Lancashire Music and Management Forum

An afternoon forum for artists, music makers, students & music industry professionals

The Lancashire Music and Management Forum focuses attention on the essential management functions required to capture economic and cultural value from music-related activities, and to turn creativity into sustainable careers, practices, and local industries.

The forum also functions as a listening and reconnaissance space, gathering insight, experience, and feedback from music makers and practitioners to help inform the ongoing development of Lancashire's music industries. Audience and stakeholder perspectives are vital to developing an inclusive, vibrant, and resilient music sectorwithin the county.

While artists are often positioned as the visible centre of the music industry, sustainable music activity relies on a broader ecology of skills, roles, and practices. This forum explores how creative work is supported, organised, financed, and developed - and how those functions can be taken on by artists themselves, collaborators, students, or dedicated music managers.

The forum also recognises the increasingly dynamic and fast-changing nature of the music sector, where technological change, evolving business models and shifting cultural practices are continually reshaping how music is created, managed and sustained.

For music makers and students

Music does not exist in isolation. Releasing, performing, touring, collaborating, composing for media, and sustaining a creative practice all require planning, coordination, communication, and decision-making beyond the act of making music itself.

This forum supports music makers and students to:

• Understand the work that surrounds creative practice
• Develop stronger self-management and DIY skills
• Recognise how music-related activity generates value across different contexts, including media
• Make informed choices about careers that may combine creativity, management, and other roles

Students are particularly encouraged to attend, including those making music for applied contexts such as film, television, games, digital media, etc..., where management, rights, and professional structures are central to long-term sustainability.

Rather than separating "art" and "business", the forum frames management as something creative that enables, supports, and protects creative work across multiple career pathways.

For future music managers

Music management is a creative, strategic, and people-focused role - and one that remains underdeveloped in Lancashire.

At present, the county has relatively few dedicated music managers, meaning artists and music makers are often required to self-manage or seek support outside the region. This forum actively encourages people to consider music management and related organisational roles as legitimate and meaningful career pathways, particularly those already embedded in local scenes or emerging from education.

The forum explores:

• The evolving music industry: challenges and opportunities
• What music managers and organisers actually do in practice
• Different routes into management (formal, informal, DIY, hybrid)
• Working with emerging artists, composers, and grassroots activity
• Building sustainable livelihoods around music-related work

Developing locally based managers is key to ensuring that Lancashire retains more of the cultural and economic value generated by its music activity.

Reflecting the wider music ecology

The music industry is made up of far more than artists alone. Sustainable scenes depend on people working across:

• Management and artist development
• Live music, events, and touring
• Promotion, marketing, and communications
• Administration, coordination, and strategy
• Education, facilitation, and community engagement
• Music for media and applied creative contexts

The Lancashire Music and Management Forum recognises and values this broader ecosystem, encouraging participation from anyone interested in supporting music-making as a practice, a profession, and a cultural industry that can grow from the region.

Audience contribution and shared insight

A key aim of the forum is to listen as well as inform.

Through discussion, group activity, and shared reflection, the event will gather insight from attendees about:

• Barriers and opportunities facing music people in Lancashire
• Gaps in skills, support, and infrastructure
• Emerging practices across live, recorded, and media-based music
• What is needed to better support sustainable music careers locally

This feedback will contribute directly to the Lancashire Music Association's ongoing work to support the development of Lancashire's music people, scenes, and places.

The Lancashire Music and Management Forum is an inclusive and accessible event.

We welcome participants from all backgrounds and aim to remove barriers to participation wherever possible. Please email trigg@lancashire.ac.uk in advance regarding any access or support requirements.

Under 18s welcome, subject to being accompanied and supervised by a responsible adult.

Supporting music makers - developing managers - shaping Lancashire's music industries, places and scenes.