Douglas said:

>  I would like to propose the formation of a BRITISH COMPUTER
> MUSIC ASSOCIATION, along the lines of the
> ICMA/AIMI/ACMA/SFIM. It would have similar aims to these
> national organisations and to this list. The BCMA would
> present and/or sponsor musical events within the UK. It would
> disseminate information on research activities, and could
> hold an annual conference. Membership might also offer
> reduced rates for ICMA membership or events.
>

1. Firstly, a plea for old-fashioned plain-text email. Being still  
unreconstructedly UNIX, I don't read mine in a web-browser, so all  
the HTML tagging just gets in the way.

2. In Beijing at the ICMC, Douglas, Kia Ng and I exchanged the view  
that it was pretty odd how we seemed to meet more often in laecs  
lilw Beijing than we o in our own country (though maybe that's  
"countries" now). We went a bit further and said we should think  
about a framework for for UK-based folk to get together  
professionally.

3. We should be careful of (i) duplication, (ii) appearing to  
duplicate, and (iii) putting noses out of joint by duplicating or  
appearing to duplicate.

4. In what way would a BCMA differentiate itself from Sonic Arts?  
Would a BCMA attempt to same coverage as (for example) the ICMA (i.e  
conjoining composition/performance with research)?

5. Should it attempt to have a formal or informal existence? Should  
it be independent, or should it be part of a larger existing  
structure (eg the ICMA)?

I would be intersted to hear how people answer these questions.  I  
hope people can bear a wee bit of background from the ICMA  
perspective.

The I of ICMA is "International".  It has been a struggle within  
the ICMA to dvelop a genuinely international (i.e. non-US) stance,  
which is perhaps not surprizing given the association's origins and  
the fact that the largest grouping of ICMA members is from the US.   
There have been a number of attempts in the past to link the ICMA to  
national groups/associations in order to give expression to the  
ICMA's internalionalism.  These have not developed because of a  
variety of vested interests which, for the most part, were perfectly  
legitimate and understandable.

In the end the ICMA decided to try and go "regional" at a  
supra-national level, so that no nationally-based organization could  
misinterpret the ICMA as setting itself up in competition with  
them.  The purpose of the regionalization is
(i) to develop membership (i.e. increase the number of ICMA  
members), (ii) to provide a regionally based legal existence for the  
ICMA (this is of importance in the European context, where it can  
be difficult to secure grants unless you have an official status:   
this has inhibited some ICMC organizers' efforts at fundraising for  
the conference)
and (iii) to help develop conference venues.

In order to be successful with (i), something needs to happen at  
regional or national levels.  This has been done with some success  
in Japan within the Asia/Oceania region of the ICMA.  They have held  
professional meetings and supported students attending the ICMC  
using a surplus from the 1993 Tokyo ICMC.

So my interest now, on behalf of the ICMA, would be to canvas the  
option of the BCMA deliberately aligning itself with the ICMA  
European region.  By doing so, it ought to be possible to exploit  
both national and European funding sources to support professional  
meetings, perhaps even leading to transnational, European projects.   
There is already a very successful European-funded workgroup  
(CIUDAD).  Perhaps there could be others.  The advantage here is  
that we would not simply be reporting to each other (which is fine,  
btw), but actually working together on issues of common interest.

Proceeding in this way (i.e. a BCMA affiliated to a European ICMA)  
would give the BCMA a distinctly different purpose and set of  
opportunities which (or so I believe) would not damage the interests  
of any other cognate organization.

Of course, these remarks are based on the assumption that we'd be  
coming at this primarily as a bunch of academics who have a research  
agenda.  This may not be how others see it.

More feedback?

Stephen


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