UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI MODENA E REGGIO EMILIA

FACOLTÀ DI ECONOMIA MARCO BIAGI _________________________________________________

Corso di laurea in Economia Aziendale

COMPARATIVE MANAGEMENT

OF MUSIC SCHOOLS IN EUROPE:

THE CASES OF

CEPAM REGGIO EMILIA, ACM GUILDFORD,

KULTURSKOLAN STOCKHOLM, DATENKLANG BERLIN,

AND TALLER DE MÚSICS BARCELONA

Relatore: Prof.ssa Cinzia Parolini

Tesi di Laurea di: Marco Colarossi

_________________________________________________

Anno Accademico 2004-2005

Author’s address Marco Colarossi Via Griminella 5 42015 Correggio (RE) Italy marco@colarossi.net marco.colarossi.net

Supervisor Professor Cinzia Parolini Associate Professor of Business Administration

University of Modena and Reggio Emilia Bocconi University (Milan)

Faculty Opponent Professor Tommaso Fabbri Faculty of Economics

University of Modena and Reggio Emilia

I will appreciate if you inform me when you cite or quote this text. Feedbacks are welcome.

Acknowledgements

Un ringraziamento particolare va alla prof.ssa Cinzia Parolini, per la competenza, la fiducia e l’incoraggiamento, ed al prof. Tommaso Fabbri, per la disponibilità e il materiale fornito durante la realizzazione del lavoro di tesi.

Ringrazio la mia famiglia per il sostegno costante e incondizionato durante questi anni di studio universitario. Dedico a loro, e in particolare a mia madre, questa tesi.

Grazie a Veronica per l’indispensabile e inattesa consulenza linguistica, a Vittoria per le traduzioni e a Cristian per i consigli. Grazie a Alberto Cottica, Matteo Parrinello e Federico Ferriani per avermi messo a disposizione i risultati delle loro ricerche. Un grazie anche a Michele per l’aiuto e la consulenza nella realizzazione del sito internet.

Desidero inoltre ringraziare tutti i docenti e il personale di CEPAM e ARCI con i quali ho condiviso questi anni di lavoro e studio. In particolare ringrazio tutta la Segreteria: Angela, la mia “collega” preferita, Susanna, Francesca, Marco, Laura, Barbara, Pamela, Jenny, Giorgia e Giuliano. Grazie a Leo, Ricca, Massimo e Andrea per l’amicizia e il tempo trascorso insieme. Vorrei nominare anche tutti gli altri, ma non c’è spazio sufficiente, ne avete uno nel mio cuore, spero vi basti.

Special thanks to everyone who made this research possible, and in particular to KULTURSKOLAN: Hans Skoglund, Marianne Nilsson and Rey Ward ACM: David Marshman and Ian Edwards TALLER DE MÚSICS: Blanca Gallo and Lola Huete DATENKLANG BERLIN: Adrian Kroß and Marcus Wisweh BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC BOSTON: Jay Kennedy And also to MMS BERLIN: Carsten Sachs MUZIEKSCHOOL AMSTERDAM: Mrs. Westerveld MUSIC ACADEMY 2000 (Bologna): Massimiliano Magagni CENTRE MUSICAL YAMAHA (Paris): Xavier Fauvy LCCM (London): Geoff Hemsley

Thanks to the cities where I have been, for having hosted me, and to their inhabitants for the hospitality and the good times.

Grazie a Simona e Moreno per esserci, sempre. Grazie a Giuliano, Marco, Maicol e “gli amici di Mandrio” per “volermi bene nonostante tutto” e per avermi sopportato e spronato fino alla fine: visto che ce l’ho fatta! Grazie anche agli amici della Virtus, del liceo e dell’università per aver condiviso questi anni.

Grazie ai “compagni d’Erasmus” ed in particolare ad Andrea, Vittoria e Francesca per i viaggi, le esperienze e l’amicizia al di là delle distanze. Grazie a Daria per l’aiuto e ad Andrè e Paolo per l’ospitalità. Grazie a Lupo, Marta e Andrea, Jago, Giulia, Luna, Luís… e tutti quelli che ho incontrato lungo la strada.

Mi scuso con Elisa e la ringrazio per l’aiuto e il sostegno durante questo periodo.

Grazie a tutti coloro che in qualche modo mi hanno aiutato durante il mio percorso di studi: anche se il vostro nome non è qui non significa che non vi pensi e non vi sia debitore.

Questa tesi è anche il racconto di un viaggio attraverso l’Europa. Allora non mi rimane che augurarvi buon viaggio!

This thesis is also the story of a journey around Europe. So, have a good journey!

Brief Contents

Acknowledgements

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1. General Introduction 5 2. Theoretical Background 11

PART II: MULTIPLE CASE STUDY

3. Kulturskolan Stockholm (Sweden) 27 4. ACM Guildford (United Kingdom) 63 5. Taller de Músics Barcelona (Spain) 93 6. CEPAM Reggio Emilia (Italy) 125 7. Music Schools in Berlin (Germany) 153

PART III: CONCLUSIONS

8. Findings and Contributions 161

References 173

Appendix 181

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1. General Introduction 5 1.1 Why This Topic 6 1.2 Scope and Objectives 8 1.3 Methodology 9

2. Theoretical Background 11 2.1 S-Consistency and the 7-S Model 12 2.2 Cultural Differences and Hofstede’s 4 Dimensions 16 2.3 Music Districts 18 2.4 Music School Management 20

PART II: MULTIPLE CASE STUDY

3. Kulturskolan Stockholm (Sweden) 27 External Consistency of the School 3.1 State: Sweden and Music 29 3.2 Surrounding Area: Stockholm 31 Internal Consistency of the School 3.3 Shared Values 35 3.4 Strategy 37 3.5 Structure 44 3.6 Style of Management 48 3.7 Staff 51 3.8 Skills and Competences of the Management 54 3.9 Systems: Informative, Planning and Budgeting, Controlling and Incentive Systems 55 Final Assessment 3.10 Overall S-Consistency of the School 60

4. ACM Guildford (United Kingdom) 63 External Consistency of the School 4.1 State: United Kingdom and Music 65 4.2 Surrounding Area: Guildford 68 Internal Consistency of the School 4.3 Shared Values 71 4.4 Strategy 72 4.5 Structure 77 4.6 Style of Management 80 4.7 Staff 81 4.8 Skills and Competences of the Management 84 4.9 Systems: Informative, Planning and Budgeting, Controlling and Incentive Systems 85 Final Assessment 4.10 Overall S-Consistency of the School 90

5. Taller de Músics (Barcelona) 93

External Consistency of the School 5.1 State: Catalonia and Music 96 5.2 Surrounding Area: Barcelona 100 Internal Consistency of the School 5.3 Shared Values 103 5.4 Strategy 105 5.5 Structure 111 5.6 Style of Management 113 5.7 Staff 114 5.8 Skills and Competences of the Management 116 5.9 Systems: Informative, Planning and Budgeting, Controlling and Incentive Systems 117 Final Assessment 5.10 Overall S-Consistency of the School 122

6. CEPAM Reggio Emilia (Italy) 125 External Consistency of the School 6.1 State: Italy and Music 127 6.2 Surrounding Area: Reggio Emilia 129 Internal Consistency of the School 6.3 Shared Values 132 6.4 Strategy 133 6.5 Structure 137 6.6 Style of Management 140 6.7 Staff 141 6.8 Skills and Competences of the Management 143 6.9 Systems: Informative, Planning and Budgeting, Controlling and Incentive Systems 145 Final Assessment 6.10 Overall S-Consistency of the School 150

7. Music Schools in Berlin (Germany) 153 7.1 Berlin 154 7.2 Public Music Schools: the Musikschule Neukölln 155 7.3 Private Franchising of Music Schools for Profit: MMS Berlin 155 7.4 Independent Music Schools for Profit: Datenklang Berlin 156

PART III: CONCLUSIONS

8. Findings and Contributions 161 8.1 Empirical Findings 161 8.2 Theoretical Contributions: 10-S Framework, A Model for Cultural Activities 165 8.3 Final Considerations 168 8.4 Suggestions for Further Research 170

References 173

Appendix 181Appendix A) The Questionnaire 183 Appendix B) The Thesis Website 185 Appendix C) Hofstede’s 4 Dimensions – Indices for 50 Countries 187 Appendix D) The Berklee College of Music Boston 189

PART I

INTRODUCTION

What kind of truth is this that is bounded by a chain of mountains

and is falsehood to the people living on the other side?

Michel de Montaigne Essais II, XII, 34

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General Introduction

This study is about comparative management in Europe and the chosen subject is Music Schools. The research is based on a multi-case approach, by which five1 successful Music Schools, located in different countries, have been submitted to the same set of questions and analysis. The results have been compared with consideration to some of the most well-established management theories. The presentation of the study is divided in three parts.

PART I INTRODUCTION. The study starts motivating the choice of the subject, Music Schools in Europe, and the general context in which this choice has been made, describing the role of identity and leisure activities in modern societies. The objectives and assumptions upon which the research is based are defined, specifying the comparative, and not normative nature of the study. The methodology used to conduct the research is explained, describing how the S-Consistency Questionnaire was created. The main theoretical background, upon which the study is based, is presented: the McKinsey 7-S Model, the four cultural dimensions investigated by Geert Hofstede, districts and clusters in cultural activities and some final references to the relevant management theories involved in Music School management.

PART II MULTIPLE CASE STUDY. It is the empirical part where Music Schools are analysed. Each School case has been divided into three sections. The first one considers the external consistency of the School: how the environment has affected and is related to the school’s nature and characteristics. It starts from a general overview of music education, public sector policies and sector analysis in each countries, and continues considering the economic, social and cultural structure of the specific city or area in which the School operates. The second focus on the internal consistency of the School: the description of the managerial variable, the so-called 7S’s: shared values, strategy, structure, style, staff, skills and systems. In the third section, the relations among variables and overall consistency of the School are described with the aid of a graphical representation.

PART III CONCLUSIONS. Final considerations about the empirical findings of the research are provided. The main theoretical and methodological contributions of the research, the 10-S Framework and the S-Consistency Questionnaire are presented and their field of application is extended to all cultural activities. Finally, suggestions about possible developments of the research are made.

1 One of them, Datenklang (see § 7.4), has been reduced and presented only in its relevant parts, because the analysis of some more specific issues have been considered not suitable for its rather simple organization.

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1.1 Why This Topic

And what should they know of England who only England know?

Rudyard Kipling

The emperor of the future will be the emperor of ideas.

Winston Churchill

This thesis was originated by the desire to connect, investigate and put to good use the three experiences I mostly became interested on in the recent years: university, my travels abroad and CEPAM (Permanent Centre for Music Activities) in Reggio Emilia.

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES AND THE THEME OF IDENTITY

During my travels I always tried to investigate cultural differences that characterize the countries I visited. I believe this helps to better understand them, and, with them, ourselves, our culture, our identity.

The theme of identity, is increasingly important in the modern society that has to face the challenges of globalization trying to take advantage, with a balance not easy to reach, from the opportunities offered by it, but at the same time defending the wealth of local identities.

Specific kinds of Music Schools, as of every economic actor, are a result of unique characteristics of their environment and interact with it every day. In this regard, it is important and interesting to analyse how the distinctive features of the surrounding area of the School influenced its nature and choices.2

Nevertheless, the cultures investigated are different but united by the common European root, and, in this sense, are all part of the European cultural identity upon which the political project of a unified Europe is grounded3.

FREE TIME AND LEISURE ACTIVITIES

Another important theme for an analysis of the evolution of Music Schools and, broadly speaking, of the future of cultural activities, is leisure.

2 See § 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3. In this regard, Pascale and Athos (see § 2.1) make an interesting consideration: “We take for granted as ‘natural’ many ways of interpreting organizational experience which are, in fact, cast in our distinct cultural models. [...] One day a famous Japanese business executive paid a visit to a well-known Zen master to discuss Zen’s relevance to management. Following Japanese etiquette, the master served green tea. When the cup of the visitor was full, the master kept pouring; the tea overflowed. The executive was startled. ‘The cup is full; no more will go in.’ Said the master, ‘Like this cup, you are full of your own thoughts. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?’ Let us proceed, then, nothing how hard it is to ‘empty one’s cup’, even if one wants something else poured into it.” (from “The Art of Japanese Management”, p.27)3 Romano Prodi, “La musica e l’Europa”, 2002, p.1099

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Even though we are still far from a conjectured “leisure civilization”4, with the reduction of the time allocated to material production5 and the increased expenditure possibility for cultural and recreative goods and activities, the concept of leisure itself is evolving, now seen not only as moment of rest, relax and entertainment, but also as possibility of physical, intellectual and moral development, cause and stimulus for a change.6

As a consequence, a lot of organizations focused on the professional offer of leisure activities and became part of the economic and social environment to the point of changing it, developing relations and transactions that interact and are complementary with the local productive system. This is true for all countries of “the old Europe”, but especially for Italy, a country that has probably in tourism and culture one of its main and impossible to replicate competitive advantages and fields of activities in the modern globalized world.

