Sheffield Music Office – sector briefing

Sheffield has a broad and diverse music ecology, encompassing artists and musicians, venues and promoters, studios and music businesses, education and community organisations, festivals, labels, producers and many others. Recent research into Sheffield’s music ecology has proposed exploring the creation of a Sheffield Music Office: a dedicated piece of infrastructure that could help connect, support and represent the city’s music sector.

Music Offices already operate in cities across the UK and internationally, but there is no single model for what a Music Office is or does. In different places they perform different roles – from coordinating and representing the music sector, to developing shared strategies, building audiences, attracting investment, supporting venues and businesses, gathering evidence and advocating for music within local and regional decision-making. Initial research has looked at how Music Offices operate elsewhere and begun conversations with organisations across Sheffield about where a Music Office could add most value here.

This online briefing will share the findings of the research so far and set out initial thinking on what a Sheffield Music Office could do. It's also a chance for musicians, artists, promoters, venues, studios, music businesses, educators, community organisations, freelancers and others across Sheffield's music sector to feed in their comments and reactions. There will be a short Q&A with the team leading the proposal. We'll cover what Sheffield's music sector currently struggles to do collectively; where a Music Office could make the biggest difference; what it should - and shouldn't - do; and how it could be structured so that it is trusted, representative and accountable to the city's music community. Comments from the session will feed into the developing feasibility study and proposals for what a Sheffield Music Office could look like.