The MPG at WOMEX 2013

The MPG team (Mick Glossop, Stevan Krakovic, Tony Platt and Bruno Elingham) attended WOMEX, the international expo of world music, over three days in Cardiff last week.

Although unable to present an individual MPG stand, due to cost limitations, we had been able to negotiate a presence in the Horizons section; a large part of the exhibition hall at the Motorpoint Arena, run by Horizons (partly funded by the Arts Council) and devoted to the promotion of UK music activities.

It was divided into four sections, for England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, which enabled us to make new contacts with those representing creative activities in those areas, and to re-visit the connections made during previous MPG activities, e.g. goNORTH in Scotland earlier this year. We were able to proudly display the new MPG promotional banners, and were approached by many artists and representatives of record companies, all interested to hear about the MPG, and the work of those of us at WOMEX.

This was stimulated by the successful panel discussion event presented by Mick, Tony and Bruno on Friday, entitled “What Do Producers Really Do?”. We had a full attendance of 50-60 people, with standing room only, and received many questions from the floor. The limited time of 45 minutes could easily have been extended. Unfortunately, due to a technical problem, the staff failed to record the event which would have been posted on the MPG website.

The general consensus was that it was a very worthwhile trip, which, although it did not notably increase the number of MPG members, nevertheless promoted the MPG extensively to the wider music and creative community around the UK, and provided us with several new friends and industry contacts which we will be able to exploit in our efforts to extend the awareness and effectiveness of the MPG beyond London and the Home Counties.

Click here to view the full length BBC TV feature on WOMEX 2013.