The growth of Music Schools in the last decades and years is to be seen and analyzed in this contest, and their present and future is closely connected with local, national and international economy.

The wise and conscious organization and management of Music Schools is a mean to secure survival, “connection to the reality” of customers’ needs and the evolution of experiences that are successful because, at the same time, expression and evolutionary cause of their culture, history and traditions, and, therefore, consciously or unconsciously tied to their territory.

4 Roberto Bernardi, Strutture ed uso del tempo libero in Emilia Romagna, 1989, p.8 5 Jeremy Rifkin, The End of Work, 1995 6 Bertrand Russell, In Praise of Idleness, 1935

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1.2 Scope and Objectives

The purpose of this study is to compare different management approaches in different European countries and kind of Schools7 with the aim to show and verify “on the field” that many ways of interpreting organizational experience, that we take for granted as “natural”, are, in fact, cast in our distinct cultural models.8 The thesis aims to describe and compare the behavioural patterns of Music Schools in Europe through the analysis of their characteristics and environment. The study makes use of some of the most famous economic theories and studies, but can be considered as pioneering for the chosen field of research.

Another goal of this study was to adapt well-established studies to create a theoretical framework that fits and helps to understand Music Schools’ reality.

The analysis is based on the assumption that there is not only one successful management strategy but every organization has to find its own, consistent with its nature, characteristics and environment9. From this accepted starting point, this study moves forward to investigate to which extent the key for success of each Music School is unique, whether there are analogies among the Schools analysed and how cultural differences have influenced their choices10.

It is important to stress that this study is comparative, not normative, evaluative or critical11. It was not a research objective to find suggestions for Schools’ administrators on how to better manage their organization, because I believe that it would have been conceited and overambitious to criticise management practices established over the years after a few days of study and acquaintance. Still I am sure that, reading about other “approaches”, they will be able to find interesting and stimulating information to adapt to their complex and ever-changing activities.

Finally, it should be noted that the broad nature of this multiple case study has required a trade off in terms of the depth in which the individual issues were investigated, given the time and financial constraints. Even so, the level and kind of analysis has been considered appropriate to the goals of the research.

7 Public, profit and non-profit. 8 See § 2.1 and R.T.Pascale, A.G.Athos, The Art of Japanese Management, 1981, p.27 9 Robert M. Grant, Contemporary Strategy Analysis, 2nd ed., 1991 (trad.it. p.40) 10 With the help and use of Hofstede’s 4 dimensions (see § 2.2). 11 For a definition of comparative studies: Jean Boddewyn, Comparative Management and Marketing, 1969, p.7 The first comparative analysis in management I read about was during my Human Resource Management class at the university where we studied the book by James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones, Daniel Roos, The Machine that Changed the World, New York, Rawson Associates, 1990 based on a research of the M.I.T on the future of the automobile that compared American and Japanese productions.

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1.3 Methodology

The research started a couple of years ago with an intensive preliminary literature review focused on strategic management, economics of cultural activities, service management, cultural differences and research methodology. At that time I decided to use the McKinsey 7-S Model12 and Hofstede’s 4 Dimensions13, as the two theoretical landmarks for my further analysis, because I thought they extraordinarily fit my need to find a clear but complete framework to compare different kinds of management in different countries and kinds of organizations. Furthermore, other material was gathered by several field studies, non-structured conversations and data researches from other available resources such as internet, libraries, data bases, etc.

THE SELECTION OF THE SCHOOLS

During this phase potential candidates were identified by conducting targeted interviews to experts in the field and an extensive internet search. A shortlist of Music Schools was made, some of which were contacted during a first exploratory journey around Europe.

Selection’s criteria were essentially three: ! Homogeneity: only Modern Music Schools, not conservatories, to allow comparison; ! Distribution, in space and kind: one School per nation and cultural group, possibly of

different juridical kind (public, profit and non-profit), to compare different types of management;

! Importance: the biggest and more successful possible School for each country, to have them as example of Schools with external and internal consistency.

THE QUESTIONNAIRE

I chose to construct a questionnaire to make the comparison among different management approaches more structured and systematic. After having analysed the 7S’s at CEPAM, I immediately felt that I needed a written list of questions to send to other Schools’ managers before my visits and to better face the interviews with them afterwards, not forgetting any important issue. I also noted that the 7-S Model was not enough to assess the overall consistency of the School, so I decided to add other questions related to the competitive environment of the School. Consequently, I adapted and translated into questions the Robert M.Grant’s “Environmental Analysis”14 and I called this part “analysis of the external consistency of the School”. The questions related to the second part are instead inspired from the 7-S analysis proposed and presented for the first time by Pascale and Athos in the book

12 See § 2.1 and R.T.Pascale, A.G.Athos, The Art of Japanese Management, 1981. At the time of the publication, the authors were consultants for McKinsey&co, therefore it is also known as McKinsey 7S Model. 13 Geert Hofstede, Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, 1991 and Geert Hofstede, Daniel Bollinger, Les différences culturelles dans le management, 1987 14 Robert M. Grant, Contemporary Strategy Analysis, 1991 (trad.it. p.58)

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“The Art of Japanese Management”15. Finally other questions related to cultural differences in management, inspired by the findings of the book “Culture’s Consequences”16 by G.Hofstede, were added.

THE EMPIRICAL PART

After the preliminary theoretical framework was defined and the tool of analysis ready, the empirical part started. This part is based on multiple case study of five selected and visited Music Schools in Europe, that allowed an in-depth interview with key personnel and provided relevant documents about the administration.

At this stage, writing the licentiate thesis began.

15 op.cit.16 Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 2nd ed., 2001

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2. Theoretical Background

These are my principles.

If you don’t like them, I have others. Groucho Marx

This thesis is grounded upon several theories, researches and books I studied during my

university career and in the preliminary literature review to this work. A general presentation of the most important of them for the understanding of this thesis is here briefly given, but a more extensive reading of these relevant sources is suggested.

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2.1 S-Consistency and 7-S Model

We do not encourage direct copying of their techniques, or even their management and cultural philosophy…

We want to look at them as if they were a special kind of mirror, one which might allow us to see ourselves in some new ways…

The task is not to imitate cosmetically, but to evolve organically. And each company, like each individual, has to develop in its own way.

Richard T.Pascale Anthony G.Athos

The art of Japanese Management1

According to Robert M. Grant2, for a strategy to be successful, it must be consistent with (1) the firm’s goals and values, (2) its resources and capabilities, (3) its organization and systems, and (4) its external environment.

INTERNAL CONSISTENCY

The first three aspects of strategic consistency refer to factors of the enterprise, in this case a Music School. They correspond to what R.T. Pascale and A.G. Athos3 have more widely explained as the 7S’s of the managerial molecule, therefore I called their alignment internal consistency of the School. They are constituted by three “hard S’s”:

Strategy: set of actions leading to the allocation of a firm’s scarce resources, over time, to reach identified goals. It concerns the analysis of environment, competition, customer needs and one’s own strengths and weaknesses leading the explicit plan for success.

Structure: basic organization of the company (i.e. functional, decentralized, etc.), its departments, reporting lines, areas of expertise and how they inter-relate. It is the formal hierarchy of authority and accountability which describe how the separate entities of the organization are tied together to best align themselves with the strategy.

Systems: formal and informal procedures that govern everyday activity and support strategy and structure. They include informative systems (i.e. meeting formats), management control systems, performance measurements and reward systems, planning and budgeting systems and the way people relate to them.

1 R.T. Pascale, A.G. Athos, The Art of Japanese Management, 1981, p.204 2 Robert M. Grant, Contemporary Strategy Analysis, 1991, 2nd ed., p.31 3 op.cit.

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And four “soft S’s”: Shared Values and Superordinate Goals: mission, goals, guiding concepts and basic

ideas around which a business is built. They include organizational culture: the dominant values, believes, norms, significant meanings that an organization imbues in its members. They often dictate its orientation toward quality, financial objectives, people, role in the community, etc.

Style of management: leadership approach of top management and the company's overall operating approach. A reflection of the norms and culture people act upon and how they work and interact to each other. How a company’s managers spend their time, symbolism, etc

Staff: company's people resources and how they are recruited, developed, trained, and motivated, how they advance in the organization and how they socialize.

Skills: distinctive capabilities of key personnel or of the firm as a whole. For an organization to operate effectively, each of the seven factors within the framework

must be aligned and connected, as in pictures below.

If one element changes then this will affect all others. For example, a change in the human

resource system, like internal career plans and management training, will have an impact on organizational culture, on the management style, and thus will affect structures, processes, and finally characteristic competences of the organization.

The four “soft S’s” however, are hardly feasible. They are difficult to describe since capabilities, values and elements of corporate culture are continuously developing and changing. They are highly determined by the people at work in the organization. Therefore it

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is much more difficult to plan or to influence the characteristics of the soft elements. As a consequence, many organizations focus their efforts on the hard S’s, Strategy, Structure and Systems. Pascale and Athos showed instead, how most successful companies work hard at these soft S’s. The soft factors can make or break a successful change process, “soft is hard”4, since new structures and strategies are difficult to build upon inappropriate cultures and values.

EXTERNAL CONSISTENCY

The 7-S Model does not include an in-depth assessment on the consistency of the organization towards the context in which the organization operates5, as instead R.M.Grant correctly does in its manual Contemporary Strategy Analysis6, from which the picture below is taken. This is what it has been called7 the external consistency of the School.

Therefore I define overall s-consistency of the organization the coordinated arrangement of

all internal and external managerial variables: shared values and mission, strategy, style of management, staff, skills, systems and the external environment8 (state and surrounding area). Furthermore, it is fundamental that this alignment continues over time.9

4 Tom Peters, Robert H.Waterman, In search of excellence, 1982, p.11 (see also § 8.3) 5 Even if the strategy is interrelated with it. 6 op.cit. p.55 7 Giovanni Azzone, Innovare il sistema di controllo di gestione, 2000, p.288 8 “The reference to consistent solutions wants to emphasize the possibility of a bidirectional connection among the managerial variables, and between internal and external variables. In this sense, this approach is not based on a contingent model, that would make the internal variables follow from the external ones. On the contrary, we believe that the organization can actively influence the environment…” (Giovanni Azzone, op.cit., pp.281-282) 9 For this reason, criticisms towards this model, based on the fact that some of the companies that were mentioned as “consistent” after some years worsened their results, do not seem to properly consider the importance of the time factor: a company that is “consistent” and successful today, may lose consistency and competitive edge tomorrow, and this does not necessarily mean that the analysis made today is wrong. (see also “Conclusions” in § 8.2)

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It is the same concept also known as consistency of the entrepreneurial formula: successful firms are the ones that succeeded in shaping themselves in a consistent way market choices, product and structure, in other words, they offer products consistent with the successful factors expressed by the selected market and have a structure which is consistent for those products.10

Finally, it is important to stress that, as stated in the opening quote and implicit in the

model, there is not only one successful management formula, each organization has to find its own, consistent with its nature, characteristics and surrounding environment.

10 Cinzia Parolini, Come costruire un business plan, Milano, Paravia Mondadori, 2000, p.66

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2.2 Cultural Differences and Hofstede’s 4 Dimensions

Everybody looks at the world from behind the windows of a cultural home and everybody prefers to act as if people from other countries

have something special about them but home is normal. Unfortunately, there is no normal position in cultural matters.

Geert Hofstede Cultures and Organizations11

The influence of national culture and its implications in management are here investigated

using Geert Hofstede’s findings as landmark. In its important book Culture’s Consequences12 he describes the four dimensions that, as he has demonstrated, explain a great part13 of cultural differences, both between nations and between organizations, empirically found in researches across more than 50 countries. The four dimensions are:

Power Distance: PDI scores inform us about dependence relationships in a country. In small power distance countries there is a limited dependence of subordinates on bosses, and preference for consultation, that is, interdependence between boss and subordinate. The emotional distance between them is relatively small: subordinates will quite readily approach and contradict their bosses. In large power distance countries there is considerable dependence of subordinates on bosses. Subordinates respond by either preferring such dependence or rejecting it entirely (counterdependence).

Individualism: IDV pertains to societies in which the ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after himself or herself and his or her immediate family. Collectivism, as its opposite, pertains to societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive ingroups, which throughout people’s lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. It is statistically related to a country’s degree of economic development: all Western European Countries score high IDV results.

Masculinity: MAS pertains to societies in which social gender roles are clearly distinct. Femininity pertains to societies in which social gender roles overlap. In feminine countries both boys and girls learn to be nonambitious and modest. In the workplace, in feminine cultures, there is a preference for resolving conflicts by compromise and negotiation. Masculine and feminine cultures create different management hero types. The masculine manager tends to be assertive, decisive, a lonely decision-maker looking for facts rather than a group discussion leader.

11 Geert Hofstede, Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, London, 1991, p.235 12 Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 2nd ed., 2001 13 57% of the variance among results of 50 countries.

