IMC News
IMC announces new partnership with Universal Edition
The International Music Council is excited to announce a new partnership with the prestigious Vienna-based publishing firm Universal Edition, thanks to which the selected composers at the International Rostrum of Composers (IRC), will be offered free of charge access for one year to the UE SCODO publishing service while all recommended composers will be entitled to a free one-time evaluation for inclusion in the service and a special IMC rate if they decide to subscribe.
Since the foundation of the IRC in 1955, some 400 composers have been promoted and their works broadcast thousands of times within the network of participating radios. From Luciano Berio to Agata Zubel, many great composers had their first international successes when they were presented at the Rostrum.
After 68 editions, the IRC continues today to be the most important platform for the promotion of contemporary music via radio broadcast with some 700 broadcast of the selected works in the last season.
Moreover, the IRC is an open forum of radio professionals from all over the world who come together once a year and share about contemporary music.
With this new cooperation with Universal Edition, the International Music Council wishes to provide even more opportunities to emerging composers presented at the Rostrum, in line with the Five Music Rights, the guiding principles of the organisation.
EMC Spring News
As the weather starts to warm up and flowers begin to bloom, we welcome you to our EMC Spring Newsletter!
The last few months have been a busy period for all, with the EMC being no exception!
IMC mourns former IMC Executive Committee member and Secretary General Dr. Damien Pwono
(La version française suit le texte anglaise)
Paris 10.03.2023
It is with great sadness that IMC learned of the passing of Dr Damien M. Pwono on March 7, 2023, after a valiant response to colonic cancer, according to the announcement made by his family.
Damien served on the Executive Committee of IMC, including as Vice-President, from 1997 until 2003, when he was appointed Secretary General. In this position, which he occupied until 2005, he initiated among others the IMC World Forum on Music and supervised its inaugural edition in Los Angeles in October 2005.
Damien’s affinity for music goes back to childhood. He attended the high school and university chapter of the Institut National des Arts (INA) in Kinshasa, DRC. With the encouragement of his mentor, the late IMC Honorary Member J.H. Kwabena Nketia, Damien was selected for a fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh, where he obtained his Masters and PhD in ethnomusicology.
Throughout his professional career, Damien put himself in the service of others. At the Rockefeller and Ford Foundation, he supported projects and programmes in the field of arts and culture as well as social justice. He later promoted global cultural diplomacy as Executive Director of the Global Initiative on Culture and Society at The Aspen Institute.
Upon his return to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2012, he occupied government positions and was Professor at the Institut National des Arts, notably launching a degree in music, before being appointed Director-General of INA in March 2022.
IMC expresses its sincere condolences to the leadership, teaching staff and students of the Institut National des Arts as well as to the President and Executive Committee of the African Music Council and all its members in Africa.
Dr Damien M. Pwono and former IMC President Kifah Fakouri in 2003
C'est avec une grande tristesse que le CIM a appris le décès du Dr Damien M. Pwono, survenu le 7 mars 2023, après une vaillante réponse au cancer du côlon, selon l'annonce faite par sa famille.
Damien a siégé au Comité exécutif du CIM, y compris en tant que Vice-président, de 1997 à 2003, date à laquelle il a été nommé Secrétaire général du CIM. A ce poste, qu'il occupe jusqu'en 2005, il initie entre autres le Forum mondial sur la musique du CIM et supervise son édition inaugurale à Los Angeles en octobre 2005.
L'affinité de Damien pour la musique remonte à l'enfance. Il a fréquenté le chapitre lycéen et universitaire de l'Institut National des Arts (INA) de Kinshasa, RDC. Avec les encouragements de son mentor, le regretté Membre d’honneur du CIM J.H. Kwabena Nketia, Damien a été sélectionné pour une bourse à l'Université de Pittsburgh, où il a obtenu sa maîtrise et son doctorat en ethnomusicologie.
