Orchestras Live Regional Producer - Midlands, Sooree Pillay, reflects on her "most enjoyable" ABO Conference to date, her key takeaways, and reflections.

I attended the ABO Conference on 5th February, which was a day full of fascinating discussions and topics that I felt to be important and relevant to the environment and context in which we all currently work.

The deep dive session “Who Calls the Shots and for Whom?”, explored artistic decision-making, examined who has the authority to make creative decisions, and who those decisions are ultimately made for. It also delved into the structures of arts organisations, considering where power lies and why that might be. I came away with a better perspective on operating systems, processes and some models we can look to for inspiration.

The session on Education, where we heard key insights from the Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, and her fellow panellists, was a stirring call to action on the current state of — and needs within — music education. The sometimes shocking statistics were crucial in framing the session which nonetheless managed to offer some optimism and pathways to solutions.

After lunch, I was engaged and refreshed to hear lively debate in the “Politics and Polarisation” session. I had expected a conversation about communities and the social environment in which the arts is currently operating, but instead ensued a fascinating discussion on the platforming of political viewpoints on the orchestral stage, and the challenges that this poses for artist, organisation and audience alike. We were reminded of the ongoing debate around freedom of speech versus hate speech, and that all viewpoints, including (and sometimes especially) those which remain unvoiced, are political decisions in some way.

Overall, I found this to be the most enjoyable ABO Conference I have attended to-date, and it left me with lots to take back, discuss and reflect upon with sector colleagues throughout the year.