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Uncertainty avoidance: UAI can be defined as the extent to which the members of cultures feel threatened by uncertain or unknown situations. In uncertainty avoiding societies there are many formal laws and/or informal rules controlling the rights and duties of employers and employees. The paradox is that although rules in countries with weak UAI are less sacred, they are generally more respected. In high UAI countries Planning, Budgeting&Controlling systems are more defined and detailed.

Hofstede’s 4 Dimensions for the countries of origin of the 4 Schools analysed are shown

below14.

Country Power Distance Uncert.Avoidance Individualism Masculinity Italy medium/high high high high

Spain medium/high high medium/high medium/low

Germany low high medium/high high

United Kingdom low low high high

Sweden low low medium/high low

And here are some of Hofstede’s findings and predictions about how culture influences management15.

Country Structure

(from PDI+UAI)

Style

(from PDI+IDV)

Staff (Human Motivations)

(from UAI+MAS)

Systems (Plan + B&C)

(from PDI+UAI)

Italy, Spain (and Latin countries)

hierarchical / pyramid

paternalistic

personal security (I) __________

security + relationships (ES)

detailed control&plan. short term by experts

political thinking

Germany

(and Germanic countries)

well-oiled machine (participation by law)

participated

personal security

detailed & short term

seek trust

United Kingdom (and Anglo-Saxon countries)

village market (negotiation & adhocracy

+ flat / matrix + informal participation)

open

individual achievements

less details seek trust

strategic thinking

Sweden

(and Scandinavian countries)

village market (negotiation & adhocracy

+ flat / matrix + informal participation)

participated

human relations

less details seek trust

strategic thinking

More explanations and details are reported in each School specific paragraph and compared with the empirical results. A general and comparative view is given in the Conclusions chapter.

14 See “Appendix C” for more detailed results. 15 Taken from Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 2nd ed., 2001 and Geert Hofstede, Daniel Bollinger, Les differences culturelles dans le management, 1987

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2.3 Music Districts

We can, at this stage, recompose the overall picture of the economy of this region… there is here an harmonic mix of factors,

but it is so complex that it can hardly be assumed as model…

Sebastiano Brusco16 The Emilia Model17

The analysis of Music Schools cannot leave out of consideration a more general analysis of

the cultural contest, national and local, in which they develop their activities. It is particularly interesting to see how the structure and the evolution of economic actors, in our case Schools of Music, are strictly embedded18 in the specific and unique characteristics of the environment in which they grew up19.

An important aspect of cultural goods is that they are among the most peculiar and idiosyncratic of those produced by man. Culture has two deep anthropological roots: time and space. Cultural production is fundamentally linked to a place, in social sense, to a community and its history, and is historically a specific and original product of a generation.20

In connection with these relations, it is possible to introduce the concept of “cultural districts”21. Analogously to Marshall in the 1919th for industrial districts22, cultural districts may be defined as territorially delimited and organized systems of cultural institutions that integrate the process of creating value with infrastructures and other productive sectors23.

As proved by several studies and cases24, governments and cultural policies can play a great role in developing clusters of cultural activities and using musical creativity as a cultural but also economic resource. It was not a goal of this thesis to investigate more this possibility,

16 Sebastiano Brusco was one of the founders of the Faculty of Economics at Modena. The university library is dedicated to him. His main research interests have been small firms and industrial districts, industrial economics and policy, regional development, environmental economics and economics of labour. You can find more about him and the “Clusters, industrial districts and firms: the challenge of globalization” conference in the university website (see “References”) 17 Sebastiano Brusco, Piccole imprese e distretti industriali, 1989, p.289 18 Mark Granovetter, “Economic Action and Social Structure: the problem of embeddedness”, 1985, pp.481-510 19 Anna Grandori, L’organizzazione delle attività economiche, 1995, p.46 20 Walter Santagata, “I distretti culturali nei paesi avanzati e nelle economie emergenti”, 2005, p.142 21 Allen J. Scott, The cultural economy of cities, 2000, p.6 22 Alfred Marshall, Industry and Trade, 1919 23 Federico Ferriani, Struttura e processi di sviluppo di un distretto musicale. I casi di Seattle, Manchester e Verona, 2004, p.5 24 As examples: Alberto Cottica, Tommaso Fabbri, La creatività giovanile come risorsa. Relazioni, strategie, governance: i casi di Modena e Manchester, 2002 Matteo Parrinello, La cultura della musica dal vivo in Inghilterra ed in Italia. Il distretto di Manchester e la provincia di Ravenna. Aspetti e confronti, 2000 Federico Ferriani, op.cit.

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but its importance can be found also through these case studies: when public institutions support Music Schools, as in the cases of ACM and Kulturskolan with public funding and of Datenklang with particularly favourable legislation, they can return to the society in which they operate a richer cultural, vocational and entertaining offer, at more affordable prices, as well as more opportunities and better working conditions to their employees.

In further chapters music districts are also called Surrounding area of the School, because they are considered the 8th element (S) of the 7-S Model, with which the School, as every economic actor, is and has to be consistent to.

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2.4 Music School Management

To run a profit business like a non-profit organization

would be as disastrous as to run a non-profit organization like a profit business. D.E.Mason , V.Melandri

Il management delle organizzazioni nonprofit25

“Non-profit institutions tend not to give priority to performance and results.

Yet performance and results are far more important and far more difficult to measure and control in the non-profit institution than in a business.”

Peter F.Drucker Managing the Non-profit Organization26

It is not possible to mention and explain here all management theories that are implicit in

my researches and that a good manager of Music Schools and cultural organizations must know. But the risk in this field is often to forget about them, and follow instinct and own experiences, mostly artistic, which are fundamental, but not enough and sometimes lead to wrong or partial perceptions. Of course, this is a general consideration about cultural activities, not directly referred to the following analysed Schools, which are, for many aspects, cases of excellence. Here are only some considerations about aspects of the management I had more in mind while I was working for a Music School and simultaneously doing this research.

Management Control27 The first time I studied the 7-S Model was during my Planning and Controlling course. The

model was used to understand and define the management control system of an organization and how the change in one “S” would affect its optimal configuration.28 At that time I had already started working at CEPAM, a non-profit organization in the cultural field, and I became interested in finding “the right ways” of applying management control practices in cultural activities29. The need for it was clear, as it was clear that it cannot be the same kind applied to industrial firms. In other words, the first 6S’s are different and so should be the last one that concerns systems. Moreover, during this thesis, I learned that the importance and

25 David E. Mason, Valerio Melandri, Il management delle organizzazioni nonprofit, 1999 26 Peter F. Drucker, Managing the Non-profit Organization, 1990, p.107 27 As example: Robert N. Anthony, David W.Young, Management Control in Nonprofit Organizations, 2003 28 Giovanni Azzone, op.cit., pp.281-296 29 The task was made even more difficult by the fact that Music Schools are service organizations, and services are particularly difficult to measure and evaluate.

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depth of the B&C system vary from one country to another30, in relation with the uncertainty avoidance score, speaking with Hofstede’s terms. Therefore I moved my focus to a more general analysis of schools’ management and cultural differences.

Public, Profit and Non-profit Management 31

It is essential to understand how and why non-profit management is different from the profit one, and, among not-for-profit activities, the specific characteristics of the public sector, associations and foundations. This is sometimes hard because “official” subjects in schools and universities do not leave great space and emphasis to these ever-increasing activities and people working in those fields have always tended to rely more on instinct then on managerial techniques.

Saying that profit business need different management approach from non-profit and public organizations does not mean that one kind of activity is easier to manage than the other, like some people think, they are just different and therefore require different styles, competences and alignment of the 7S’s.

Soft S’s play a great role in not-for-profit organizations. In particular, it is crucial how managers deal and motivate the staff, which is often composed also of voluntary workers who require a specific approach. Traditionally, wages are lower than in the profit sector and there is no use of economic incentives. Very important is also to be able to keep good relations with stakeholders: public institutions, politicians, donors, members, customers, etc.

In not-for-profit organizations a relevant part of economic resources usually does not come from the offer of services, as for the profit businesses, but from donors, public administration, members, etc. Therefore the strategy and the other 7S’s must be oriented to coordinate the fund-raising system with the offer of services, and for each of them a marketing plan should be prepared.

While the marketplace rewards productivity and eliminates businesses when products and services do not effectively meet the needs of a sufficient number of customers, government and non-profit organizations do not have such cues. There is no automatic measure to assess successful outcomes nor to determine if they have effectively addressed community needs. Nevertheless in today’s world there is an increasing pressure to demonstrate the quality of the provided services, beyond just supplying numbers of clients.32 The importance of doing so has increased as the non-profit sector has grown in size and influence33, with greater visibility and public scrutiny by different stakeholders including donors, clients, media and government agencies34. To address this problem, they have begun (or should) to use performance measurement and performance based budgeting and controlling systems with quantifiable

30 As, of course, from one organization to another. 31 David E. Mason, Valerio Melandri, op.cit., passim 32 Suzanne M. Leland, Julie Sulc, “Non-Profit Organizations and Performance-Based Grant-making: A close Cousin of Performance Based Budgeting?”, 2001, pp.1-3 33 It comprises about 7,5% of U.S. GDP. (Suzanne M.Leland, Julie Sulc, op.cit.) 34 Kevin P. Kearns, The Strategic Management of Accountability in Nonprofit Organizations, 1994, pp.185-192

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objectives, not only for economic figures but also and most of all for the non-economic ones. They have to set clearly their goals, define quality, efficacy and efficiency, plan a strategy and monitor their activities towards those goals through the use of “ad hoc” performance indicators.

In this direction goes the diffusion in the last years of the social audit among the non-profit world, but also among companies that want to improve their image or give a sign of responsibility and social commitment.

Service Management35 Music Schools are service organizations. More than half of the Gross National Products of

the European countries comes from the service sector, and, when we refer to U.S. this percentage grows to 70%. Moreover, services are provided and increasingly crucial also in manufacturing industries. The figure36 on the right, more than many words, explains the importance of the service sector in the contemporary world and, therefore, the importance of knowing its specific management techniques. Again, here are only some aspects of it, the most significant for the understanding of the following chapters.

Service management requires customer relationship management approach, where there is a cooperation between clients and the organization to create value for them. This approach expects every unit and function to have a customer oriented behaviour and each of the 7S’s to be service and marketing oriented. In this approach it is fundamental to seek and measure customer satisfaction and performances37, and to do this, financial measurements are not enough. This is especially true in the case of Music Schools where, in all cases studied, more than 70% of new students came to the School by word of mouth and where, usually, there are not many resources to invest in advertising.

In services, production and consumption coincide, there is no way to “store the service”. For this reason, to face fluctuation on demand, special attention is given to correctly “size the production capacity” and have it as flexible as possible. This implies, for Schools with low

35 Christian Grönroos, Service Management and Marketing. A Customer Relationship Management Approach, 2nd ed. , 2000, passim36 Taken from: James A. Fitzsimmons, Mona Fitzsimmons, Service Management, 2004 37 Even though professionals are usually sceptical and against the measurement of their activities. This process require time of acceptance for them.

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economic margins, that they tend and can only employ teachers as collaborators, with “flexible” contracts, which often means “precarious” for them.

Finally, the output measurement is more complex for services than for industrial goods, therefore it is more difficult to plan and design an informative system appropriate to support the management towards effectiveness and efficiency.38

Legislation39

It is important, even if not described and studied in depth here, to consider the legislation and taxation of each specific kind of organization in each specific country. The role of the state, as already mentioned, is huge: a favourable legislation means growth for the School, better courses and facilities for its pupils and more rewarding conditions for its teachers.

Complex Foresight Horizon40

Nowadays every element of the context in which we live is changeable. In this situation it is really hard to make predictions and strategies for the long term, therefore managers have to adapt themselves everyday to the variable reality and be able to change really fast if the situation would require that. In a complex foresight horizon, an high consideration is to be given to the monitoring and research of new elements to update “the map of the world”. This new horizon requires managers to have a clear idea of the direction to follow, but finding always innovative and creative ways to adapt and adjust to the rapid changes, something like surfing: it is a matter of riding the wave to make it bring us more or less where we want to go.41

A Snapshot An other consequence of the mutability of the reality is that the alignment of the 7S’s is an

ongoing process, never definitive. Adjustments due to changing in the internal or external context are and have to be continuous, following the principle of incrementalism42, through trials and errors, or, to say it with Karl Popper’s words, through continual conjectures and refutations43. The following analysis is, for this reason, to consider a picture, as sharp as possible, of a moment in the life of those institutions.

