Output Belfast and AVA team-up for Ireland’s leading music conference in Belfast

Audio Visual Arts Festival & Conference (AVA) has partnered with Output Belfast to organise a one-day, jam-packed conference with a diversity of music industry insiders this summer. The highly anticipated conference will take place at The MAC and The Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter on Thursday, June 1.

Over 800 delegates are expected to attend the conference, which will feature more than 30 workshops, masterclasses, panel discussions, keynotes and state of the nation addresses across different aspects of the music industry. The wide-ranging conference will focus on creative skills like writing, performing and producing as well as business skills like management, maintaining a good public image, networking and wider creative industry partnerships.

More specific topics that will be covered at the 2023 Output Belfast & AVA Music Conference include the intersection of policy and community in the late-night creative economy, the art of writing press releases, how to start producing and co-writing music, how to break into the electronic music industry, and the top ten most frequently misunderstood legal terms in music. The conference will foster informative discussions with industry insiders from a diversity of professional backgrounds, including artists, music journalists, producers and entrepreneurs.

“Music is so important to Belfast. We’re only the third UK city to become a UNESCO City of Music – and the very first city on the island of Ireland to receive this prestigious accolade,” Chief Executive of Belfast City Council John Walsh said. “The diverse talent, innovation, and creativity we have is incredible – we’re so proud of our music culture, the expression it gives, and the huge contributions it makes to our quality of life and economy.”

We’ve joined forces with @OutputBelfast to bring you the most diverse programme of music industry education and networking Belfast has ever seen

📍@TheMACBelfast & @OhYeahCentre
🗓 01.06.23
🎫 Free to Attend

Sign up for 30+ sessions, workshops & panelshttps://t.co/FJUPPTEx9T pic.twitter.com/Q8C4jr8eBH

— AVA Festival (@AVAFestivalNI) April 20, 2023

The event is supported by Belfast City Council, Belfast City of Music and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Sessions will also be delivered in partnership with other organisations including The Ivors Academy, PRS for Music, Help Musicians, Resident Advisor, BBC Introducing, SCGI, CMU and On Music.

The conference will also feature Complete Music Update founder Chris Cooke discussing the economics of music streaming, BBC Radio 1 presenter and artist Gemma Bradley discussing breaking into the electronic music scene, former The Voice contestant Dave Jackson on tips for better singing, and singer-songwriter Lea Heart on artist development opportunities in 2023.

Other notable sessions at the conference will include talks entitled “SCGI Presents: Scoring Brendan Fraser - Inside the composed and supervised music for ‘Professionals’” and “From Bedroom Beats to Timbaland Tunes - Making Cuts for Global Hip-Hop Tunes”.

Mark Gordon, the founder of Output Belfast, praised AVA founder Sarah McBriar for her leadership in lifting up extraordinary talent.

“AVA, under Sarah McBriar’s leadership, has been instrumental since 2015 in amplifying the extraordinary talent and skills in Northern Ireland’s thriving electronic music scene - and it’s brilliant for me personally that having been a part of their conferences in Belfast, London, and as far away as India - that we now get to bring their expertise, networks and skills to what has now become Ireland’s leading music conference,” he said. "This promises to be by some considerable distance the most important music conferencing day Belfast or Ireland will ever have seen, and I’m delighted with our partnership.”

McBriar shared the sentiment and said she is excited to see what possibilities the conference brings to the larger music scene.

“Mark Gordon and I have worked together since AVA began in 2015. We understand the great potential of the music industry across the Island of Ireland, and we believe that bringing our two conferences together will further boost what’s possible for the event, the conference content, and its ability to inspire and elevate both artists and the industry,” she said. “We plan to instigate greater education, greater support, and greater attention to what is creatively possible.”

The 2023 Output Belfast & AVA Music Conference is free and open to all. Sign up to attend here.