BBC musicians offer alternative way ahead

A BBC insider calling himself ‘Johnny Morris’ has published an alternative strategy for classical music, sending up the official discredited policy.

Representing an unspecified group of musicians, the new strategy prioritises Quality, Agility, Impact and Common Sense.

The musicians commit to:

– Creating agile ensembles that can work flexibly and creatively, working with more musicians and less executive/management wastage, cutting salaried administrative posts across the BBC English Orchestras by around 25%.
– Reinforcing the distinctiveness of the BBC’s five unique orchestras, artistically, educationally and geographically serving their own audiences whilst fulfilling their collective role in providing the widest range of content across Radio 3 and BBC platforms.
– Halving spending on superfluous BBC executive roles, freeing up resources to launch new training initiatives, providing more opportunities for people to engage with classical music, building audiences and creating extraordinary experiences.
– Creating a centre of excellence for our broadcast orchestras, giving audiences access to the full range of our high-quality orchestral content, including new and archive performances, educational content and concert listings.
– Taking the difficult decision to remodel management in such a way as to ensure that the musicians’ collective expertise is maximised both on and behind the concert platform and commissioning processes.

Johnny Morris, the BBC’s Chief “Alternatives” Officer, says: “This is the second major review of classical music at the BBC in a generation. The first one published in March 2023 was a unworkable and negative.This new strategy is bold, ambitious, and good for the sector and for audiences who love classical music. That doesn’t mean that we haven’t had to make some difficult decisions, but equally they are the right ones for the future. Great classical music should be available and accessible to everyone, and we’re confident these measures will ensure more people will engage with music, have better access to it, and that we’ll be able to play a greater role in developing and nurturing the musicians and music lovers of tomorrow.”

Ho-hum.

More here.