38 Emilia Gazzoni, Programmazione e controllo nel non profit, 2004, pp.47-48 39 As example: Francesco Caporossi Guarna, Enti non profit, 2002 40 David Lane, Robert Maxfield, “Foresight, Complexity and Strategy”, 1997 41 Alberto Cottica, Tommaso Fabbri, La creatività giovanile come risorsa. Relazioni, strategie, governance: i casi di Modena e Manchester, 2002 42 Fremont J. Lyden, Ernest G.Miller, Planning Programming Budgeting, Rand McNally Publishing Company, Chicago, 1972, pp.403-407 43 Karl R. Popper, Die Logik der Forschung, Wien, Tübingen, 1935 (trad.it., Logica della scoperta scientifica, Torino, Einaudi, 1970)

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Music Schools as a particular type of organization At the end of this chapter, it is important to underline and alert the reader that Music

Schools are a peculiar kind of organization, not completely comparable to other companies44: the “soft S’s” have a great importance (see also § 8.3), teachers and managers are often musicians, passionate about their job, the working atmosphere is informal and the power distance rather small in all countries45, organizations are usually rather small and managers have often a background as musicians, not as administrative employees46, profit is usually not the first driving force, economic incentives are rarely used and accepted, etc.

Even so the findings of this in-depth multi-case research are, I believe, interesting and stimulating, and show a lot about the cultural differences and the local environment in which each School has developed.

44 As it is also underlined in the “Conclusions” chapter. 45 Even if with significant perceivable differences. 46 Which, of course, has an influence on their beliefs and ways to administrate the business.

PART II

MULTIPLE CASE STUDY

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3.Kulturskolan Stockholm

…the minstrel told him about his homesickness. “What!” said the old man

“Are you bored in Stockholm? How can it be?... Let’s go and sit over that bench, I’ll tell you about Stockholm.”

Selma Lagerlöf Nils Holgersson Underbara Resa1

Europe’s biggest Culture School

Kulturskolan Stockholm, the Stockholm Culture School, is an arena open to all young people, aged between 5 and 22, who wish to develop their creative talents in the fields of art and design, dance, music, writers’ workshop, poetry and theatre.

Music schools in Sweden have a long tradition. Earlier, nearly every town had its own music school. About 20 years ago the first school of arts (Kulturskolan) started and since then there has been a very strong movement towards schools of arts, which means that every year many music schools become schools of arts instead.

Kulturskolan Stockholm is a municipal school, part of the City of Stockholm. It was started in 1996, with the political decision to merge the “Our Theatre”, established in 1942, and “The Music School”, started in 1958. Two totally different cultures, music and theatre, had to find a co-existence and common creative values. Kulturskolan also contains fine arts and dance.

Kulturskolan today reaches 14.500 pupils in so called subject courses. The School also cooperates in other activities with leisure clubs, primary and secondary schools. In total, including these activities, the School has 28 000 participants.

The School offers a wide range of high-quality cultural programmes throughout Stockholm, which, for educational purposes, is sub-divided into 12 regional units.

Kulturskolan also has a Resource Centre for children and young people with some kind of disability, it is a regional resource for regular schools and serves as a meeting place for the development of the learning processes of the future and the role that culture can play in them.2

1 Selma Lagerlöf, Nils Holgersson Underbara Resa (The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Holgersson), 1906 (trad.it., p.155) 2 Sources: Kulturskolan brochure, website (see “References”) and interview.

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Kulturskolan facts and figures NORDIC COUNTRIES: Kulturskolan is the biggest Culture School PUPILS: Approx. 31.000 participants (14.500 subject pupils)3

STAFF: Approx. 345 teachers and 45 administrative employees PREMISES: 12.800 square metres of floor space and 16 theatres EXTRA-SCHOLASTIC ACTIVITIES: Activities in 75 schools MOREOVER: Several hundred bands and groups, stock of 10.000 instruments, etc.

EXTERNAL CONSISTENCY OF THE SCHOOL4

3.1 State: Sweden and Music

Music Education in Sweden Sweden is considered a model for the coordination among different study levels in music

education. The Swedish cultural orientation is that music must be within everybody’s reach and

everybody should have the possibility to learn it. Therefore basic music teaching is widespread through primary and secondary schools, the music gymnasium5 (15-18 years old), but especially through and coordinated with municipal Music Schools, present in every town, as an afternoon activity. The present situation, in which the number of participants is continuously growing, especially in the primary segment, cause some economic and structural problems, connected to the number of teachers per pupil6, to funding and to professional employment of students, as however happens all around Europe. For this reason, schools have adopted diversified solutions such as giving to more committed pupils the possibility to get some more lessons per week.

This system produces a diffuse music alphabetization: almost everybody in the country has an amateur practice with music and sings in a choir, with high quality results7.

3 In 2005/06. 4 When not specified, all figures are from the year 2005. All economic values were, of course, originally expressed in Swedish Crowns (SEK), which have been considered equal to 0,1€. “M” stands for “Millions”. 5 Here there are some problems caused by the little time assigned to the study of the instrument. 6 Therefore to its cost, mostly financed by the public administration. 7 Anna Maria Freschi, “La Svezia modello di coordinamento”, 2004, p.29

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Public Sector PoliciesIn Sweden the advanced welfare state and the long social-democratic tradition sustain the

culture sector and everybody’s possibility to afford it. The public administration spends 1,7 billion € in culture (1,3% of total State budget8) in its 3 levels: State provide 800M €, regions 100M €, city councils 777M€. In this way, 30% of the culture expenditures are covered by the public sector9. In 2005, 180M € have been given to Music Schools and Culture Schools10.

WHO PAYS FOR CULTURE IN SWEDEN

State 14%

City Councils

13%Regions

3%Private sector 70%

WHO FINANCES CULTURE IN SWEDEN

Regions 10%

State 46%

City Councils

44%

DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS TO CULTURE

Other Cultural Expend. 89,3%

Culture Schools 10,7%

Legislation In Sweden, for artists and art teachers income tax deductions and pension supplements are

provided.11 This contributes to the good and secure economic conditions of the Staff of Music Schools.

Several unions defend music teachers rights in Sweden.

8 While in Italy is between 0,3 and 0,5%. Moreover, employments in the cultural field in Scandinavian countries are the highest in Europe. In Sweden they represents 3,3% of total jobs, in the United kingdom 3,2%, while instead Italy (2,2%) and Spain (2%) have some of the lowest employment rates in the cultural field in Europe. (Source: World Music Central, 2004, see “References”) 9 Source: Kulturskolan. 10 Source: SMoK (Sveriges Music och Kulturskoleråd) 11 Source: European Union - Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe website (see “References”)

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Music Schools in SwedenEvery town in Sweden has a Culture School, which includes schools of some or all music

subjects, theatre, dance, art, writing, and all sort of cultural expressions. They are part of the City Public Administration and get funds from it. There are some other private schools, much smaller, connected to study associations, an old tradition of Sweden, or other non-profit organizations. There are no big profit music schools.

3.3 Stockholm

Music EnvironmentThe importance of culture for the Swedish government and the efforts to make it affordable

to everyone, has made Stockholm one of the European capitals with the most animated cultural life. Even if there is not a great scene or tradition of small and medium private clubs with live music, when it comes to bigger places, like arenas theatres and cinemas, statistics12

say that it is the second capital in Europe13 for total participants to concerts14 and that is in the top five positions for all other kinds of cultural events15. For this reason it was also selected as European Capital of Culture for the year 1998.

Economic and Social StructureFees are extremely low at Kulturskolan16 to make the courses affordable for everybody.

The purpose of the public administration is to get as many people as possible into cultural studies, libraries and other cultural expressions: “we should reach everybody” is the message and the goal that comes from the politicians. This is the reason why they give so much funds to culture.

Demographic StructureThe city of Stockholm has about 760 000 inhabitants. Kulturskolan controls schools in all

city areas (12 schools, one for each area) and can, by law, only offer courses in the city of Stockholm, because it belongs to the City Public Administration and is financed with the taxes of the Stockholm inhabitants.

12 Arts&Culture in Helsinki, Urban facts, City of Helsinki, 2004 13 Second only to Rome. 14 0,7 per inhabitant in 2001. 15 Theatre, cinemas, museums, books, etc. 16 See Price policies (§ 3.4)

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Relations and Funds from the Public AdministrationThe School is a part of the Public Administration. The head of the School, Mr. Hans

Skoglund, has to report to the Culture Director. There is also a political board for the Culture Department, to whom the Culture Director has to report, called Culture Council. It is this board that decide politically the goals and funds of the School.

ORGANIZATION OF THE CULTURE DEPARTMENT17

The Public Administration set the goals for the School and have to approve changes in fees. Furthermore, all School activities and choices have to receive the agreement, expressed or tacit, of the Culture Council and the Public Administration.18

Kulturskolan gets funds only from the city of Stockholm, 19% of the total cultural expenditures of the city, nothing from State and Region. The budget for culture is 75M €, 13 of which go to Kulturskolan, the second biggest cultural expenditure only after libraries. The School revenues for fees are only 2,2M €, 17% of total revenues19.

17 Source: “Kulturrapport - Stockholm 2005”, City of Stockholm, 2005 18 See § 3.4 19 2005 figures (source: Kulturskolan)

Kulturskolan Culture Office Libraries Museums

House of Culture

Development of culture&integration

Human Resources

Administration & I.T.

Culture Director

Culture Council

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THE BUDGET FOR CULTURE OF THE CITY OF STOCKHOLM

Culture Office 1%

Libraries 35%Museums 1%

House of Culture 11%

Kulturskolan 19%

Department of Culture &

Integration 26%

Admin. & Projects 7%

CompetitorsAs mentioned before, in Sweden there are other Music Schools connected to study

associations, very popular in this country. In Stockholm, for instance, there is the “Freeze House”20, that gets money from the city and from private funds, and the “Kulturama”, which is another growing school of arts present all around Sweden, focusing more on adults.

Competitors (for funds) should be also considered other organizations present in the cultural field: cooperatives, non-profit organizations, secondary schools that have cultural programs. 25 years ago there was nothing else than the Music School, nowadays the situation has changed and there are a lot of actors in the cultural arena. Private schools are the “little Academy”, east-oriented, and the “Nordic Gymnasium”21. Then there is the old tradition of the study associations. There are 12 study associations. For example there is the “Workers’ Education Association”, connected to the left wing, the “Schools for Grown-up”, connected to the liberals, and many more. They have any kind of cultural courses, from making pottery to English learning.

These organization have been focused on adults, but during the last decade they have been trying to appeal to children and teenager, Kulturskolan’s potential pupils. This is also due to the fact that Kulturskolan often have long queues to get into the most popular courses, such as piano and guitar. Therefore Kuturskolan is working to change the attitude and education of its teachers, most of whom were used to one-to-one lessons22.

20 Name translated in English. The original name is “Fryshuset”. 21 Kulturskolan cooperates with it. 22 See § 3.4

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Relations with the Conservatory Good and bad. There are 5 conservatories in Sweden, one in Stockholm, the Royal

Conservatory of Music. Most of the music teachers at the Culture School have conservatory education and that is the cause of the historically difficult relations between the two important institutions. What Kulturskolan claims is well explained by the title of the article that Mr. Skoglund wrote at the beginning of its mandate: “they are educating pedagogues for the past”. This caused a period of very difficult communication, which now is partly overcome. Some cooperation23 is now starting, “but it is a slow process, that has to do with power and tradition…it’s a very heavy organization to change, like Kulturskolan as well”24.

The main problem is that conservatory education is based on old traditional methods25 of teaching and learning, while Kulturskolan offers all kind of courses and is open to all new trends and tastes in music26, from hip-hop to e-learning in guitar27, and, furthermore, is committed in turning the way of teaching from mainly one-to-one lessons to group lessons, to allow more pupils to attend its culture courses. Therefore when the teachers come out from the conservatory, after years of studies, they meet a totally different reality, that they are not properly prepared to meet and it takes years for those of them who are creative enough and have an high portion of self confidence to adapt. The School has a development project for these cases.

23 “The idea is that their educators should start coming to the School to work together with Kulturskolan’s teachers, so that they can communicate their experience, and then going back and forth, because that would be the fastest way to change the Music Conservatories.” (Hans Skoglund) 24 From Hans Skoglund’s interview. 25 Even if in the Swedish Conservatory, differently from what happens in Italy, some modern genres like jazz and afro music are taught. 26 Many teachers in these subjects do not have a professional education, but they built their experience ‘on the

field’. 27 “There is no kind of music considered superior to another: everyone has today his own taste coming to music, it is not right or wrong, quality and not quality, because in every subgroup you have good quality and bad quality, bad heavy metal and good heavy metal, good rock and bad rock, good classical music and bad classical music.” (Hans Skoglund)

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INTERNAL CONSISTENCY OF THE SCHOOL28

3.3 Shared Values and Mission

Kulturskolan’s Shared Values and Vision were written during the last years through the work of focus groups of teachers and administrators. Now they are the framework that anyone who wants to work with Kulturskolan must accept and refer to. That process has been defined and considered as interesting and really important for the School29.

MissionThe focus of Kulturskolan’s activities is how children and young people learn; they

consider learning as a stimulating, creative, lifelong process in which understanding and respect for other cultures play a central role. At School, pupils accumulate new experiences, develop their self-confidence and are encouraged to become actively involved in cultural life.

It is not a School’s objective to educate professionals: Kulturskolan wants kids to have positive experience of culture during their children hood, from 5 to 22 years old, which is a great and important part of their lives. It is a fact that every year many pupils from the School enter the artistic universities, and they are very proud of that, but it is not their goal30, it is a personal decision of the students.

