David Collins: The Musician as Entrepreneur – Part 2

| Nov 20, 2015 |

In order to get an idea of how a working musician with no experience in arts management could start a new festival, an audacious undertaking for even an experienced arts manager, I had to ask some questions:

How and why did you start the Dublin Brass Week?

• Dublin Brass Week started as an idea in January 2013 for the first festival in July 2013. I started the festival for a number of reasons but the main one was borne out of personal experience with masterclasses I had attended as a trumpeter myself. In April 2012 I attended a trumpet masterclass for 6 days with an international name in the trumpet world and had a great time. It ran however as many masterclasses do – short warmup in the morning, a chance to play once each day for around 15/20 minutes and sitting in the one room observing others play or finding a practice space to do some playing for my next slot as well as play a chance to play for 10 minutes in a closing concert. On top of this was the cost – In total this was over €1,300 before I had factored in money for food and the occasional evening beer…! The accommodation cost was most expensive at €525 (the classes were in Switzerland), the masterclasses cost was €500 and the flights came to €300. It made me think about value for money and what I would like to see at masterclasses myself in the future. Instead of just complaining about the cost and the fact that I had to travel 3 hours to attend masterclasses with 1 international trumpeter I decided to create a brass festival based in my home city of Dublin with the aim of having multiple faculty members, lots of concerts and playing opportunities for the students, to try to keep the base costs as low as possible and to organise free hosting with local players for the students coming from overseas which would help in keeping the costs more manageable.

What have you learned from the experience?

• I have learned so much from organising the brass week! As a freelance trumpet player it is great to have other things on your mind and I find with Dublin Brass Week it always has my brain working, if you have less work over a certain period it means your brain is still working away and you can be preparing for the upcoming festival with emails/calls/scribbling down ideas. Similarly when you have a patch where you are very busy with playing it is easy to do the minimum and only reply to direct emails or requests and then hopefully finding a Sunday morning to catch up on the bulk of the work. As a player it has made me much more relaxed as you see the international names of the brass world as normal people not some superhuman players that know the “secret” to brass playing. All of the players and teachers I have dealt for Dublin Brass Week with have been unbelievably hard working regardless of how relaxed they come across and in public!

What mistakes did you make?

• I made many mistakes at the outset! Too many to list…! I had no real idea how to organise a festival so I spoke to people with experience in the arts admin field to have a general outline of what needed to be done and luckily my then girlfriend (now wife!) is a violinist and much more organised than I am, so she managed to keep me in check right from the beginning! Many things were done on a trial and error basis as well as looking at other successful models, trying to see what they were doing right and then transferring certain elements to Dublin Brass Week.

What have you learned from this experience?

• I definitely feel many of the skills I have picked up along the way are transferable to the rest of my life, playing included. I feel much more at ease dealing with people and speaking in public. Also having to negotiate with artist management with regard to flights, fees, accomodation and also being able to problem solve on the spot really makes a difference in life as well as career. You are always seeking a positive outcome to every situation and I find it has given me a much more positive outlook on life which is a very powerful thing. The original idea was to always to have a full compliment of brass instruments even in 2013. I didn’t realise the amount of work the lay ahead in organising a trumpet faculty, never mind a full festival. As soon as I realised that it would take so much time and that I didn’t have much of an idea on how to create a successful festival I decided to start with trumpets only for 2013 as I obviously would know most about trumpets and then expand by 1 instrument each year until 2016 when we would have the entire orchestral brass represented. In 2014 we added French Horn, this year in 2015 we were joined by Trombones and Tuba is on the way in June 2016 so all is still going to plan!

Was funding a problem?

• Financing a festival was a real concern as again I had no experience with budgeting anything apart from my own day to day life. In 2013 we applied for a grant of €5,000 from the Arts Council of Ireland and I was naive enough to think that as I had a great idea it would receive funding. I found out that my funding application had not been successful about 6 weeks before the first festival and realised I was entirely dependent on the course fees and concert attendance to cover faculty fees plus their hotel stays and flights to Ireland!  Since then the festival has been very fortunate to have many brass companies, embassies and others come on board and support DBW with paid adverts in the festival brochure as well as offsetting the faculty cost by covering flights and hotel accommodation and every little bit really helps with a small festival. The Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin where the festival has been held since 2013 has been stellar in its support and for the 3rd year in a row we have had the use of the building including the concert hall absolutely for free, without which it would have been almost impossible to get the brass week up and running. We still apply for the big grants from government arts funding, however we also look for smaller amounts of funding and sponsorship from the private sector which helps to cover all bases.

Did you have to deal with rejection or failure?

• I received plenty of rejection at the start and have had to face more rejection ever since! I have found it tricky to be positive at all times as it can be really disheartening when you spend 20/25 hours on a funding application, wait 8 weeks and find out that your festival will receive zero funding for this year. The only way I have found to deal with the rejection is to be even more determined to make the festival successful in the long term! There is a great sense of achievement in seeing the festival grow from a faculty of 4 with 10 playing participants in 2013 to a faculty of 12 with almost 50 playing participants from all across Europe, USA, Asia and a really strong showing from players in the UK and of course Ireland in July 2015 so regardless of rejection and small stumbling blocks along the way I try and focus on the bigger picture!

Has this changed your perspective on anything having to do with brass players in general?

• In my experience brass players have always been entrepeneurs and really adept to problem solving – I always find it astonishing how many brass players you find as leaders within an orchestra – there are so many examples of players turning to orchestra management or becoming chairperson of the players committee. Outside of managerial roles many friends and colleaugues play freelance with orchestras as well as having a full time position with a brass quintet, arranging music for brass ensembles from quintet to brass band in their non-playing down time and sell their arrangements online as another income stream. Other examples are players who take a job in an army or police band and teach at the weekend as well as playing as part of a function or wedding band. There are so many avenues open to brass players (and so few orchestral jobs) that unless someone is determined and fortunate enough to secure a full time orchestral position it would seem to be that you have to be a jack of all trades.

What aspect of the festival do you take pride in the most?

• For me, one of the best things that has come from the festival is the additional interest it is fostering in brass playing across Ireland. There is a great sense of achievement in seeing the festival grow from a faculty of 4 with 10 playing participants in 2013 to a faculty of 12 with almost 50 playing participants from all across Europe, USA, Asia and a really strong showing from players in the UK and of course across Ireland in July 2015. Seeing brass players attending from youth bands across the island, to music degree students across the globe to the brass sections in both the RTÈ National Orchestras who have all had so much enthusiasm for the festival each year it’s hard to know which group gets more excited! With the fantastic support across Ireland and abroad I hope that Dublin Brass Week will continue to grow and become a permanent fixture in the international brass calendar.

Dublin Brass Week 2016 will run from June 27-30 2016 at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

For more information see www.dublinbrassweek.com