Biz news: Agency takes on arts curator
NewsOpus3 Artists, owned by the San Francisco Conservatory, inked a partnership deal today with the Lamling Group, run by Amy Lam who has been running the arts at New York’s 92nd Street Y.
How’s that going to work?
The press release is not at all clear.
NEW YORK, April 10, 2024]—Opus 3 Artists Managing Director Robert Berretta and Lamling Group Principal Amy Lam announce the launch of a new creative partnership that will provide consulting services to a wide range of performing arts presenters across the globe, as well as to Opus 3’s artist clients.
This new alliance combines Opus 3 Artists’ decades of expertise in artist management and widespread network of presenting partners with Amy Lam and her team’s extensive experience in artistic curation, production, and strategic planning in the cultural and nonprofit sector.
Together, the collaborative partnership aims to break down the traditional silos within the arts ecosystem and create a new business model and infrastructure with synergies that allow managers, agents, presenters, and artists to work together in a more efficient and symbiotic way.
The fact that ‘artists’ appears last in that list from the press release tells you everything you need to know about this new ‘partnership’ …i.e. a new way to suck the money out of actual artists just wanting to create actual art.
That last sentence is written in a jargonese that is blinding. Does nobody read over these statements and ask themselves, “What are we actually saying here?”
If they write like that, do they speak like that and, even worse, think like that?
The purpose is to obfuscate. That’s often the case with language like this.
What are they obfuscating? In this case, my guess is that this is a scheme to get Lam’s clients (presenters) to hire Opus 3’s clients (performers). Not that that’s a conflict of interest for Lam or anything …
It sounds extremely managerial and businesslike, entrepreneurial, strategic, etc. etc. etc. – about control, planning, contact wielding. It sounds as an initiative defined by power. The people carrying this out must be very gifted in terms of business management, political exploration, and must know everything in-depth about classical music and its meaning, production, performance, interactions, about its social and cultural embeddiment, etc. etc. – in short: they appear to know much more about classical music and everything around it than any performer or audience member can possibly hope for.
The third paragraph of their press release — “Together, the collaborative partnership”… is positively breathtaking!
English, please.
That last paragraph is too much! Lol
I think this signals a new shift in the arts industry. 75 years ago, in the United States, presenters wouldn’t allow managers to meet with them. ISPA celebrates their 75th anniversary this year. In 1958 the managers reached out to the presenters, and in 1969 all managers were able to join. ISPA now has global membership in more than 50 countries and offers opportunities for young potential leaders to learn from elders, as we did in the 50’s and 60’s. The artists and audiences benefit from these collaborations with more understanding of each others roles and expertise. All good wishes to this new alliance!
“Together, the collaborative partnership aims to break down the traditional silos within the arts ecosystem…” How is the English language served by this sort of abuse? “…traditional silos within the arts”? I must question the rhetorical pretentiousness.
I think they meant Scudd missile silos from which they can launch synergistic attack on their competitors’ infrastructure. Something like that.
Amy left her position at 92Y several months ago, so no conflicts. She is one of the most respected and knowledgeable people in the industry, and I say this as a long-time colleague from a peer institution. That said, the press release does look a bit like a word salad. As a presenter, I *think* I know what it means, but time will tell.