The conference of Tallinn Music Week (TMW), part of the new music and urban culture festival, taking place from 25th to 30th March will be held in the new building of the Estonian Academy of Arts. The two-day conference on 29th and 30th March will explore the impact of arts on economy. The programme will be compiled in cooperation with Music Estonia.
The combined conference and festival passes of TMW 2019 are on sale in the TMW online shop for 175€ until 11th February. Conference only passes are on sale for 100€.
The new venue of the conference, exploring the multi-layered impact of arts and creativity, is a unique landmark for TMW and Tallinn according to the director of TMW, Helen Sildna: “The Academy of Arts (EKA) has played an invaluable role in Estonia’s culture as it has not just provided generations of artists, designers and architects but also many trailblazers of our music scenes. TMW will focus on the North Tallinn district this year and EKA will become not just the conference centre but a focal point of the festival together with Telliskivi Creative City and Noblessner. We are excited to present the future creative district of Tallinn to our guests.”
Rector of the Estonian Academy of Arts Mart Kalm points out that EKA and TMW represent many similar values like creativity, cooperation, equality, which is why the academy is happy to host the conference: “TMW is an internationally visible brand of progressive thought and the topic of the conference – impact of arts as an engine of economy – is an important issue for EKA. Arts no longer means visiting exhibitions, concerts or theatre but is a question of education, security and image for whole of Estonia.”
This year’s TMW conference will look into the impact of arts as an engine for the economy and the functioning of an innovative society while offering inspiration to music professionals, art promoters, entrepreneurs and policy makers from different areas. Among other topics the cooperation models of Estonian entrepreneurship and arts will be discussed as well as strategic goals of arts export and the funding of the next round of Creative Europe (2021-2027). The role of arts in urban development will be looked at through the examples of EKA, Telliskivi and the new arts museum of Helsinki, Amos Rex. Communication expert Michael Frohoff, the marketing chief of legendary “Top of the Pops” and “Pop Idol” will lead a workshop on PR and marketing.
Music topics will be in the focus of the conference with discussions, workshops and mentoring sessions prepared in cooperation with Music Estonia. Topics include the survival of festivals, European nightlife vs gentrification, the role of arts manager – a business or a hobby? How to make the most of music videos in the post-TV-era and what can independent labels learn from the generation of influencer labels like NoCopyrightSounds and Future House Music? On both days international music expert panel will audition and judge festival artists performing on the night.
A special section of the conference will look into film music under curation by Anna Hildur, cofounder of the Tattarrattat film and TV production company from Reykjavik and London. British artist-film director duo Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard will lead a discussion with Lucy Bright, music supervisor of the latest most successful British features and series. There will also be speed dating sessions on film music.
The programme and speakers of the TMW conference will be announced in February 2019.
In addition to the music festival and conference TMW offers free city stage concerts, public TMW Talks and different actions in public spaces joining art forms and civic engagement. The complete programme will be announced in February and March.
The TMW Conference + Festival Pass is of sale for €175 until 11th February at the TMW online shop. Two-day conference-only pass is on sale for €100, Festival Pass at €55 and Supporter Pass at €150.
TMW guests can book their accommodation at the Nordic Hotel Forum for the discount price of € 99per room per night until 11th February. From 12th February the price is €119. The price includes breakfast, VAT and the use of the hotel’s relaxation area. For booking, please use: https://www.myhotelreservation.net/b/HATLLNOR/?i=TALLINNMUSICWEEK&f=2019-03-27.
TMW is presented by Telia Estonia, main supporters Nordic Hotel Forum and Enterprise Estonia, partners Music Estonia and Estonian Academy of Arts.
TMW is supported by Estonian Ministry of Culture, Tallinn Heritage Department, Estonian Cultural Endowment.