Kulturskolan shall offer all children and young people, regardless of their circumstances, functional abilities and living conditions, a real chance of democratic influence and participation in cultural life, artistic experience, knowledge acquisition and artistic creation. All children are entitled to discover their preferred means of artistic expression.

For some of them, the education received at Kulturskolan will prove a decisive factor in their future life. It is not just a question of education. Kulturskolan is also a meeting place where artistic idioms are tested, different interests come together and new forms of expression arise. There are many reasons for children to come to Kulturskolan: they want to meet friends,

28 When not specified from other source, all information have been gathered from the interview (31/8/2005) to Hans Skoglund, Head of Kulturskolan Stockholm, from Kulturskolan’s publications and from the website (see “References”) 29 “Now I’m happy because we are one of the few schools that have basic values. I thought that we should have written basic values, because when you have a staff of 350 people the risk is that you might have 350 different kind of basic values, and therefore you have to discuss and find a common platform. The discussion is always the most important part of the process…” (Hans Skoglund) 30 “We don’t say to them: we will make a musician/actor of you … when I came here the slogan was ‘your dreams our reality’, and that means that pupils have dreams of becoming stars or whatever and that is our reality to take care of these dreams. But now we have changed it because it didn’t reflect our real aim, then we have written our Basic Values & Vision… Of course not all the Staff, never in such big organizations, think that these are good Values, I hope that most of them do but, if you come down to dust, I think someone doesn’t like it at all, but I would say that most of our Staff do…” (Hans Skoglund)

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they want to have fun, they want to be seen and heard, and they want to develop their artistic talents. Children are all different and have different aspirations and expectations. Each child has his or her own temperament and own individual abilities and reasons for wanting to participate in Kulturskolan’s activities.

Kulturskolan is a multicultural meeting place with equality between sexes and a satisfactory ethnic balance among both teachers and pupils.

The School has the political mission to double the amount of participants within 4 years: in 2002 Kulturskolan had 22.000 participants, so they expect the number to growth to 40.000 by 2006.

Shared Values All Kulturskolan’s activities should be based on democratic values. The School basic values are grounded on the United Nations Children’s Convention on the

Rights of the Child, which establishes that all children and young people under the age of 18 enjoy the same rights: the right to live and develop, the right to grow up in safety and be protected from abuse, and the right to respect for what they think and believe. The best interests of a child must always come first. The Convention establishes norms for children’s health, education, social security, a reasonable standard of living, play and recreation. The Convention also notes that children are entitled to their own language, culture and identity.

Enthusiasm, pleasure and curiosity are important driving forces in all education and development. For Kulturskolan, they are fundamental to all activities. It is the knowledge and commitment of the teachers themselves that stimulates enthusiasm and curiosity in the pupils.

Kulturskolan focuses on the individual child. Children’s culture can be created by children, with children and for children.31

Here the children free their imagination, realise their dreams and gain hope for the future. The work in this School is built on Howard Gardner’s idea of multiple intelligences: pupils

learn easier if they can use the different intelligences they have got. This is combined with ideas of emotionally based learning and a theme of tolerance to make the children more emphatic and care-taking.

31 “I can give you an example. I was in an European project, the ‘CIRCUS project - what money for culture 2000’ financed by the European Found, with Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Nederland etc involved. We had 4 groups in our School and 200 kids from a lot of countries playing ‘Ithaca’ from the ‘Ulysses’. There we noticed that there was a difference between Norway and Sweden: the Norwegians wanted to have a product that was on high level, so they want professional composers and they were pointing out at the pupils “do this, do that…” ; we instead worked with the kids in a different way, they made the music, they made the story, they chose what God they want to have, and so on, and the teachers&pedagogues helped them when they needed support to make the arrangement for different instruments and talking to them about the dramaturgy. So it was very interesting to see that big difference between countries so close. I think that this is the most interesting thing we have: our relation with kids and kids’ dreams. I don’t want to say that all my teachers are working like that, not in music anyway, but that is the picture of how we should work to make strong individuals that know who they are and with self confidence.” (Hans Skoglund)

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BASIC VALUES FOR THE COMMITTED STAFF

Basing themselves on their own experience, knowledge and cultural values, teachers meet the children in a mutual, open-hearted dialogue. Children need committed adults to serve as role models and guides, to help them open up new worlds, to offer support in their search for an identity of their own. The perceptive teacher, self-assured in his or her role as an educationalist, constantly develops through meetings with different children. More is expected of a teacher than just teaching. Instead, teaching should be regarded as an exciting challenge offering opportunities for personal development and immense job satisfaction.

There is a dynamic force field between the teachers. Curiosity, readiness to cooperate and mutual professional respect are the hallmarks of their work. All of Kulturskolan’s activities are of equal importance to the children, and they are noted for their consistently high quality.

All of Kulturskolan’s activities are founded on processes in which the entire staff takes part. The administration is largely oriented towards the staff and on cooperation both inside and outside the School.

Kulturskolan is a multicultural meeting place with equality between the sexes and a satisfactory ethnic balance among both teachers and pupils.

EDUCATION TO VALUES

Kulturskolan organises and finances twice a year two one-day and one 2-days conferences, called ‘future days’ with all the staff living together in an hotel. That costs “one and a half teacher”, but the administrators consider it worth it, because it is the only opportunity for the Staff to see and meet each other, feel that they are one School, one fantastic School, that everybody can be a part of, that they have a common direction32 in what they are doing but very big freedom to work within those frames.

Teachers, during those days, work in groups with the activities the School should put into practice the next year, such as: how they can increase the amount of pupils attending the School33, new activities to attract people in the suburbs, etc.

Films of the activities realized by the School are shown, to make everyone aware of them. Finally, they all party and have fun together in the night, with orchestras where some of the

teachers are playing.

32 “During those days I make my speech about ‘what have we done, where are we now, where shall we go…” (Hans Skoglund) 33 “We put this base: there is no meaning to discuss if we should or not double the pupils, because it’s our task to do that, so don’t discuss that, discuss how we can reach it instead…” (Hans Skoglund)

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3.4 Strategy

A couple of years ago Kulturskolan got a demand from the politicians to double the number of participants, reach a larger amount of boys and get better ethnical balance among the participants. All within the same budget.

The School responded to that by this package of measures: ! new types of subjects and courses to reach more pupils to a reasonable cost ! new ways to cooperate with schools and leisure clubs ! Heads have to create a strong commitment and loyalty in the Staff ! Staff, especially the teachers in music, needed education to meet the new challenges. Today Kulturskolan Stockholm is in a thrilling development process34. During the last

years the whole staff has taken part in focus groups and got inspiration during the “future days”, which gave ideas for the development. The European Social Fund gave the School the opportunity to provide good and extensive education to the Staff.

This work led to many decisions, documents and plans. The School was re-organised to meet the new challenges. The demands from the politicians, the Vision and the results of the focus groups made Kulturskolan start thirty development projects led by teachers in the Autumn of 2005 to create new forms of education and learning under the umbrella of ‘Culture for Joy and Learning’. Furthermore, many ongoing projects in different schools and leisure clubs, BAS-teams35, short courses and longer courses were created. This also means that it meets a larger amount of boys, gets a better ethnical mix and, thanks to cultural expressions, the pupils learn easier. Kulturskolan have now succeeded in creating new attractive courses like e-learning in guitar, digital storytelling, hip hop, steel pan, etc. and have increased the number of participants with 30%, but it cannot and will not stop.

Target Market All children between 5 and 22 years old in the town of Stockholm. Especially boys and

especially children from other countries, to get a better balance among ethnic groups36 and between sexes37.

34 The management is trying to develop new ways of thinking, among managers and with teachers. Piece by piece. “I can notice that a lot of teachers are ‘coming out’, so to speak, ‘in the new world’, although some are sitting in the corners, more and more are coming. It’s a very interesting period I think.” (Hans Skoglund) 35 “The politicians only told us general goals, like ‘you should double the number of pupils’, then we have to find the operative way to reach it. So short courses is a result of our thinking and creativity. My task is to explain that to our staff, stressing the opportunities that these new ways can bring, because they are very afraid of this. But afterwards they feel they have developed themselves. Teachers who succeeded in doing big groups or other new types of courses feel very strong… Not all the teachers want to adapt and try new type of courses, but many do, it’s coming more and more.” (Hans Skoglund) 36 A satisfactory ethnic balance is considered 2/3 of Swedes, 1/3 of non-Swedes (with one parent coming from an other country), that is the current ethnic mix in Stockholm. This is an ideal target measure for Kulturskolan’s managers, but it cannot be calculated: the School does not have the right to make statistics on these matters, because they could be improperly used.

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In this regard, it has been emphasized the difficulty to attract people coming from some foreign countries, as for example people coming from Africa, Lebanon, etc. that doesn’t have the tradition to go to this type of schools and to pay for it. It is easier if they are coming from Russia, Lithuania or Czechoslovakia…or south of Europe, where it is a tradition to go into schools to study music, or people from Iran, who also have an academic tradition.

4P of the School:

Product The School offers subject courses in about 25 different instruments and many other

complementary music courses and activities. New kinds are tested every year. Lessons are offered in theatre, dance, fine arts, digital and all kinds of cultural expressions.

Subject courses are provided in the afternoon time. In a typical week a pupil come to the School, after ordinary school, and attend an instrumental lesson (for 20min), then often s/he is involved in an orchestra as well, once a week38.

The School is working to change the attitude and education of its teachers to move from a system based on one-to-one education, to one based on group education. This is the main way to reach the political goal of doubling the amount of participants, and, so far, it is beginning to give the first results : in 2002 participants were 22.000, in 2005 31.000.

Students, however, are not forced to take group lessons. Pupils choose what kind of lessons they want39 to take after “short test courses” (6 times), where they can start playing an instrument. Then they attend “long-term courses” (12 times) in groups. The most talented pupils are picked to have one-to-one education. After that pupils may enter the “Pre-Advanced Program”, for the more gifted children, and then the “Advanced Program”. Here they got 1 hour education per week and a second instrument, theory, and they play in ensembles and groups.

Subject courses are not effective to attract people coming from other countries that do not have a tradition to go to Music Schools and pay for it, therefore Kulturskolan managers decided to offer free activities40 to the ordinary schools in the suburbs41, where a lot of foreign people live. Here they propose what they call “Basic Teams” (BAS-team)42, shorter courses43

37 In music there are not many problems (45% boys, 55% girls), but in the other disciplines they are trying to find methods to attract more boys (in dance they are 10%) 38 Or s/he attends dance or theatre classes in a group. 39 There are Parents Associations that supervise this process. 40 Financed with School’s own money. 41 These activities are not offered in the ordinary schools in the Stockholm city centre, where more well-off families live. 42 “A ‘Basic Team’ is composed by 4 teachers: one in dance, one in theatre, one in arts and one in music. They work with 2/3 classes in school, 8 weeks, 3 hours every week, so the kids got 24hrs with the teachers. This cost the School 200.000€ every year. The idea is that we will reach those in the “poor areas” (culturally poor, economically poor, etc.) In practice, Kulturskolan can give 36 Basic Teams per year, reaching about 2000 pupils that way. Then we guess among those 2000 pupils it should be 50% boys/50% girls, normally, that means, in a

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or other types of special courses. Now the School has also started a “tolerance project” in 3 schools, in cooperation with a museum.

Another important field of activity are disabled kids. Here the School has 10 specialized teachers.

Every summer and winter44 the School participate in and help to organize a festival called “Young 08”45, where courses are offered to pupils.

In Kulturskolan some instruments have long queues of pupils waiting to enter the courses. Among those instruments are guitar, keyboards, drums and bass. With the purpose to offer education to more pupils, some teachers have developed an e-learning method (called “Plej”) where pupils can train in front of a computer and have meetings with teachers and other pupils a couple of times every month.46

The School has no final examinations or diploma. Maybe a certificate of attendance will be introduced in the near future.

Normally the season ends up with a performance or a concert. For instance this year they rented the entire Culture House (15 stages, outside and on the roof) and organized 106 concerts and dances in one day. Most of the staff was working there in one way or another, and there were around 1200 pupils making concerts.

QUALITY

All of Kulturskolan’s activities are of equal importance to the children, and they are noted for their consistently high quality.

This objective has led sometimes to misunderstandings. According to Mr. Hans Skoglund, Head of Kulturskolan Stockholm, it is important to define quality according to School’s values, resources and objectives. In this regard, many teachers claim and research high quality working more and more and asking more and more resources for just few students or activities. This mentality is in clear contrast with the School’s goal to give opportunities to all pupils, reducing queues and doubling the amount of participants, and with the limited School’s resources. Therefore constant reference, training and repetition of School’s values is given to teachers to make, not force, all of them accept and share these basic values and objectives.

