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Great Escape launches new professional development programme for early-career delegates
By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 20 March 2019
The Great Escape has today announced more details about this year’s TGE Conference, including 25 more speakers for the three CMU+TGE conference strands, and a brand new professional development programme called TGE Elevate. This will offer an enhanced, subsidised and curated delegate experience for 30 music professionals, helping them to fully utilise the conference to elevate their careers.
The new TGE Elevate programme is funded by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and will be delivered in partnership with CMU Insights and CMU:DIY. The official blurb explains that these thirty “super delegates” will get “a personally created conference schedule, access to invite-only seminars and networking events, and Q&A sessions with a number of music industry VIPs”.
Basically, music conferences like TGE are a great place for music people at all levels to make connections, get up to speed on the latest developments and participate in the debate around the big issues of the moment. But at events the size of TGE, when you’re starting out it can be hard to navigate the programme, connect with the right people and ensure your voice is heard. TGE Elevate will help those in the first phase of their careers overcome these challenges and get a whole lot more from their time at the conference.
The 30 people who get to participate in the core programme will include artists, managers, promoters, label executives and educators. Participants will be nominated by trade groups like the Association Of Independent Music, the Association Of Independent Promoters, the Featured Artists Coalition, the Music Venue Trust, Creative & Cultural Skills and the Music Managers Forum and then selected by the TGE team.
Other early-career delegates will also benefit from TGE Elevate with a series of new Elevate Seminars – presented by CMU – that are open to all TGE Conference attendees, plus an Elevate Guide will be available online offering tips galore about how to get the most out of showcase festivals and music conferences.
Announcing the new scheme, Rory Bett, CEO of TGE promoter MAMA Festivals, said: “The Great Escape is all about future music talent, on and off stage. We want to enable those early on in their music careers to meet, question and learn from the very best in the industry. Thanks to National Lottery funding through Arts Council England, we can be even more proactive in making this happen via the TGE Elevate programme. By building closer relationships with, and hearing from, our Elevate delegates, we can also ensure that the TGE Conference remains at the forefront of the very latest developments and debates in the music business”.
Meanwhile, Hedley Swain at Arts Council England added: “We’re really excited by TGE Elevate and what it can do to support new and early career music professionals as they establish themselves in the industry. The opportunity to meet and quiz senior industry professionals as part of the curated delegate experience could be an invaluable part of their development. We’re pleased to help make that happen thanks to National Lottery funding”.
You will find more information about TGE Elevate online here and all the latest updates on the CMU+TGE conference strands, which this year are focused on music education, digital dollars and music marketing, here.
