020 on Saturday 19th September.
The conference is to be delivered on-line this year due to the Coronavirus pandemic, but will still feature a diverse range of speakers, workshops and awards during a full day.
Resilience and Sustainability
The theme this year is 'Resilience and Sustainability' — highly pertinent at a time when brass bands throughout the world, not just England, face a huge threat to their long term futures.
The day hopes to explore new ideas and highlight proven successes in building bands and banding communities designed to thrive as the movement hopefully emerges from the Covid-19 crisis.
The keynote speaker this year is Arts Council England's Chief Executive Officer, Darren Henley, who will also take the opportunity to highlight the importance of resilience at this crucial time.
An additional presentation will be made by Amersham Band's Chairman, Fred Harrison, who will outline the success of his organisation vision in creating a sustainable brass community.
Workshops and awards
Workshops will be delivered by BBE's Dr Alex Parker, who will present a session on 'Band Resilience', giving bands the vital tools they need to analyse their finances and plan for the future, and Art Council England's Syed Raham, who will lead a session on Digital Marketing, focusing on building new audiences and advertising events.
The Brass Band Conference Awards to those who have made an exceptional contribution to the banding community will also be announced. The Innovation Award, Lifetime Achievement Award, Social Impact Award and Brian W. Hicks Memorial Shield for Services to Youth have been nominated by the banding public and selected by the Brass Bands England Trustees.
Brass Bands England will also open an online forum for a panel discussion on the challenges of building a sustainable youth band.
The event will close with an address from BBE Chairman, Mike Kilroy.
Timetable:
9.00am: AGM
10.15am: Introduction and welcome from BBE, CEO Kenny Crookston
10.30am: Keynote Address from Arts Council England (ACE) CEO Darren Henley
10.45am: Presentation by Amersham Band Chairman Fred Harrison
12.00pm: Band Resilience Workshop with BBE's Dr Alex Parker
1.30pm: The Brass Band Conference Awards
1.45pm: Digital Marketing Workshop with ACE Tech Champion Syed Rahman
3.00pm: Panel Discussion 'Challenges in Building a Sustainable Youth Band' chaired by BBE's Sarah Baumann
4.10pm: Closing Remarks from BBE's Chairman Mike Kilroy
We are looking forward to a very rewarding and would like to encourage everyone with the future of their band, and brass bands in general, wherever they are in the world, to spend at least part of the day with usBBE
Access
The Brass Band Conference 2020 is free to access for all, and Brass Bands England is actively encouraging anyone with an interest in banding to get involved.
The full day's events will be livestreamed on Facebook and Vimeo by Brass Pass.tv
Questions can be posed to the hosts of any of the sessions via the comments sections or by sending in advance by this Google form https://forms.gle/wruPEZ6ZEM6ZzKpr7
The Brass Bands England Team encourages people with questions to send them in advance as a short video clip to be included in the stream.
During the breaks between conference activities, Brass Bands England will feature a diverse range of creative lockdown videos created by member bands during the COVID-19 pandemic.
AGM
The BBE Annual General Meeting will precede the Brass Band Conference, which will be held on a Zoom Webinar and begins at 9.00am.
Member bands have already been given the details for the AGM and those wishing to attend online can sign up at this link https://www.bbe.org.uk/civicrm/event/info?id=93&reset=1
The AGM is the only part of the day's events that will not be live-streamed to Facebook or Vimeo, so anyone wanting to take part must register in advance.
Encourage
BBE Chief Executive Officer, Kenny Crookston, told 4BR: "We are looking forward to a very rewarding and would like to encourage everyone with the future of their band, and brass bands in general, wherever they are in the world, to spend at least part of the day with us.
There really is something on the programme to add value to everyone's banding experience and we are delighted with the response from those we have asked to be involved.
The AGM, in particular, is a forum for all BBE members, organisational and individuals, to have their say on the future direction of Brass Bands England and the organisations and events in which we are involved."
Register:
To register your place at The Brass Band Conference 2020 go to https://www.bbe.org.uk/civicrm/event/info%3Fid%3D83%26reset%3D1
