The State Council justifies the award with the fact that "the originality, quality and exemplary character of the productions and realizations are recognized in cultural and economic circles" and that the festival has reach and long-term national and international appeal. It also praised the cultural and economic impact and knock-on effects in Valais and the "solid, sustainable financing model".

With over 14,000 overnight stays and an estimated economic impact of CHF 55 million in the Val de Bagnes and throughout Valais in 2022, the Verbier Festival is a cultural, artistic and economic player of the highest order, the canton writes in its press release. The 31st edition of the festival will take place from July 18 to August 4, 2024.

The Swiss Music Charter is a cooperation agreement between SRG (Swiss Radio and Television Corporation) and the Swiss music industry. In it, SRG pledges to promote Swiss music and its new talents in all its programming, to broadcast editorial contributions and special programs about Swiss music and to play an active role in the promotion of Swiss music. The new Swiss Music Charter was signed at the annual meeting of the "Swiss Music" dialog body.

The charter continues the previous main objectives. At the same time, it strengthens the exchange of information on SRG's Swiss music programming between the parties involved. The presence of Swiss music in SRG's programming is now defined independently of the type of distribution - linear (radio and TV) or digital. The charter also underlines SRG's commitment to the diversity and novelties of the entire Swiss music scene across linguistic and regional boundaries. It emphasizes the important cultural role of the public media and their contribution to national cohesion.

The competition is organized every year on the initiative of the Club Georges Brassens with the support of the city council of Sète, the Festival Fernande and France Bleu Hérault. It offers a springboard to authors, composers and performers of French chanson who are in the tradition of Georges Brassens but are developing their own style. The jury is made up of fifteen chanson professionals and show business personalities. The final of the competition took place this year in Sète at the Conservatoire Manitas de Plata under the chairmanship of Marie Brune.

Born in Biel, Phanee de Pool now lives in La Neuveville. Her mother is a concert pianist and her father is a producer for radio and cultural events. She made a name for herself, then still a police officer with the Bern police force, in 2016 with a Audio post on mx3. She describes her style as slap - a mixture of slam and rap. On stage, she performs alone with a looper and guitar or with a chamber or symphony orchestra.

The funding volume of the fifth phase is around 2.4 million euros. The aim of the infrastructure project is to provide relevant information services for musicological research in Germany. Over the next three years, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (BSB) and the Sächsische Landesbibliothek - Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden will be expanding their already established services.

Under the joint label "musiconn. For networked musicology", established services are continuously expanded and optimized. These include the provision and technical development of the online catalog of the Répertoire International des Sources Musicales (RISM-Catalog) at the BSB. With more than 1.5 million musical sources, this reference tool is the most authoritative database of its kind in the world.

Link: www.musiconn.de

According to the canton's press release, Ursin Widmer holds a Master of Art in music education, a school management diploma from the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK), a VMS music school management diploma and a CAS in cultural marketing and cultural mediation. As principal, he managed the Schanfigg music school and the Safiental school. Since 2023, he has been Head of the Culture Department in Davos.

The Office for Culture (AFK) and its institutions are responsible for the promotion and communication of cultural creation in the canton of Graubünden as well as for the research and preservation of valuable Graubünden cultural assets. The AFK also includes the promotion of culture and languages. The previous head, Barbara Gabrielli, wants to devote herself to a new challenge after 15 years as head of the office. Widmer will take up the post on August 1, 2024

The Musikbüro Basel association is responsible for program promotion on behalf of the canton. It is intended to ensure a "diverse and high-quality live program and improve the working situation of cultural professionals in the club and nightlife culture".

The Culture department is responsible for assessing infrastructure applications and providing advice and mediation in connection with the authorities. For example, smaller investments in the operational infrastructure should be made possible in order to defuse noise conflicts. On-site night management is carried out by the "Culture & Gastronomy" association on behalf of the canton.

Sandro Bernasconi will be responsible for club and night culture from April 1. He was responsible for the music program at Kaserne Basel from 2009 to 2021 and has conceived and managed several festivals, including the Polyfon Festival in Basel and the interdisciplinary festival "Landskron" in the border region between Switzerland and France. The trained lawyer was Co-President of the "Culture & Gastronomy" association from 2013 to 2022.

Roy Bula is taking on the role of night manager at the "Kultur & Gastronomie" association. Bula has been the program manager at the "Gannet" fireboat since 2021 and was previously the office manager at Holzpark Klybeck. At Musikbüro Basel, Claudia Jogschies will be responsible for program promotion for club and night culture. The music office will launch its first call for proposals for program funding in April 2024.

Original message:
https://www.bs.ch/nm/2024-ein-trio-fuer-die-basler-clubfoerderung-pd.html

Amarante will take up his post on April 15 and succeed Etienne Reymond at the end of the current season. Amarante's appointment was unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of the autonomous institution LAC following a selection process involving more than 70 applicants. Reymond will be responsible for the 2024/25 music season, while Amarante will already be preparing the 2025/26 schedule.

The appointment coincides with the creation of an area dedicated to music at the LAC. This is provided for in the LAC's new performance mandate with the integration of the Lugano Musica Foundation. This will complete the project of a multidisciplinary cultural center under a single directorate.

