Symposium: Art | Music | Management

In 2025, the symposium took place from 24 to 26 March at the Hybernská Campus under the auspices of the Faculty of Music and Dance of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. The programme focused on three key areas: the application of managers in the labour market, fundraising and the impact of artificial intelligence on the music industry.

The first day of the Symposium opened the topic of employability in the music market. In panel discussions and networking, international guests John Kieser, Florian Riem and Elizabeth Shribman shared their international experiences and gave an insight into the working environment in the music world and beyond classical music.

The second day was dedicated to fundraising and grant policy. The morning session on strategic fundraising was led by experienced experts Jiří Bárta and Ladislav Pflimpfl together with foreign guests. The afternoon was devoted to fundraising for small organisations, where Eva Kesslová from BERG Orchestra and Jan Gregar from Nerudný fest shared their know-how. The programme of the day was completed by Lukáš Dejl with his lecture “Crossing the Music Management” focused on the pop scene and a practical workshop on grant submission led by Jiří Sulženek (MHMP) and Vit Roubíček (MKCR).

The final Wednesday was marked by artificial intelligence. David Herel presented the functioning of language models, Bohdan Fedor showed the practical use of AI in marketing and creativity, and the legal framework of copyright in the AI era was presented by attorney Gabriela Kadlecová. The symposium ended with a joint panel discussion.

In 2024, the symposium took place from 8 to 10 April at the KUMST creative hub and JAMU. The main theme of the edition was “networking” – the process of bringing together different aspects and actors for synergistic results, with a special focus on digital transformation and sustainability. The opening Monday belonged to the registration and student opening.

The first day of lectures, which took place on Tuesday, focused on innovation in the digital age and audience development. International guests such as Brian Kavanagh with “Reimagining Classical Music for a Digital Age”, Soren Mikael Rasmussen talking about Audience Development and Aubrey Bergauer with “Run it like a business” presented their contributions. This session was concluded with a panel discussion on the future of symphony orchestras.

Workshops focused on practical skills were held alongside the lectures. Participants could learn in the field of presentation with David Svoboda, in marketing and AI under the guidance of B TEAM, in project management with Tomáš Fiala or in generative AI and copyright with Dominika Collett.

Wednesday’s programme focused entirely on sustainability and environmental responsibility. David Taylor opened the day with his lecture “The world has changed, and so must we”, followed by Lukáš Rychtařík with a green event methodology and Anna Eliášová who linked sustainability with design and art. The whole year was closed with case studies, where Jan Žemla from the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava shared his experience and Matěj Ostárek and Jan Halfar shared their experiences on the topic of sustainable entertainment.

In 2023, the symposium took place at the premises of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava and offered a varied programme divided into three days. The opening Wednesday was devoted to the theme of independent culture, introduced by Michal Klembara, and a gala concert by the Academy of Performing Arts Symphony Orchestra in the concert hall of the Slovak Philharmonic. The first day was rounded off with a discussion “Festivals yesterday, today and tomorrow”, where representatives of Konvergencie, Sharpe and Flaam Festival spoke about the future of festivals.

Thursday’s day focused on the practical aspects of the music industry with discussions from music labels Slnko Records, Deadred Records and Weltschmerzen. It was followed by a workshop on DIY booking led by Kristina Thalerová from LALA Slovak Music Export. The day also included a presentation of the Trenčín – European Capital of Culture 2026 project and the panel “Synergy in the Arts”, where representatives of the Pohoda, Fest Anča and Istropolitana festivals met.

The final day of the symposium opened with an important lecture on mental health and psychohygiene by E. Švecová from the IPčko organization. The whole year ended with a debate on contemporary cultural policy led by L. Mati and Z. Jaurová.

The 2022 edition of the symposium will take place on 7-8 April 2022 in Prague at the Faculty of Music and Dance of the Academy of Performing Arts (HAMU) in cooperation with the Faculty of Music of JAMU. After a previous pandemic hiatus, the symposium returned to its presentational form. The programme was thematically focused on the area of “Crisis as Opportunity” and on issues of communication in challenging situations, with particular emphasis on the cultural and artistic sector. During the two-day programme, panel discussions, lectures and practical workshops were held on streaming production, digital marketing in the performing arts, copyright in the online environment, the psychology of communication and project management. The symposium also included a social evening that encouraged networking among participants from the music and cultural management sectors.

In 2021, the planned edition could not take place due to government measures and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2020, another symposium was to be held in Prague, which was unfortunately thwarted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2019, the seventh edition of the symposium took place, and the third one was held at the Brno JAMU on the premises of the Faculty of Music, which is its founder. This year’s symposium did not focus on just one issue. It was a set of lectures on branding, etiquette or the issue of German orchestras. In addition, there were a number of workshops, discussions, excursions and much more. Among the main guests were John Groves, Daniela Šmíd or Stefan Höhne. In addition to the specialist lectures, for the first time it was possible to attend a lecture section for performance students, where they were introduced to the basics of management work.

This entire section took place at the Orlí Theatre. The programme of the International Day took place in the Impact Hub. The main pillar of the day was the theme of deepening international cooperation. On this day, representatives of the professional networks Soundczech, encatc and AEC presented themselves. The programme was complemented by panel discussions and lectures by students who shared their experiences of study or work stays within the ERASMUS programme.

Date: 8. – 10. 4. 2019

Theatre on Orlí / Impact Hub

In 2018, the sixth edition of the symposium took place again at the Faculty of Music and Dance of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. The Slovak Symposium opened with a concert by the VŠMU Symphony Orchestra, which presented works by Czech and Slovak composers as part of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Czechoslovak Republic.