Tout au long de son parcours professionnel, Damien s'est mis au service des autres. Aux fondations Rockefeller et Ford, il a soutenu des projets et des programmes dans le domaine des arts et de la culture ainsi que de la justice sociale. Il a ensuite promu la diplomatie culturelle mondiale en tant que Directeur exécutif de l'Initiative mondiale sur la culture et la société à l'Institut Aspen.
À son retour en République démocratique du Congo en 2012, il devient Professeur à l'Institut National des Arts où il est particulièrement chargé de lancer la licence en musique, et occupe des fonctions gouvernementales. En mars 2022, il est nommé Directeur général de l’INA.
Le CIM exprime ses sincères condoléances à la direction, au personnel enseignant et aux étudiants de l'Institut National des Arts ainsi qu'au Président et au Comité Exécutif du Conseil Africain de la Musique et à tous ses membres en Afrique.
International and US National Music Councils to webcast landmark, joint symposium on political violence against music creators and performers
PRESS RELEASE
February 20, 2023
The International Music Council (IMC), in collaboration with the National Music Council of the United States (NMC), is proud to announce the premiere on March 3, 2023 at 3 pm CET / 9 am EST of a landmark Symposium addressing the recent spike in political violence against songwriters, composers and music performers throughout the world. The webcast, which will be available to viewers at musiccouncil.org, represents a key component of the global March 3rd Music Freedom Day observances. Details concerning subsequent access to materials will be available on the site.
Krists Auznieks unveils new work commissioned by IMC and Swedish Radio
For six years, IMC and Sveriges Radio have commissioned music from the composer laureate in the under-30 category at the International Rostrum of composers. For just as long, the chamber ensemble Norrbotten Neo has performed the commissioned works in Studio Acusticum in Piteå.
In this premiere, we get to meet the composer Krists Auznieks (IRC laureate in 2021), who himself talks about his work Turning the Wheel.
Commitment to an explicit culture goal in Mondiacult declaration welcome: now is the time to deliver
The members of the Culture 2030 Goal Campaign, representing global cultural networks, strongly welcome the undertaking in the Declaration of the MONDIACULT 2022 Conference to integrate a specific Culture Goal in the post-2030 development agenda. We are happy to see strong interest from UNESCO Member States, at the Executive Board, in ensuring effective follow up.
This commitment by governments echoes the core argument made by the Campaign in its own statement in advance of MONDIACULT - namely that the only way to ensure the proper recognition of culture and cultural actors in supporting sustainable development is through an explicit Culture Goal.
SHIFTing towards eco practices: international cultural networks take lead
Paris 30.01.2023
Today, the International Music Council, together with 15 other international cultural networks, launched the SHIFT eco-certification pilot phase. The aim of this process is to co-develop a bespoke eco-certification for cultural networks, taking into account their specific needs and working methods. Such a certification, established in partnership with Creative Carbon Scotland and Green Leisure Group, environmental sustainability specialists from Scotland and the Netherlands, will provide a scheme to improve, measure, monitor and evaluate efforts towards sustainability. This pilot project will also encourage active climate action among the wider cultural sector and create a new alliance of like-minded networks and associations. Participating networks aim to get eco-certified by the end of 2023.
IMC Statement about music rights in Afghanistan
Paris, 13.12.2022
Despite speculations within the international community about changes in the attitude and behaviour of the Taliban in months before their return to power, we observe with grave concern that when the group re-captured the Afghan state, the Afghan people and musicians were denied their music rights as were Afghan girls and women deprived of their basic human rights to full and active participation in Afghan society and of their right to education and work.
More Articles...
- Dr. Ahmad Sarmast nominated IMC Five Music Rights Champion
- Global cultural networks propose culture goal for future development frameworks
- The second MusicAIRE call for proposals is out!
- IMC at Mondiacult 2022
- Global Music Vault partners with Microsoft for project 'Silica'
- #CULTURE2030GOAL SURVEY: What Could a Culture Goal Look Like?
- EMC Newsletter on Europe Day
- IMC Statement on Ukraine