PARALLEL DISCUSSION GROUPS On the Conference theme Rebuilding audiences after Covid-19 With: Mijke Loeven (Bimhuis, Netherlands) & Annamaija Saarela (G-Live Lab Tampere, Finland) Moderator: Martel Ollerenshaw (Australian Music Centre, Australia) This session explored the landscape for promoters and presenters during the lockdowns and discussed whether anything will be di erent for audiences once the pandemic has stopped disrupting live presentation possibilities.
There were case studies from two EJN members – the Bimhuis in Amsterdam and G-Livelab in Tampere.
Mijke Loeven the CEO of Bimhuis (established in 1974) told the group about the shock at the time of the rst lockdown which began on 12 March 2020. During the ensuing lockdowns which spanned March 2020 – July 2021, they tried to focus on three things: saving the BIMHUIS for future generations; keeping in touch with their audience and providing work and income for musicians.
To function, they needed to be exible and to be able to try everything from streaming one show per week, to being open for limited capacity live shows (30 or 72 people), asking the (only Dutch) artists to perform shorter shows but doing more per night. As of September 2021, they were able to have larger audiences of over 200 or 300.
They had to change gear, so many times during this period and it was di cult. When they were able to present one concert per week this had a positive impact on the Bimhuis sta (who worked hard doing everything and kept the venue running), but it was challenging and lonely work for Mijke, as the leader of the organisation at this time.
Some positive outcomes included: BIMHUIS TV & BIMHUIS Productions were already in existence from 2018/2019 and turning the venue into a TV studio for streaming and working with and commissioning local artists were obvious things to concentrate on. During the lockdowns, the sta were on salary and the venue was keen to pay musicians whose livelihoods were completely disrupted, so they increased the number of composition assignments (commissions) for musicians (Tony Roe was cited as one
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