Born in Trieste in 1974, Amarante studied piano, composition and conducting as well as cultural management in Bologna. He was coordinator of artistic direction at the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli Foundation and head of musical services and annual programming at the Teatro alla Scala Foundation. From 2016, he was artistic coordinator and tour manager of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and assistant to General Music Director Numa Bischof Ullmann.

The city and canton will provide a total of CHF 5 million between 2024 and 2027 to support cultural institutions in their further development in the area of cultural participation. The Canton of Zurich's Department of Culture has already launched the "Cultural Participation Transformation Grants" funding program in 2023. The City Council has now given the green light for the City of Zurich to participate in this funding program.

This means that the city and canton will be jointly responsible for the program, which runs until 2027. There are also plans to collaborate with the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia in the area of knowledge transfer between cultural institutions.

The city and canton want to use the funding program to support cultural institutions that want to develop further in the area of diversity and equal opportunities. The aim is to review and make targeted changes to offers, structures and decision-making processes. For once, therefore, no artistic projects are being supported, but rather the structural development of the institutions. Cultural institutions that receive a multi-year operating or subsidy contribution from the city or canton are eligible to apply.

The air is getting thinner and thinner for independent record labels in the classical music market. Recently, Hyperion was acquired by the multinational Universal and Apple took over BIS. According to British media reports, Heymann wants to secure the independence of one of the last important independent labels with his private purchase.

Chandos was founded in London in 1979 and moved its headquarters to Colchester, Essex in 1986. It is one of the largest indie labels for classical music in the world. The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande has also released recordings on the label, including the Echo Klassik award-winning recording Neeme Järvi Conducts Ibert.

In view of inflation and the expectations placed in culture, the cuts are incomprehensible, writes the umbrella organization in an official statement on the Federal Council's cultural message. At 0.3 percent, the share of cultural expenditure in the overall federal budget is very low and is "disproportionate to the overall social importance of culture in its entirety".

Suisseculture is calling on parliament to "correct this faux pas by the Federal Council and show the political will to adequately fund the challenges facing Swiss culture in the coming years". The preparation of the current cultural dispatch was exemplary. For the first time, the Federal Office of Culture had listened to all voices from the cultural sector.

The entire Suisseculture statement:
https://www.suisseculture.ch/?article=der_bundesrat_knausert_bei_der_kultur

See also: Federal Council adopts the Cultural Dispatch 2025-2028

In a broad-based survey of cultural institutions, municipalities, companies, associations and private individuals, 69 collections with a total of around 1.3 million audiovisual media were recorded. The Office for Culture and Sport, the State Archives and Memoriav, the competence center for the preservation of Switzerland's audiovisual cultural heritage, were all involved. On behalf of the Federal Office of Culture (FOC) and together with the cantons, Memoriav compiles an overview of the audiovisual holdings in all regions of the country.

Among others, Edi Gasser's holdings of the Unterwaldner Naturjuiz Foundation and music archives of private individuals from Sarnen and Alpnach are recorded. The overview inventory resulting from the project is managed and maintained by the State Archives. The inventory is not binding for owners or institutions. As the name suggests, it is intended to provide an overview of Obwalden's audiovisual cultural landscape and highlight holdings of public interest. The overview inventory of the Canton of Obwalden can be downloaded in anonymized form.

More info: https://www.ow.ch/dienstleistungen/8593

A team at the University of Zurich led by Sascha Frühholz, Professor of Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, has investigated how live and recorded music influence emotional processing in the human brain.

For the study, a pianist continuously intensified his playing depending on the emotional reaction of the audience, which was measured in real time using magnetic resonance imaging. In comparison, the same pieces of music were played to the participants by the same pianist as a recording, but without a feedback loop.

According to Frühholz, the experiment showed that pleasant and unpleasant emotions portrayed in live music evoke much higher and more consistent emotional activity than recorded music. The live performance also stimulated a more active exchange of information throughout the brain, which indicates strong emotion processing at the affective and cognitive levels of the brain.

More info: https://www.news.uzh.ch/de/articles/media/2024/Livemusik.html

According to the canton's press release, Château Mercier was donated to the canton of Valais by the Jean-Jacques Mercier - de Molin family in 1990. The Château Mercier Foundation was subsequently established to manage the use, enhancement and preservation of the castle. On December 31, 2020, the conditions attached to the donation, which related in particular to the purpose, furnishings and work on the castle, were lifted, leaving the State of Valais free to decide on the future of the castle.

The Château Mercier is an important venue for cultural events in the Sierre region and a witness to its history. It has been classified by the Confederation as an object of national importance. The castle can be hired for private events and company seminars. The State of Valais organizes receptions for ambassadors here.

On the recommendation of a working group, the State Council has decided to retain ownership of the Château Mercier. It wants to strengthen its role as a cultural and meeting center. The site will therefore mainly serve as an artists' house and promote research in the cultural sector as well as the integration of up-and-coming artists.

With this draft law, cantonal cultural policy should better coordinate public and private actors, take greater account of ecological, economic and social sustainability and facilitate access to culture in such a way that as many people as possible, regardless of age, nationality, gender, social background or disability, have the opportunity to take advantage of the canton's offerings.

The new law also provides for an increase in the budget for subsidies. It is to be increased by CHF 1.2 million over three years. There are also plans to create an additional half-time position to support the implementation of the new law.

More info (French):
https://www.ne.ch/medias/Pages/20240222_LEAC_projet_loi_faveur_culture.aspx