Tomorrow I will spend most of the day at the Chinese embassy waiting my turn to get a visa so I can go with my orchestra (BBC Concert Orchestra) to China for a two week tour. We do similar ‘days out’ for trips to the USA. 1/
We are happy to do this as we know this work is good exposure/income/fun for the band.
My wife works in the Philharmonia who are as it happens in China at the moment on a similar type tour. Her band also do a lot (and I mean a lot!) of short hops to EU countries 2/
My wife works in the Philharmonia who are as it happens in China at the moment on a similar type tour. Her band also do a lot (and I mean a lot!) of short hops to EU countries 2/
These trips work in pretty much the same way as the would when the orchestra plays at the Edinburgh Festival. Travel to/perform/travel home. No visas, no days lost in embassies, and no carnets. A carnet is a list kit that a band takes with it when it travels abroad (not in EU) 3/
Carnets are a complete pain in the backside and involve everyone being completely accurate about what is going with them on tour. If you get it wrong and customs officials rip flight cases open then....💩 preparing a carnet takes hours/days work 4/
So that in a nutshell is why a significant amount of orchestral work (income for the UK) will not happen in the way it happens now when we leave the EU. The figures do not stack up for short trips in the way that they have to on a long trip. 5/
Btw - these long trips take years to organise, short trips much less so. And these problems will be just as applicable to rock/pop/jazz groups wanting to take part in Euro festivals. We’ve already seen the reverse happen to British festival like Womad this year. 6/
It won’t be worth the faff. Before you gloat that it will just be me my and elitist wife/friends who will be affected - everytime we tour abroad that is income for the UK - tax, spending, etc. In my case it’s another day that your Licence fee won’t go towards my salary. End/
And whilst us creatives are in the news.....don’t quite know why, but watching the debate moved me, partly because it acknowledged that we are useful members of society and not just scrounging grant hungry elitist scroungers....but...
a-n.co.uk/news/lords-deb…
a-n.co.uk/news/lords-deb…
..also that we have so much great internationally recognised output to lose. Currently I firmly believe that London IS the creative capital of the world, and the rest of the UK do benefit from that. Maybe not as much as they should but see V&A Dundee as an example.
And so ends my scream into the void....🙄
@GuitarMoog
@CakeWatchCast
@Howard_Goodall
@RemainiacsCast
@aborchestras
@GuitarMoog
@CakeWatchCast
@Howard_Goodall
@RemainiacsCast
@aborchestras
And as if by magic the French have confirmed that they will start customs checks again....
Also forgot to tag my union who have done excellent work trying to maintain freedom of movement after Brexit.
@WeAreTheMU
Also forgot to tag my union who have done excellent work trying to maintain freedom of movement after Brexit.
@WeAreTheMU
