2005-03-22

15th IAMA International Conference

The choice of Prague as the place to hold the IAMA conference in 2005 is in many respects symbolic. Fifteen years after the restoration of democracy in central Europe and after the recent, considerable expansion of the European Union, the time has come also for IAMA to cross the shadow of the former Iron Curtain.

Prague is an attractive metropolis with a rich history of music. In the context of the conference, however it will also represent many other important cultural centres in eastern and central Europe, which together have helped to shape the cultural history of Europe and the world, and are , deservedly, now returning with renewed self-confidence to the international stage. Central Europe is a special cultural and historical phenomenon; its rebirth will be one of the optimistic, inspirational aspects of the Prague Conference.

The conference will certainly also consider our common - less optimistic - recurring topics, such as public support for the arts, sponsorship, the promotion of classical music in competition with other forms of entertainment, defence against multimedia smog and kitsch, attracting young audiences, new technologies to disseminate recordings and the crisis in the music-recording industry, copyright, piracy, the star syndrome, taxes, globalisation, new ways of putting together concert and festival programmes, the growing influence of world music and much more

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