PGM: Harmonious, dissonant, tempered?

The organizers were delighted: there was a large turnout on 5 June at the Allresto in Bern, with around 35 representatives from various music associations and parliament listening to David Vitali, head of the "Culture and Society" section at the Federal Office of Culture (FOC). The meeting was hosted by the Parliamentary Group for Music (PGM) and its president, National Councillor Stefan Müller-Altermatt. The invitation with the title The new cultural message hot off the press: the federal government's proposals and the demands of the music sector - harmonious or dissonant? enclosed were the Comments and questions from the Swiss Music Council on the Culture Dispatch 2021 ff.

The Swiss Music Council (SMR) had already developed the basis for this paper together with its members in summer 2018 and discussed the seven core concerns of the music sector arising from these consultations with the BAK and Pro Helvetia on September 6, 2018. In summary, these were: 1. appreciation of music in general, 2. debate on fair compensation for authors' and performers' rights vs. internet freedom, 3. enabling cross-sector projects, 4. start-up funding, 5. long-term development strategies for the three genres of folk music, contemporary music and classical music, 6. promotion of Swiss music abroad and 7. implementation of Article 67a "Musical Education" of the Federal Constitution.

Vitali began by explaining the background to the cultural message published on May 29 and referred to the continuity of its strategic development lines "Cultural Participation", "Social Cohesion" and "Creation and Innovation", before moving on to innovations. He focused his remarks on the implementation of the music article, for which his section is responsible. The Youth and Music program is to be further expanded and a talent promotion program is to be set up in collaboration with music schools and music academies. The introduction of a talent card based on the Youth + Sport model is planned. To this end, the BAK is requesting CHF 25.6 million for the entire funding period - around CHF 8 million more than in the previous period. In addition, a fourth paragraph is to be added to Article 67a of the Federal Constitution on music, which currently reads: "It [the Confederation] may promote musically talented individuals through specific measures." Christine Bouvard, President of the Swiss Association of Music Schools, emphasized the lack of binding nature of this optional formulation in the subsequent question and answer session.

All other aspects of the draft relating to music were merely touched on, as neither a representative from the BAK's "Cultural Creation" section nor from Pro Helvetia were present. The delegates of Sonart - Music Creators Switzerland formulated the expectation that the organizations of professional creative artists should not be limited in the cultural message exclusively to their role as trade union service providers. They must - like their partner organizations abroad - also be perceived as the only nationally active and therefore indispensable mediators of networking, discourse and content exchange, even if the funds for the latter no longer flow from the federal treasury.

Now is the time to seize the opportunity of the consultation process and to formulate the specific concerns clearly and unambiguously. The Swiss Music Council will draft a template for its members. They are free to edit the template as they wish or write their own statement. These can be sent to the following address by September 20, 2019 StabsstelleDirektion@bak.admin.ch be sent. The Cultural Dispatch is expected to be adopted in February 2020, after which it will go to Parliament and enter into force on January 1, 2021.