The goal of Kulturskolan is to make the participants satisfied. This is the most important quality measurement applied. In an interesting survey made by the School, to the question “what is the most important thing in the Culture Schools?” pupils answered “to have fun”.

school where 70% are from other countries, there will also be 70% in the Basic Teams. Therefore it fulfils the goal the politicians gave the School, and it is very popular among the kids , they say: “Oh yes! Today the Culture School is coming!”... (Hans Skoglund) 43 40 new types in Autumn 2005, to attract more pupils. 44 When kids are free from school. 45 “08” is the Stockholm phone code, so people from the country call people from Stockholm “nul otto” (“o8”) 46 In PLEJ DVD, CD and downloadable music notes, PDF format and MP3 files are used.

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“To have fun has many different meanings” explains the Head of the School “for those skilled is to play piano better and better, but for others is to be good friends, having a nice couple of hours at the School.”

Price Fees are only 13 % of total revenues47. They are inexpensive in the short courses phase

(25€ Vs normal fee for annual music courses of 75€48, and more expensive for the Advanced Program (200€), even if they still receive a subvention from Kulturskolan of about 500€ per pupil to cover the actual costs of these courses, because in those courses students attend lessons for 3 hours.

The prices are very low49, to make it possible for most kids to participate. The School also give the possibility to ask for a reduction if parents are really poor and they feel that 75€ are too much. In those cases they have to demonstrate what they earn in a year, and then the fee is reduced down to 25€.

School’s managers cannot decide and change fees, if they want to, they have to ask permission to different level of political approvals that go up to the Town Board of Stockholm, therefore it is very difficult to do that. This means that prices cannot be used as a lever, to finance new courses or activities, to avoid queues, etc., which is sometimes felt as a missed opportunity, but it is accepted as it is.

Promotion The School does not put a great budget in advertising and communication (about 1% of

total costs50), also because of the long queues in many instruments they have. Even then, they are seeking professional advice and considering the possibility to change the promotion strategy, as they admit their weaknesses in this field.

Marketing channels are essentially: ! through primary schools with folders; ! with the updated internet website; ! during public School’s events; ! with lectures: to present important events or news about the School; ! in magazines: very seldom (for big events), it is considered too expensive.

Until some years ago the slogan was ‘your dreams our reality’, but now it has been changed with messages that reflect more the School’s written basic values and vision.

47 The rest is covered by City Council contributions.48 Theatre and fine arts even cheaper (25€), which is not even enough to buy the materials they need. 49 Average for a Swedish typical public Culture School. Prices are generally lower in cities governed by the left-wing party, like Stockholm now. 50 See § 3.9

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Place Kulturskolan owns and rents for its activities about 13.000 square meters of premises all

over Stockholm, among which there are 16 theatre (the biggest has 250 seats). In addition to it, the School makes activities in 70 schools (270 rooms).

Kulturskolan premises are situated all over town. This is particularly important for small kids, since, for this reason, they do not have long distances to go to music courses.

Competitive AdvantageMain competitive advantages are: ! a lot of possibilities: courses, stock of instruments, materials, etc.; ! premises: well equipped rooms, theatres…all over town: ! low prices and possibilities for further reductions; ! staff: dedicated and skilled; ! reputation and tradition of the “Our Theatre” and the “Music School”51; ! strong relations with the Public Administration52: funds, premises,… any problem may

occur (e.g. complaints by parents, etc.).

Vision The School has developed a lot and will continue. It was difficult to create the Culture

School, because the culture in music is one, the culture in theatre is something else53. Now they are still in the process of “melting” with each other, this is what they are trying to do with all small and big meetings. Nowadays the relations and collaborations have become much better54, but it takes time, especially in the Swedish culture, because, as they say: “when you are changing attitude, you can’t do it by order, it comes from heart and understanding”55.

51 “ ‘Our Theatre’ was started during the World War and Music Schools since 1958. I think it’s around 170.000 pupils they have had since then, so it’s very well known in Sweden. Nobody knows about the Culture Schools, because we are only 9 years old. So I always say “I’m the chief of the Culture School…” “What is it?” “The old Our Theatre + the Music Schools + a lot of other things...” “Ahahhh!”. We are working on that, but it’s difficult, because the name ‘Our Theatre’ is very strong.” (Hans Skoglund) 52 “We are popular among the politicians, they change power every 4th year, right or left wing, but they like us both. I think they want slightly different things from us, so I have to work a lot for one year to make this new thinking to be rooted. I think the left wing wants us to be more like an ordinary school, to make it in very simple words.” (Hans Skoglund) 53 “In theatre you are used to conflicts, theatre is conflict, every theatre play talks about conflicts and how to solve them. It is very “out acting”, but music is more “inside”, afraid of conflict…” (Hans Skoglund) 54 “Now it starts to work rather good, I can feel it when we have working place meetings in the units to discuss how things are going, what can we change among us… now they are sitting mixed, earlier it was theatre teachers there and music teacher there, and they were looking at each other ‘like that’, and there was a lot of arguing about ‘don’t take our money’, etc. But now it’s much better…” (Hans Skoglund) 55 (Hans Skoglund)

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Kulturskolan is and will always be open and curious about innovations and changes in the society, continuously taking and checking new possibilities. This attitude is well represented by Hans Skoglund’s56 answer to the question “Do you do anything with computer games?”, he replied “No, not yet.”57

In the future Kulturskolan will be a project oriented organization in continuous development: an organization where directors, staff and pupils have a possibility to contribute to the development of the School and themselves and feel a lot of joy.

Here is the Vision of the School in 12 points: ! Kulturskolan Stockholm will be the world’s most cultural school; ! Kulturskolan will use culture to set up meetings between people; ! Everyone taking part in Kulturskolan programmes will be enthusiastic participants and

experience a sense of personal development in everything they do; ! Students at Kulturskolan will dispose of tools for democratic influence at school; ! Everyone in Stockholm will know where Kulturskolan is and what it stands for; ! All Stockholmers will be able to experience Kulturskolan’s programmes at some time

during their youth; ! Kulturskolan will in every department be a model of openness and creativity as it faces

new challenges and strives to keep moving ahead; ! Kulturskolan will be at the cutting edge of educational development in academic and

recreational programmes alike; ! Kulturskolan will be the most attractive place of work for cultural educationalists; ! Kulturskolan will have exciting premises of its own that will also function as local

cultural centres; ! Kulturskolan will have set the standard for the creation of networks for mutual

development and cooperation in child and youth culture in Sweden and the rest of the world;

! Kulturskolan will be something of a brand name that positively reinforces Stockholm’s public image.

Stockholm Kulturskolan is also developing international relations and is involved in many European projects. The objective of these activities is to exchange experiences and ideas about possible future developments of the School.

56 Head of Kulturskolan Stockholm. 57 “So it’s always ‘Shall we do it or not?’. And in that we always have the risk that some politician doesn’t agree… for example ‘Graffiti’: the right wing said ‘Graffiti is criminal’, but the left wing, with which we are working now, prepared a project with money to develop it, and now we are doing Graffiti. Can we do that after next election? We think that Graffiti is an art form, some of them are criminal when they are doing it on the wrong canvas or places… So now we are having an exhibition in a very well known art gallery. But that is interesting, because that is the role of culture: to find where are the borders that you have to break trough… then, as chief, I have to be prepared to answer what we are doing.” (Hans Skoglund)

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In this regard, it is to mention that it will soon become the “twin school” of a Cultural Centre managed by a foundation in Utrecht (Nederland). The idea they are investigating is to move from the concept of “school”, with school calendar and kinds of activities, to the one of “cultural centre”, with more kinds of activities, all around the year.

3.5 Structure

Hofstede’s Findings: Preferred Organization Types in Scandinavian Countries58

Low Power Distance (PDI) and Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) scores, as in Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian Countries, lead to a flat, not-centralized structures. Relations between individuals and units are often open to negotiation and improvisation (as in village markets).

In these countries it is possible and less problematic the introduction of a matrix structure. This structure, which main characteristic is giving two chiefs to each subordinate, is created to face the increasing complexity of the activity and the environment. It requires a new way of thinking and an acceptance of the uncertainty in hierarchical relations, and it is expensive in terms of time of negotiation and decision.

Organization Chart Kulturskolan has a divisional matrix organization: the structure is subdivided into

independent units and have cross-overs to connect common activities in different units. The organization has been made flatter in the last couple of years, this has lead to a better School control and more adequate timeliness and accuracy of information for the Head of the School59.

The following figure represents Kulturskolan organization chart as it is today.

58 Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 2nd ed., 2001, pp.372-421 59 “…so this is the new organization, and so far I think it has worked very good, because in the old organization there was a chief between me and the other chiefs of unit, so I took them away and made the organization flatter. Now I think it works better, because I got more adequate information, earlier I hadn’t that feeling, they were not lying but they always say ‘everything is ok’, so that was the problem. Now I think I have a school control, as you can have in such a big organization, because total control is impossible. We have 13 000 square meters of premises around town and among those there are 16 theatre, and we are in 70 schools in 250 rooms, so you can understand that is impossible for me as a chief to be everywhere. You have to depend on that… So I think it’s like a miracle. We are sitting here and now everything is working out there.” (Hans Skoglund)

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The structure is therefore decentralized: Chiefs of Unit independently decide how to reach goals given by the Head of the School60, who respects their choices and explanations aboutthe possibility or not to reach those goals. The Head of the School can put pressure on goals and gives resources and conditions about how to use them61, but the final responsibility of choices is on the Chief of Unit. For this reason this system has been defined “decentralized with common goals”.

60 “I put general goals like the number of pupils they should increase, but I know that is not always possible because they must have proper teachers, premises, equipment, etc.” (Hans Skoglund) 61 For example: we have long queues in piano and guitar and I’m prepared to give resources for 3 new teachers in those subjects, but they should be teachers that have group education. They should be able to teach in studios where they have 6 keyboards, so one teacher can take 6 pupils. They should not be ordinary teachers, they should be ‘such teachers’. So that is what I told them yesterday, and they asked me premises where it is possible to do this. I want these 3 teachers to have 500 pupils, they should be prepared to do that when they are hired. In that way I can guide their choices.” (Hans Skoglund)

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Kulturskolan structure is composed by: ! The Head of the School; ! IPPU (Information, Production and Pedagogical Development): is the organ responsible

for pedagogy, as well as the lease of instruments62 and the School’s library; ! PEA (Personnel, Economics and Administration): is a support unit for the Activity

Units; ! 12 Activity Units (Divisions): one for each area of Stockholm. They have one Chief of

Unit, their own Administration and a Staff (between 25 to 35 people) under him/her. Chiefs have all the responsibility: they set the salaries, they should reach the goals and decide how to do it. Every unit is like a Culture School working unit, even if they have very good support from the headquarter: PEA, IT remote support, etc.;

! Subject groups: it is transversal in respect to the Activity Units. There is at least one for each subject. It makes possible for teachers of the same instruments to communicate and meet if it is needed;

! Cooperation with Schools: its function is to connect different schools to deal and talk about special problems they have in common;

! Projects & Development Unit: it is responsible for different kinds of special projects and activities63.

Goals are given by the politicians, then are discussed among chiefs and Head of the School, finally the Head of the School gives specific goals to each Unit Chief. Unit Chiefs have to report periodically to the Head of the School.64 Therefore the job of the Head of the School and the other Chiefs is to translate political goals into School’s activities.

The staff is constituted by 345 teachers and 45 people employed in the administration and management. The two roles are generally separated. Some teachers are half-time administrators as for a specific request by the Teachers’ Unions.

It has been found out that both teachers and chiefs are perfectly “distributed” among sexes (50% males, 50% female). But this is not a requirement, and it was not obtained by design.Moreover, there is no difference between sexes also coming to salaries.

The School aims also to have a significant part of the personnel coming from other countries, because “if you are a type of multicultural country, it is very important that the culture institutions also have that in the Staff.”65

62 Approximately 10.000 instruments that pupils can borrow from us for a small amount of money. 63 “…for instance we have a very big holiday for Santa Lucia (she was from Italy, I think, from Sicily), we have a very nice evening with around 400 pupils and a public of 1200 people in the town hall in Stockholm, where we have a ‘Lucia light’, a performance with all those kids.” (Hans Skoglund) 64 See § 3.9 65 From Hans Skoglund’s interview.

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COMPOSITION OF KS PERSONNEL

Teachers 88,5%

Admin. & Mgmt 11,5%

COMPOSITION OF KS PERSONNEL (both Teachers and Chiefs)

Fem. 50%

Males 50%

Autonomy and Accountability of Each Member and UnitUnder the umbrella of political goals and vision, each chief and teacher is autonomous,

but the Head of the School is responsible in the end, as for a written delegation of responsibility.

In case of problems the Head of the School cannot fire School’s personnel, because of a law about public employees. There is no way to do it. They can be moved to other functions, but not dismissed. Sometimes, of course, this is a limit for the management, but, in another way it is seen as a “more human way to deal with problems, very care taking of people problems.66”

A slightly different situation have the Chiefs of Unit, who have 3 years contracts, therefore, at the end of the contract, if the Head of the School is not satisfied, they can be changed. The Head of the School chooses the new Chiefs of Unit. The former Chief will still be employed by the Cchool but in another position.

