Registration is still open for “Towards a new normal" on 11 March, the EBU Music Unit’s next Music and Radio 60-minute session. The event will be moderated by Sir Nicholas Kenyon, Managing Director of the Barbican Centre, and presented in partnership with the European Concert Hall Organization (ECHO). The discussion panel will be made up of special guests from throughout the European music sector. Andrew Manning, Secretary General of ECHO, tells us about the challenges and opportunities for the live music sector in Covid times.

Q: This session is focused on looking forward. Do you look ahead with some trepidation at the moment? 

Andrew Manning: The challenges to all in our sector have been colossal. The fact that our member concert halls in ECHO are still operating, mitigating the current ongoing crisis whilst also keeping clear future planning alive, is a real testament to the passion, resilience and determination of our colleagues who, like many in our sector, are determined to safeguard and build a bright future for our work. 

In the EBU panel, we do indeed plan to discuss changes that have been or are being made. Covid has forced many tough decisions and, of course, has provided a hostile, if not totally prohibited context for live music presentation, but it has been a time when the ECHO community of halls have been resilient and connected in their mission to survive in a way that is in line with our values and which seeks to pave a way back, and beyond to thrive as a sector. We will be sharing examples of changes and decisions being taken which all contribute to the delicately balanced ecosystems around artistic programming, digital, social impact as well as infrastructure, organizational and financial questions. 

Q: What do you think the other side of Covid will feel like? 

Andrew Manning: Our sector, and our wider society, will surely look and feel different on the other side of Covid, not least as we have also lived through a year where social justice has been brought to the fore. We look forward to exploring this new context through this most  powerful medium that is music. With the ECHO halls, we are currently working on a shared manifesto around what social inclusion, community building and Covid recovery should look and feel like. 

There are so many huge questions that Covid has highlighted about what we value, how we live together, access to and the sharing of resources, questions of sustainability (not just environmental but also in terms of political and social structures). I can only imagine that the arts will continue to be at the forefront of many of these questions. 

Also, I sense from a lot of the young artists we work with that many artists who have gone through this very particular moment – having their resilience, values and assumptions tested – will be a generation of artists who seek to contribute to and shape a new landscape, rather than being locked in a nostalgia for certain former models (which will likely not all be there exactly as they were before). 

Q: Relationships are particularly important in your work, aren’t they? 

The nature of our work as venues means that we are the intersection of many stakeholders in our sector: artists, managements, ensembles and orchestras, broadcasters, publishers, collecting societies, public authorities, sponsors, audiences and communities, hospitality – the list really goes on and on.  We are proud and committed to the federating role we play in the sector and to continuing this role with integrity. 

At the last of our face-to-face board meetings that we were able to hold with the ECHO network, we met with the EBU and several senior figures from the radio Member stations. It is so important to keep updated about each other’s context and goals.  We are certainly all fighting for the same cause.