This session will focus on Marketing for Young Musicians & Emerging Artists, exploring practical ways to promote your work, grow your audience, and build a strong professional profile in today’s music industry.
The seminar will be led by Will Norris, an experienced arts marketing professional who has worked with the Scottish Ensemble, Southbank Sinfonia and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. The session will include an informal networking session, a great opportunity to connect with fellow artists and ask questions.
William is a consultant working for a wide range of music and arts organisations across programming, marketing and general management. Recent and current clients including the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Southbank Centre, Philharmonia Orchestra, Sinfonia of London, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (San Francisco), the Glasshouse International Centre for Music and Dunedin Consort.
He has also recently held the positions of Interim Director of the Benedetti Foundation and Chief Executive (Maternity Cover) of Scottish Ensemble.
As Managing Director of Southbank Sinfonia, the UK’s leading orchestral training program, William led an emphasis on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives, formed new creative partnerships, including with Southbank Centre and BBC Radio 3, secured the ensemble’s first-ever performance at the BBC Proms, commissioned a new work from Nicole Lizée (broadcast on BBC Radio 3) and collaborated with Nonclassical (where he is now Chair) to give performance opportunities to its Artists in Residence
Prior to his time with Southbank Sinfonia, William spent three years as Managing Director of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir in Toronto, Canada. While there he led on the recruitment of new Music Director Elisa Citterio, launched Haus Musik, an immersive concert experience for new audiences, started a sold-out series of chamber music concerts and forged new partnerships including with the Luminato Festival, which saw the orchestra perform in the cavernous space of the disused Hearn power generating station.
In over a decade at the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, he led marketing, communications and creative programming functions, including developing their acclaimed audience development series, The Night Shift, which brought a new, young, audience to the Orchestra’s work. The Independent stated “Concerts like this ensure classical music’s future”. In addition, William re-shaped the Orchestra brand and image, and presided over a 150% increase in ticket sales.
William completed the prestigious Devos Fellowship at the Kennedy Center, Washington DC in 2013, and was additionally a 2014 Fellow of the International Society of Performing Arts. William holds a Masters in European Cultural Policy and Administration from the University of Warwick and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.