Relations with the Institution to Which the School Belong Kulturskolan belongs to the Stockholm public administration. The relations are strong and

very important for the School. This is recognized as one of greatest competitive advantages and reasons of the success and continuance of the School, even if sometimes the relations are too much bureaucratic, the process of taking decisions and making changes too long and it has to pass too many different stages and people before it reaches a result. But again, if seen from another point of view, this have positive implications and motivations. Moreover, this is how

66 “We don’t dismiss, we talk to them and try to make them understand, because it is impossible to dismiss employees in Stockholm. I mean, it’s a very long process, I can, as a chief, say ‘I don’t like how you behave in this respect, you have to change your behaviour. Next time, if you behave like that again, I’ll give you a warning’, then you can give them a written warning, then you also have to talk to the union, if this teacher is connected to the union. And, if it happens that the teacher do the same thing again, you can give a second warning, and a third warning, then, after that, you can have a discussion if he should stay in this school. So that is a very long process, I think there should be 3 warning, before you can discuss to separate him/her from the work. It’s a very slow system, but what it gives is that you have to think about the way you work and talk together.” (Hans Skoglund)

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the public administration works and, as Mr.Skoglund says, “this is the situation, it is like it is, everybody knows and accepts it”67. For further details see in particular § 3.2, 3.4 and 3.5.

3.6 Style of Management

Hofstede’s Findings: Preferred Styles of Management in Scandinavian Countries68

Low Power Distance (PDI) scores, as in Anglo-Saxon, German and Scandinavian Countries, lead to a democratic style of management with participation and consultation of the Staff.

In these countries subordinates: expect to be consulted, have weak need for dependence on chiefs, criticize symbols of power and social status, can go directly to top management in case of complaints, etc.

The Style of Management has been defined as “democratic with dialogue, but where the Head is responsible according to the delegation order. Chiefs decide, but the Staff has possibilities, through focus groups and meetings, to express its point of view and suggestions.”69

The rights and claims of the personnel are also defended and expressed by their Unions. They can comment every choice and person in the School, but in the end, the final decision is taken by the Head of the School, who can decide whether to listen to them or not. Then, if they are not satisfied, they will search for other ways to make the Head change his mind. “That is our way in Sweden to work with these things, I have always to negotiate decisions, but the important thing is to have the possibility to listen”, confirmed Mr.Skoglund.

The relations among managers and between managers and teachers are cooperative and generous, which is seen as fundamental for the activities “because we are like artists: you can’t force a person to make Amlet on stage, he should feel being Amlet, so they should be fulfilled, and therefore you have to work with them in a good way. ‘Coaching’70 is a good word, to make them realize that there’s a lot of joy in it, to make them curious and hungry,

67 From Hans Skoglund’s interview. 68 Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 2nd ed., 2001, pp.372-421 69 From Hans Skoglund’s interview. 70 “A coach is a person who teaches and directs another person via encouragement and advice.” (taken from “Wikipedia – the free encyclopedia”, see “References”). The ‘Coaching’ approach is very popular and discussed in Sweden.

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because just pointing with the hand is impossible, otherwise they would say ‘I can’t do that’. Consequently, chiefs have to be generous, firm according to the goals, but with an ongoing dialog about the tasks.”71

The School has no written rules on ‘how to behave’, managers “try to make people understand what is right” instead.72 They have an ongoing communication with the Staff, which means giving them positive feedbacks about their work, praising them if they deserve it, but also being firm and straight if there is something negative about their behaviour. This is not always easy73, “but you have to train as a chief to be correct.”74

Each problem has to be solved at the proper level of responsibility, if possible. As mentioned before (§3.5), chiefs deal with problems through discussions and negotiation, no “hard hand” is used and it is not possible to dismiss teachers or other School’s personnel.

POWER DISTANCE AND PARTICIPATION

“Teachers know who is head in the organization, they know who is unit leader, they know that I am the chief. But the head doesn’t need to use the position… in Sweden, I think, we are very informal in that aspect75” said Hans Skoglund, the Head of the School, and it is also confirmed by the informal but professional atmosphere of the Kulturskolan’s headquarters76.

Participation of personnel on the decision making process is a priority. All decisions are finally taken by the person in charge of them77, but after a series of moments (working place meetings, focus groups, developing groups, Unions, personal contacts, etc.) where every person in the organization can bring ideas, indicate problems and suggest solutions.

The School’s activities are spread around all the capital (270 rooms in 70 schools) and among the different cultural expressions and projects, therefore a great importance is given to

71 From Hans Skoglund’s interview. 72 “I think that is ridiculous to write rules on behaviour, because we are grown-up people, we live in a society, many have kids, families… you can’t say to them how to behave, you can say it afterwards, if the behaving is wrong, I mean, such things happen, then you can talk and try to get to know about what he has done…That’s may opinion… For example, we don’t smoke in this school but we haven’t written that anyway, we take that for granted, people go out to smoke. It’s the same with the mobile phone, sometimes someone forget it, and we just say ‘remember’ (while the one with it is blushing!)… I think we have another way of solving it.” (HansSkoglund) 73 Especially in setting salaries, also because in Sweden the salaries of public employees are official. “I noticed that my sub-chiefs don’t like to set the lower salaries, even if this person deserves a low salary, it’s easier to take it up a little, because then you don’t have those difficult discussions afterwards. So that is human in a way, but you have to train as a chief to be correct. Because if you set an higher salary to a person that doesn’t do anything, in the other end there’s a person doing a lot, and that person can ask ‘Why should s/he is having more?’. (Hans Skoglund) 74 From Hans Skoglund’s interview. 75 “I worked close to the politicians earlier, the Culture Minister of Sweden was an old friend of mine and when I was phoning him he was answering himself in the office… I know that a lot of people from abroad think that it is incredible. So he is like a good picture for me…” (Hans Skoglund) 76 Doors open, people busy working, some drinking coffee and discussing about activities in the School’skitchen, casual dresses, everyone, from teachers to the Head of the School, is very polite, available (as much as possible), but straight and clear when they have to, etc. 77 At the proper level of responsibility.

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meetings and to availability through telephone and emails, to keep the organization connected and informed.

Anyone, inside and outside the organization, can easily contact Kulturskolan personnel, at any level. Direct email and mobile phone number of each member of the Central Administration and of the Activity Units are easily available from the School’s website and everyone answer directly and rapidly to emails78 and phone calls79.

Even so, working time is respected, except in case of emergencies or urgent need, because it is seen as a right for a committed Staff that work hard during day time (and more, “sometimes too much”) for School’s activities.

Furthermore the Staff is constantly informed about the School’s life through the updated School website, emails, papers, discussions and meetings, etc. According to Mr. Skoglund, “if the Staff is informed, they feel better, they can influence and criticize decisions. I don’t believe anything about this old type of management, similar to military organization, it is impossible in these days and in artistic organizations. People should listen to each other, with heart, and think about good solutions. So I think the most important thing is information and make the staff be self-confident, also towards me. I think you have to solve those problems in that way instead of just using power. Because when you don’t talk to them, you have a lot of unsatisfied people around, so you have to meet these unsatisfied people to try to reach them and understand what they really want.”

COMPLEX FORESIGHT HORIZON80

The Style of Management completely fits the complex reality described in § 2.4. According to Mr. Skoglund, “organizations are always ‘organic’ in a way: we can change very fast if we see that it’s not working, we don’t have a lot of thinking, we say ‘ok, let’s test another way’. Because I also think that we are living in a time when you can’t say ‘ok, let’s work like this for 10 years’, it is impossible, the next day something happens that makes things change. So you also have to be very sensible, and find smart solutions for sometimes short, sometimes longer periods.”

78 “It’s a big and widely spread school, therefore e-mail is common and direct…” (Hans Skoglund) 79 “Within one day”, as it is written in the paper called “what can our costumer expect from us”, given to pupils’ parents. 80 See § 2.4

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3.7 Staff

Hofstede’s Findings: Motivation Patterns in Scandinavian Countries81

Low Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) and Masculinity (MAS) scores, as in Scandinavian Countries, entail the research and use of motivations by results and belonging. Results will be measured as collective success that respect the quality of human relationships and the living environment.

The Personnel of Kulturskolan Stockholm is constituted by 345 teachers and 45 people employed in the administration and management. In this analysis I refer to Staff as a synonymous of School’s teachers (administrators and managers are analyzed in § 3.6 and 3.8), while I use Personnel to include both teachers and administrators.

Main qualitiesThe School’s teachers have been defined as skilled, committed, curious, creative, in a

word, fantastic, one of the Kulturskolan’s major assets. “The School is proud of them and they have to be proud of the School”, this is the message that Kulturskolan’s managers try to communicate to the personnel and what most of them feel about their institute. It is fundamental for them to feel joy in their work and understand that they are a part of a fantastic School.82

A consequence of the joy and commitment that most of the Staff put in their work is that they tend to desire too high quality for everything they do, requiring too many resources, putting too much efforts and working too much for every single thing they do. The job for them is not only a job, but it absorbs all their energies and it becomes almost as a voluntary activity. This is a common problem for persons working in the art and cultural field, where their first passion becomes their job. So this is a problem to face for the organization, as Kulturskolan’s Head pointed it out: “It is very important to find the dimension in what we are doing. You should always say ‘what is the limit for this’, it’s very important.” (see “Quality” in § 3.4)

81 Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 2nd ed., 2001, pp.372-421 82 “…for me this is really important, all through my life I have to be proud, in all works I have done, I had to have this proud feeling, because that is my energy, I don’t think I could work somewhere if I’m not proud, if it’s lousy between people and I don’t find anything that is stimulating.” (Hans Skoglund)

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Types of contracts

Types of contracts are essentially three: ! Short term contract: for temporarily substituting a teacher for holidays, sickness, study

periods, etc. And then, after having worked like that for 3 years83, they have the right to obtain a lifetime contract;

! Lifetime contract: teachers are employed by the town of Stockholm. Then the School can no more dismiss them. Almost all teachers have this type of contract;

! Contract for a project: it must be clearly defined, with a start and an end. The Unions must approve it.

The rules are very strict and protect the teachers’ rights, much more than in other European countries. There are 8 Unions who defend teachers’ rights, and the management of the School must negotiate with each of them for any important issue.

There are no volunteers in the organization. Some university students come to practise in the School, but no real volunteer or community service people84 work at Kulturskolan.

Autonomy in methods and contentsAs already mentioned, the heads decide frames and direction, the teachers choose methods.

They are not allowed to go in the opposite direction, but “if they zigzag towards it, that is human and chiefs have to respect what ability they have to work with.”85 The organization is for this reason defined “decentralized with common goals: it is the creativity of staff that is our soul but we have to have common goals.”

A lot of emphasis is given to the constant repetition of School’s values and goals, until everybody shares the same direction. This is not easy to obtain, it is an ongoing process where managers are required to have patience and leave the teachers the time they need to adapt and feel as their own new ideas and objectives (time of acceptance). Therefore, for example, the School does not force teachers and pupils to do group lessons.

Kulturskolan is based on trust towards its teachers, not in controlling them. Sometimes chiefs attend the lessons or activities, and this is not seen as control, but as an opportunity to have a comment on their work and a feedback of ideas and opinions. (for more details about the Controlling System see § 3.9)

83 “So we have to look out that those teachers we don’t like, don’t pass these 3 years, because if you are not a good teacher normally you don’t have a lot of fantasy, and you won’t find another job, so if they are 25 they would be here for 40 years!” (Hans Skoglund) 84 “We don’t have it, but I’m positive if we start that, I think we would have a lot of possibilities to take kids, and some kids would love to work in our schools.” (Hans Skoglund) 85 From Hans Skoglund’s interview.

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Stress is also given to cooperation among personnel, on being generous more than being competitive. Of course some competitive attitudes are present in some of the teachers, but generally they help each other. The aim, expressed by the School and increasingly present in the organization, is that everyone should be happy for the success of others.

SelectionThe School’s Chiefs decide selection’s criteria and who is to be hired. Now they are focusing more on teachers with group education. For example this is

condition for the Activity Chiefs to obtain the resources to hire 3 new teachers this year86. In the future they will search more and more for “broad teachers”, in the sense that they

have to be able to work in different ways. This is because Kulturskolan operates in many different environments (ordinary schools, leisure clubs, etc.), not only in Music Schools with one-to-one lessons. Therefore teachers will have to have not only skills, but also creativity to adapt to different situations.

TrainingTeachers’ contract provides for about 100 hours every year they can use to raise

competences. Twice a year the “future days” are organized (see § 3.3), where there are discussions about

School’s activities and lecturers. Moreover, the European Social Fund gave the School contributions for 30 days of

education to raise the competence among the Staff and train it with the modern ways of teaching, to make it employable in the today’s society.

Advancements Advancements in career are on the base of merit. “There has been a change in Sweden in

the last decades” declared Mr. Skoglund, “Earlier they were much more connected to age.”

Turnover Kulturskolan has been described as a rather stable organization, also because for music

teachers there are not many other comparable opportunities. Even so, a certain number of teachers do change over the years because of retirements, other music activities, someone who asks for a period of study87 , etc. Some problems had been detected a few years ago when it was observed that 25% of the Staff was over 55, therefore near its retirement. In this regard a careful policy of new employments have been realized.

