McCathy Marie was elected president as Association of Music Professionals (AMP) during the organization’s first annual general meeting since its formation in 2009.
AMP aims to give effective representation to a growing body of over 45 members, which includes musicians, managers, sound and recording engineers. It seeks to provide training opportunities for the development of the capacities of its members and to lobby for an enabling environment for the overall advancement of the entertainment subsector within the thriving services sector here in Dominica.
Four of the incumbent executive members present at the meeting were re-elected to serve. It was the common opinion of those present that the incumbent executive had done a good job at keeping the association together with limited resources over the last few years.
The four members included McCarthy Marie as President, Cornel Phillip as Vice President, Daryl Bobb as Public Relations Officer and Joy Stoute as Executive Secretary.
The new entrants into the seven-member executive were Yuri Jones who was voted in to serve as Treasurer, Trevor Christian as Assistant Secretary Treasurer and Annasha Larond who was co-opted into the Executive as an ordinary member to make up the seven-member board of directors.
The co-option of Larond who was present as an observer, was inspired by the need for gender balance on the male dominated board, a unanimously accepted motion moved by Marie and was seconded by member, Ericson Leblanc who took charge of the meeting after the outgoing executive was resolved.
Leblanc, a sound engineer who obtained membership into the organization from his participation at the recently held Sound Engineers Workshop, presided over the elections process.
The AGM was held at the UWI Open Campus Auditorium recently with 21 participants in attendance.
Following the presentation of the President’s report that included insights on the financial status of the organization, a review of a just concluded sound engineering workshop, proposed activities and the way forward for the association, most of the observers expressed their satisfaction with the vision, goals and objectives of the association.
The new executive’s first assignment, among the many that were identified from the discussions, will be to organize a workshop on aspects of The Music Business for the benefit of AMP’s members.
The new Executive will meet in the month of May 2014 to begin discussions on the logistics of that workshop.
It was agreed that the general membership will meet every three months to receive a report on planned activities and whenever there is the need for an urgent gathering of the membership.
“Our plans are not to create a music industry. We will not attempt to reinvent the wheel,” Bobb said, describing AMP. “What we want is for all our members to participate meaningfully in what currently exists internationally. That will include adopting international standards in every aspect of what we do here as entertainers/service providers in the music industry. It will also include developing a clear understanding of the responsibilities of the artist in terms of his or her professional approach to the business that will include the way in which he or she presents himself or herself and the quality of his or her products and services.”
It’s always great to be organized, good luck to the grouping. One of the least talked about things, I would strongly urge this group to start a drive to encourage artists to join & contribute to social security or setup their own retirement fund among other things. Good luck for 2014/15.
Lovely
Let us see things move for the musicians and others involved in this industry now. You have two great new additions on the executive by mention of Jones and Laronde.