Beyond the Screen

Considering the pandemic and current social distancing rules, I would not be able to host a total capacity in-person event without incurring some form of disciplinary. With this in mind, the hybrid event (Beyond the Screen) would allow for the special guests to come in, along with select students from the Music Technology course that has good knowledge of sound, production as well as engineering as well as BA and MA Music courses and Popular Music. ‘Beyond the Screen’ is a metaphoric connection to the pandemic and symbolises breaking away from the restrictions and trying to get the world back to in-person as safely as possible.

Upon reflection, hiring a professional sound engineer would take up most of the set budget. By utilising student talent, students get an opportunity to work with music industry professionals. As the event manager, I would be able to use LoveToShop vouchers and gift cards instead of paying the students in hard cash, which can be perceived as unethical.

The nature of the event is to market, re-introduce, and re-familiarise students with music performance and an opportunity for registered online and in-person attendees to take part in an optional workshop for performance careers advice or a question and answer session. I wanted to ensure an opportunity available for every student and attendee; many music students may be more inclined to the more academic pathway to music - going into teaching, analysing or scrutinising. In comparison, other students and attendees may be more inclined toward the vocational path of music - going into performing, songwriting and hosting. The target audience is anyone over sixteen who has the drive and determination to pursue an academic or vocational career within the music industry. It is vital to keep the target audience within the music demographic. It wouldn’t be possible to have an “open to all courses” event due to the social and medical restrictions that must be followed by law.

For the event, I have a budget of £1000. I obtained 50% sponsorship from Las Iguanas Coventry, who will be the provider of the food and refreshments on the day. The aim would be to have new and upcoming artists come to the event, as getting somebody like Rita Ora or Frank Ocean is unrealistic and very expensive. I was initially thinking to have for rap to invite JAY1 and D9, as they live in Coventry; it wouldn’t cost anything to get them to the venue. The only things that would need to be paid would be their time performing and their time spent in workshops (in mid-size groups, lasting 30 minutes maximum). The two expenses that might be the most costly are renting the space and food and refreshments. For the more classical side of music, I would try to get Dr Nicole Panizza and Ms Angela Simkin to feature as not only workshop leaders but also as performers. For Dr Panizza, I envisioned her doing some piano workshops and vocal strengthening. For Ms Simkin, I pictured her doing vocal workshops, including warmups and a run-through of a song of her choice that would be accessible and inclusive to all attendees.

Options chosen:

Planning a networking event This task requires you to create a one-page (c. 500 word) plan outlining the staging of a networking event.

Please include the following components/descriptors:

i) Name, venue and nature of networking event
ii) Market entry (any relevance of impact within the wider
demographic/community)
iii) Projected desired consumer base / audience
iv) Artistic brief and mandate
v) Projected financial summary

Option 3: Starting a music-related business This task requires you to create a one-page (c. 500 word) plan outlining your music-related business plan.

Please include the following components/descriptors:

i) Name, venue and nature of your music-related business
ii) Market entry (any relevance of impact within the wider
demographic/community)
iii) Projected desired consumer base/audience
iv) Artistic brief and mandate
v) Projected financial summary