The Estonian Academy of Arts (EAA), founded in 1914, is the only public university in Estonia offering higher education in fine arts, design, architecture, media, visual studies, art culture, cultural heritage and conservation. Located in the capital city, Tallinn, it is an active study and research institution and the leading national centre of innovation in visual culture. More info
TMW 2019 confirmed panellists:
Alessandro Pavanello
Shanghai-based Alessandro is a music industry professional as well as a producer/musician, currently working for China’s top indie distributor Kanjian Music. He relocated to China after completing his master’s degree in Music Industry Management and Enterprise at London Metropolitan University in 2015. Alessandro specializes in the Chinese music market and has been consulting both Western and Chinese labels. With Kanjian, Alessandro has been part of the inaugural edition of the Electric Zoo Shanghai festival, and enjoyed working with the Grammy-nominated artist ZHU and indie labels such as Hyperdub and Ninja Tune.
The producer and singer-songwriter Alessandro is actively ghostwriting for Chinese labels and touring local clubs with his drum and bass project Fractale and as a drummer for Shanghai-based metal band Alpaca.
Amanda Freeman has over 30 years experience as a music publicist working at major labels and in the independent sector. After heading up the press team at Island Records Amanda joined the team at RMP working alongside artists including U2 – as tour publicist on two world tours – Blur, PJ Harvey and the Smashing Pumpkins before moving to Sainted PR to develop the rock/indie side of their roster. She took a roster that included The Kills and Travis when she launched Freeman PR in 2007 – winning Record Of Day’s Best Individual Independent PR award the same year. She’s led campaigns for Roisin Murphy – Mercury Prize nominated in 2015 – Fatboy Slim, Hercules & Love Affair, Ash, Ladytron and Mykki Blanco as well as advising on Classic Album Sundays and taking care of UK PR for Pledge Music. Recent campaigns have included a production co-written by Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke currently running at the Lyric Theatre and PR for London Records re-launched back catalogue.
Anna Hildur is a producer and the co-founder Film and TV production company Tattarrattat. The Reykjavik and London-based company was set up spring 2017 and specialises in hybrid and cultural documentaries. Anna initially began her career in media as a London-based radio and TV correspondent for Icelandic broadcasting and worked as a researcher and assistant producer on documentaries for NHK and BBC. She became an artist manager of a female rock band called Bellatrix after working with them on an NHK documentary. Anna Hildur worked over 20 years in the music industry initially as an artist manager and later as Managing Director of Icelandic Music Export and Programme Director of the Nordic Music Export programme NOMEX, founded in 2009. She established innovative projects such as the Nordic playlist and the Ja Ja Ja club night and festival, producing over 130 pieces of digital content and live broadcast from performances with Nordic bands. She was also the first chairperson of the European Music Export Exchange. Anna Hildur received The Tampere Music Award in 2018 for her extraordinary contribution to the development of the music industry.
Anika Mottershaw is the A&R and Project Manager at Bella Union where she has worked for the past 9 years. Anika started at Bella Union after moving to London, dropping out from university and meeting label founder Simon Raymonde at the gigs she was going to. Not long after this, Anika became Label Assistant, moving on to sign her first artist in 2012. She now works as Project Manager and A&R, looking after about half of the roster, working closely with Bella Union artists and overseeing dozens of campaigns. Outside of the label Anika is a huge fan of literature and film, and loves to get involved in creative endeavours as often as possible.
Ashraf el Gamal is a first generation Egyptian-American who was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area where he currently works as a Strategic Partner Manager on the YouTube Music team. In his role, he helps artists navigate the YouTube platform while advocating for their perspectives within the company. Naturally, he is an avid music fan and spent the better half of a decade music blogging as a hobby. He now funnels his favourite finds into live DJ sets around San Francisco and a weekly show on the local community radio station BFF.fm.
Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard are artists and filmmakers working across film and TV drama, installation, performance and sound. They have worked collaboratively since meeting at Goldsmiths in the mid-nineties. Their work is now exhibited worldwide and collected by museums and institutions including the Tate Gallery and the British Government Art Collection. Commissions have included the British Film Institute, BBC Radio and the City of Toronto, who commissioned their first major outdoor public work. When their film 20,000 Days on Earth won two awards at Sundance, the jury described it as “arguably the most exciting film in competition.