The first day of lectures was dedicated to artistic representation under the title “In the beginning was the artist”. The guests of this discussion were singer Adriana Kučerová, agent Prokop Holoubek and lyricist Lukáš Fila.

The second block focused on the area of safety management, where Martin Královič, a certified expert in Event Safety and Security Management, who cooperates with large festivals such as Pohoda and similar, presented himself as a lecturer.

The lecture on effective management of cultural institutions was led by Richard Bednar, who specializes in the organization of events in the non-profit sector. The topic of the lecture was also the principles of cultural institutions, ways of raising funds or cooperation with other institutions.

During the first day, there was another excursion to the Slovak Radio building and a workshop on “How to successfully start a cultural project” led by our teachers Mgr. Zuzana Ježková and doc. Lucie Pešl Šilerová.

The third day began with a joint morning discussion with the organisers of major festivals – Matej Drlička, representative of the classical music festival in Slovakia Viva Musica!, Michal Kaščák, director of the Pohoda festival and Peter Gärtner, director of the Hviezdne noci Bytča festival. The last lecture on online marketing rounded off the programme of the Slovak symposium.

In 2017, the Faculty of Music and Dance of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague took over the organisation of the symposium. The programme took place from 4 to 6 April 2017 and focused on several topics.

Students and teachers from JAMU, VŠMU and HAMU started the first day by visiting theatre performances at the National Theatre and the Immersive Theatre Pomezí.

The second day of the symposium was actively devoted to the issue of copyright. At the Faculty of Music and Dance of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, the whole block of discussions and lectures was led by lawyer and musician Petr Ostrouchov. The discussions focused on copyright from several angles – from the perspective of the composer and lyricist and from the perspective of the publisher and sound engineer. In these sessions, personalities such as Miloš Orson Štědroň, Vladimír Poštulka and Miloš Zajdl presented themselves. In the next block, the whole discussion was devoted to the amendment of the Copyright Act and the issue of OSA.

The first day was rounded off with a “start up vs. fuck-up night”, where students presented their successful and unsuccessful projects.

The second day was devoted to more practical activities, namely workshops with the theme “How to find and promote talent” with a producer’s window with a discussion with Alena Nachtigalová, Leszek Wronka and Jiří Burian.

The year 2016 marked the return of the symposium to its home ground – the Faculty of Music of JAMU took over the organizing role again. This time the symposium took place at the JAMU Faculty of Music and at the Orlí Theatre, where selected parts of the symposium took place.

A novelty compared to previous years was the inclusion of the Employers’ Forum in the programmes. The aim of the forum was to create a discussion on the topic of employment of graduates of the JAMU Faculty of Arts. The forum focused on the employment of graduates of individual instruments as well as management graduates.

There was also an expert forum, which for the first time was the main topic. This was the representation of artists. The main guest of this year’s symposium was Linda Petříková from IMG Artists in New York. Other guests included Tomas Grohregrin of Pragokoncert, as well as panelists. Among them were Adam Pitrocha from SONO Center, Hana Podhorská from Indies Records, Lucie Šnajdrová as a representative of the Brno Philharmonic and Linda Petříková.

The last part of the symposium included student presentations, visits to cultural institutions in Brno and workshops for music management students.

In 2015, the organisation was moved to the Faculty of Music and Dance of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, where students of music dramaturgy and management took over the organisation of the event. In 2015, various personalities of Slovak and Czech cultural life and professionals not only from the field of music art accepted the invitation to the conference. On the first day, the experienced dramaturge and musician Peter Lipa presented himself and revealed how to organize the great music festival Bratislava Jazz Days, which celebrated 40 years of existence in 2015. He was followed by the director of the SND Marketing Centre, who presented the marketing strategy of the institution and revealed the importance of good online marketing.

Another part of the programme was a discussion on the state and problems of management of large music ensembles in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The first day was concluded by Peter Hapčo and Kamil Mihalov, who presented the example of the cultural centre Stanica Žilina – Zárečie and how an alternative space for culture can be built from a brownfield.

The following day, university students were given the opportunity to present their own projects and activities. A practical lecture by Andrej Mikula on time management followed and the professional programme ended with a discussion between representatives of the Slovak and Polish Institutes in Bratislava and a representative of the Slovak Institute in Prague on how culture is supported beyond Slovakia’s borders. The final point was a tour of the city and selected cultural centres.

The aim was to provide students with new knowledge and know how, as well as a space for networking and inspiration for new projects.

Already during 2013, after the symposium in Brno, discussions between universities started about hosting the next edition. The symposium has thus become a rotating format, with JAMU, HAMU and VŠMU handing over the organizerships.

The symposium took place from 14 to 15 April 2014 in Prague at the HAMU and once again brought together music management students. After a year, they were able to exchange their experiences and attend lectures by Czech and foreign experts. Among the guests of the Prague symposium were Michal Horáček, Mirek Váňa from Berklee College of Music, Anthony Paul de Rits with Richard Strasser from Northeastern University in Boston and Petr Ostrouchov. There were also workshops for students and visits to Prague cultural institutions.

The 2013 symposium was the pilot year of this event, which was organized by the Department of Music Production at the JAMU Faculty of Music. The whole event took place in Villa Tugendhat, where a full day of lectures for music management students and professionals took place. Among other things, students with their projects were given space for their presentations. The main guests of the 2013 symposium were Alena Nachtigall from Nachtigall Artist Management, Jiří Štilec from HAMU and the ArcoDiva publishing house and Veronique Firkusny with Mary Lou Falcone from M.L.F PR. In their presentations they focused on their practice.

The first year was also a unique opportunity to meet with all students and teachers of music management from three universities – JAMU, HAMU and VŠMU, where the program included networking and discussion on music management topics.