They’ve also worked for ten years in the music industry for Britain’s leading independent record labels as Head of Creative Strategy at Beggars Group (4AD, Rough Trade, Matador and XL Recordings) and Head of Digital at Mute Records (EMI). They’ve directed and written for television and currently have series in development with Kudos and Channel 4. They’re also award-winning directors in the commercial world – their recent campaign for Bacardi winning a D&AD Pencil and three Cannes Lions. Their next feature film is currently in development with the Film4.
Jenni Kääriäinen graduated as a Master of Theatre Arts from the Theatre Academy of Finland, Department of Lighting and Sound Design (later known as University of the Arts Helsinki). She has worked as an artist and visual designer for different theatre productions and dance companies in Finland, as well as in Spain and Germany. At the same time, she started her first tours with alternative rock bands as a lighting operator/technician. In 2011, Kääriäinen was called for a job as a Chief of Visual Design for a brand new startup event, Slush. Together with the Slush team, the fascinating “atmosphere of Slush” was quickly created and in 2016, the brand was ready to expand towards Tokyo, Shanghai and Singapore. In the years 2015–2018, Kääriäinen created an international career mixing high art with high-profile commercial productions. In autumn 2018, Finnish Metal Events Ltd. headhunted her as an Event Designer for the legendary metal music festival Tuska.
Lucy Bright
Following a decade working at record labels including Mute Records and Warner Classics, Lucy Bright joined the independent music publisher Music Sales in 2008 where for a decade, as director of the film & TV department, she oversaw an extraordinary roster of film composers. Lucy has music supervised some of the most critically-acclaimed British film and television productions of recent years: Slow West (John Maclean) which debuted at Sundance Film Festival in 2015 where it won the Jury Prize for World Cinema – Dramatic and BAFTA Award winners The Unloved (Samantha Morton, 2009), The Swimmer (Lynne Ramsey, 2012), Southcliffe (Sean Durkin, 2013) and This is England ‘90 (Shane Meadows, 2015). International projects have included the blockbuster Assassin’s Creed (Justin Kurzel, 2016) starring Michael Fassbender and Marjorie Prime. Most recently she has music supervised the BBC/AMC series McMafia (James Watkins, 2018), the new Channel 4 series from Shane Meadows The Virtues, Chris Morris’s The Day Shall Come and Sean Durkin’s The Nest starring Jude Law which will be released in 2019.
Mart Kalm
Architectural historian and critic Dr. Mart Kalm is the Rector of the Estonian Academy of Arts in Tallinn. He has authored books about architects such as Alar Kotli (1994) and Olev Siinmaa (2012), as well as Estonian Functionalism: A Guidebook (1998) and Estonian 20th Century Architecture (2001) among others. Professor Kalm was the editor and one of the main authors of History of Estonian Art: Vol. 5, 1900–1940 (2010). Kalm co-chaired the Estonian delegation of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee from 2010 to 2013. In 2010, he was elected a member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences.
Michael Frohoff started the agency Kruger Media in 2001 with the communication for legendary TV programs Top of The Pops and Pop Idol. The mix of artists, music events and TV shows became a core expertise of the agency. At The Dome on RTL II the likes of Lady Gaga and Rihanna stepped into the german market, at the Echo Klassik awards on ZDF Placido Domingo and Lang Lang walked the red carpet up to the iconic MTV Europe Music Awards. Today, the Berlin based agency consults as experts in music and lifestyle communication clients such as Viacom, Deutsche Telekom/T-Mobile, Kia Motors, Uber, Soundcloud or Casio. The expertises stretch from public relations, social media, influencer relations up to content production under the umbrella of a good story.
Sarah Stam is an Amsterdam based Music enthusiast who focuses on Marketing, Branding, & PR within the (electronic) music scene. Having worked for Spotify and Armada Music in the past, Sarah consults artist and labels on their branding, identity and marketing strategies under the umbrella Set The Tone. One of her roles is working as a Marketing & PR Manager at the AEI Group in London, known for (YouTube) labels like UKF, NCS, TheSoundYouNeed, Drum&BassArena, Subsoul and festivals like Let It Roll and El Dorado. Furthermore, Sarah is closely involved with the global movement of SheSaidSo, stimulating a positive movement to encourage equality & diversity within the music industry, spearheading the Dutch department with SheSaidSo.Ams.