86 2005. 87 It is a special right that teachers in Sweden have: they can ask to leave the job for a certain period to deepen their studies, but they keep the right to have it back afterwards.

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3.8 Skills

Skills and Background of the ManagementMost of the School’s chiefs were teachers in the beginning. A lot of them have also

become project leaders for ordinary schools. Many employed in the Central Administration and in specific task of the organization (IT, economics, etc) have, instead, a different background.

I will now focus more on the distinctive capabilities of Mr. Skoglund, the Head of Kulturskolan Stockholm, because he is a good example of skilled Swedish manager and, as all chiefs, he has a great role in the present and future development of his organization.

Mr. HANS SKOGLUND88

Mr. Hans Skoglund, or Hasse Skoglund, as he is called in the School’s magazine, was hired as Head of Kulturskolan Stockholm in 2001, with a 5 years contract.

Previously he was the Head of Kulturskolan Örebro, the second biggest Culture School in Sweden, with a staff of around 120 teachers at that time. Before that assignment he had worked for a very big theatre for 15 years. His major subjects at the university were mathematics, physics, information technique and film science 89. He is 61 years old now.

From Örebro he has brought many ideas as for example the BAS-teams, the “future days” and a great experience in dealing with public administration and media90.

He seems to be a great Swedish manager in a fantastic Swedish organization. In this regard, all considerations made about Kulturskolan’s managers (§ 3.6), even if not repeated here, can be applied to him.

His main characteristics and points of strength appear to be: ! Clear vision, but open minded and curious, therefore ready to make changes to adapt to the

new reality; ! Communication and negotiation: in dealing with the politicians, with the Staff (in

meetings, lectures, etc.)91 and with media; ! Warm heart, but straight and clear if it is needed;

88 Apart from actual facts, Mr.Skoglund description is based on personal impressions received during my one-day visit at Kulturskolan Stockholm. I know that a more in depth acquaintance would have been necessary to have a better and more exhaustive impression about him. Anyway, it is important to stress that the purpose here is to give some ideas about Music School management and managers, not to describe anybody. My excuses and, once more, my thanks go to him. 89 Bachelor of science. 90 “When I was in Örebro it was rather easy, I could decide in the morning that I wanted a press conference, and media came. I wrote that we should have been in the newspaper every week, but I didn’t succeed, it was only every second week. But it was a tremendous flow, everybody was talking about this School and saying ‘oh God! Much happens!...’, but it was not new things that happened, it was old things lifted up, but they talked about us, and that is very important. My idea was: ‘the newspapers should have us as the good news’.” (Hans Skoglund) 91 Which is particularly important in such a big organization.

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! Enthusiasm, passion and joy for his work; ! Experience ! Respected and able to build consensus and agreements.

3.9 Systems

Informative System

Kulturskolan has a computerized system with an extended data bank for pupils in subject courses, who pay a fee. The School sends out bills to their parents, checks payments, contacts them, etc. There is no data collection for the new types of courses (in ordinary schools, leisure clubs, short courses, “young 08”, etc.), their participants are just counted.

A data bank has been introduced this year to improve the data collection and its possibility to provide statistics about trends in the School.

The use of computers is also important for teachers, to communicate, be informed and learn. This idea lead to a relevant further investment in IT92, so that now there is a computer every 4 teachers93.

Meetings: The Cultural Litmus Test According to Pascale and Athos, “Meetings are the cultural litmus test. Culture asserts its

invisible presence on patterns of day-to-day communications. Meetings are the best known mechanism for efficient information sharing, for accomplishing collective problem solving and coordinated action.” 94

For Kulturskolan’s managers meetings are a part of the everyday activity. Working place meetings, subject meetings, project meetings, in unit groups, in the corridors, influence and determine School’s agenda and working schedule95. Some of the meetings are more formal (time is set and there is an agenda), others are more informal. They are the most important mean by which any member of the organization can influence his choices and participate.

92 Information technology. 93 Before it was one computer every 12 teachers. 94 R.T.Pascale, A.G.Athos, The Art of Japanese Management, 1981, p.130 95 “This type of work is that when you’re coming to work, you don’t know really what will happen, sometimes things happen during the day and you have to leave it all to do something else, so it has always to be variant and flexible.” (Hans Skoglund)

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Some of the most important meetings in the agenda of the Head of the School are: ! With the Culture Director and a small group of Chiefs (of the Library of Stockholm, the

Culture House, the Culture School and some more): meet every 14th day, with 7 or 8 persons;

! Leading group of the Culture School (the Head of the School, three Unit Chiefs, Economist, PA-Consultant, Investigation Secretary and Chief of Development): meet every 14th days;

! With all the Kulturskolan’s Chiefs: the 14th days in alternation; ! The Free Chiefs’ Forum: an afternoon every month, where Chiefs, not the Head of the

School, set the agenda96; ! With the Centre Union Leader: “information meeting” every 3rd week. The C.U.L. says

what they would like to obtain and the Head explains what the School is doing, so that they can comment it.

Planning, Budgeting and Controlling Systems

Hofstede’s Findings: Planning and Controlling Systems in Scandinavian Countries97

In countries with low Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) and Power Distance (PDI) scores, as the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian ones, the P&C system is less detailed, the Staff participate in planning and accept big changes, the control system is based on trust in subordinates, norms support “strategic” and long-term thinking98.

According to the Kulturskolan’s Head, “when you have 350 teachers and 31.000 participants, you can’t be a control organization, you have to trust” and further on he declared, “now I think I have the control of the school that is possible in such a big organization, because total control is impossible99”. These sentences explain the basic idea of trust upon which is built the budgeting and controlling system of the School. Even when Chiefs attend

96 “…because they always say: ‘you are setting the agenda…we are talking about your things, and we have no time to talk about ours…”, so then we decided to test that model, where I don’t say anything, just sitting listening…” (Hans Skoglund) 97 Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 2nd ed., 2001, pp.372-421 98 Even if all European and Western countries are generally short-term oriented, on the contrary of the Eastern ones, as explained by the fifth dimension (LTO) added by Hofstede in the second edition of Culture’s consequences (2001). 99 “We have 13 000 square meters of premises around town and among those there are 16 theatres, and we are in 70 schools in 250 rooms, so you can understand that is impossible for me as a chief to be everywhere. You have to depend on that. So I think it’s like a miracle. We are sitting here and now everything is working out there.” (Hans Skoglund)

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the lessons or activities, it is not seen as control, but more as the possibility to have a feedback of ideas and comments that may help the teacher to improve his/her way of teaching. There is, of course, a certain amount of control on the realization of goals, like for instance the number of pupils, but also in this case, objections or explanations are accepted (see § 3.6 and 3.7). This attitude seems to be in line with the Scandinavian cultural attitude, that does not put too much emphasis on control100.

Another important idea is the importance of participation in the process: “when you are changing attitude, you can’t do it by order, it comes from heart and understanding”101.

These general ideas lead to a system of controls and reports not complex, complete and systematic like some may expect for such a big organization102.

Main papery reports are: ! From the Activity Units’ Chiefs: every 4 months103 on the economics of each Units; ! For the Culture Director: summary for the same periods; ! For the Culture Department: summary for the same periods and every year, a budget

and a final statement that compares results with those from last year, with statistics.

Economic Valuations

TOTAL REVENUES

Total revenues of Kulturskolan Stockholm in 2005 were about 11,9 million euros.

COMPOSITION OF KS REVENUES

Fees 13%

City Council

87%

100 This is possible, of course, only in countries where there is a general observance of unwritten rules and trust. 101 (Hans Skoglund) 102 As examples: “yes, in a way we can see on every teacher in this new system I told you about, but we have only one figure for each teacher, and some teachers are working in 2/3 units, so they are very complex figures to take out…but we have methods to find out if the teacher is doing what he should, and we are making that better all the time… but we can’t connect the cost of a teacher with the revenues of his/her pupils, that could be interesting, but more difficult.” “Do you have statistics for age distribution of students? Length of attendance?...” “that is possible in that system…but I don’t think we take out that all the time…” 103 Before it was every 3 month.

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The above figure shows the dependence of funds coming from the Public Administration for Kulturskolan Stockholm and, broadly, the importance of public funds for cultural activities in Sweden. Therefore, it is fundamental for the School to keep good relations with the politicians, regardless of the political side of the counterpart. This, of course, means that all the possible efforts in this direction are deployed and that these types of particular skills are present in the management (§ 3.8). Another consequence, as seen in § 3.4, is that School’s decisions do not directly depend on fees, but on more general and political objectives.

COMPOSITION OF KS COSTS

Production of Activities 2%

Administration Salaries 9%other costs

3%

Premises 21%

Teaching Salaries 65%

“Premises” include equipments. “Other costs” include: general and administrative expenses, computers, telephone and advertising.

The figure illustrates that the majority of the expenditures comes from personnel costs (74%). A relevant part is also assigned to premises and equipment (21%), while little resources (about 1%) are allocated to communication and advertising (included in “other costs”), as seen in § 3.4.

Pricing decisions are described in §3.4.

Non-economic Valuations

AGE DISTRIBUTION OF PUPILS

02468

1012141618

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19Age

%

The graph shows Kulturskolan’s target market (§3.4) and average age of participants.

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DISTRIBUTION BETWEEN SEXES

Females 55%

Males 45%

DISTRIBUTION AMONG INSTRUMENTS (at the age of 12)

other instruments

2%

Wind Instruments

25%Guitar 17%

String Instruments

15%

Flute 6%

Piano & Keybords

26%

Percussions 4%

Vocals & Choir 4%

(This figure changes significantly over the years, for example guitar grows to 24% at 13 years old)

PUPILS’ SATISFACTION

Pupils’ satisfaction and desires have been investigated and analysed in a special research made by the School in 2003. Now it has been decided that a similar study will be repeated every five years by the Stockholm City Cultural Department.

LENGTH OF ATTENDANCE

The investigation made in 2003 pointed out that after 2 years 40% of pupils leave the School, and that only 30% of the ones who started at 6-9 years old continues until 12. This result has been discussed in meetings on how to structure courses where some teachers, have a perspective of 10 years training to reach the best results, said that is a type of handicap for the School. On the contrary, managers claimed that this is a wrong attitude to the problem: they should give the best in 2 years to pupils104.

104 “…if they are just sitting playing boring exercises for 2 years, a lot of pupils remember that as awful, so you should give them something, and then give the chance to continue to those who want to go afterwards.” (Hans Skoglund)

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ETHNIC BALANCE

Kulturskolan aims also to reach a satisfactory ethnic balance, which is considered 2/3 of Swedes, 1/3 of non-Swedes105 , that is the current ethnic mix in Stockholm. This is an ideal target measure for Kulturskolan’s managers, but it cannot be calculated: the School doesn’t have the right to make statistics on these matters, because they could be used improperly.

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF TEACHERS

No rigorous system for the performance evaluation of teachers is applied106.

EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNICATION

No extensive and systematic analysis is carried out. The School now cooperate with a PR agency to develop a strategy. Changes are expected in the near future (see § 3.4).

Incentive System There are no economic incentives based on results. Salaries are fixed in the monthly

amount and set in consideration of the responsibility, therefore, of course, Chiefs have an higher salary.

FINAL ASSESSMENT

3.10 Overall S-Consistency of the School All 7 S’s of Kulturskolan Stockholm and the external environment (Sweden and

Stockholm) appear aligned, connected together in a consistent way and contribute to the School’s success.

The following figure is a graphic representation of the S-Consistency of the School.

105 With one parent coming from another country 106 See footnote number 102.

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4.ACM Guildford

My dream jobs:

1) Any kind of musician Apart from classical or rap.

Just as Memphis Horn, I’m not asking to be Hendrix or Jagger.

2) Music producer for Atlantic Records, 1964-1971(approx) Get to meet Aretha, Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke, etc.

Get loads of free records (probably) - good ones too. Make piles of money.

3) Journalist for the “New Musical Express”, 1976-1979 Get to meet the Clash, Sex Pistols, Chrissie Hynde, Danny Baker, etc.

Get laods of free records – good ones too.

Nick Hornby High Fidelity1

Europe’s Leading School for Rock and Pop Musicians

ACM, Academy of Contemporary Music Guildford, is a School at the forefront of popular music education. ACM is committed to providing the best possible vocational training and career guidance opportunities to future musicians.

Students at the Academy have access to some of the finest music education facilities available anywhere in the world2, and to an environment that encourages effective networking with other serious musicians.

ACM teaches courses in guitar, bass guitar, drums, vocals, music production and music business. ACM caters for all levels of music tuition, from complete beginners on the part time courses, to the one year Diploma and Higher Diploma in Contemporary Music, to the ground breaking two year BA (Hons) Contemporary Popular Music Degree validated by Middlesex University.

ACM students have achieved success in all areas of the music industry and are now regularly accepted for high profile professional positions including major record deals, regular BBC television performances, technical support both on tour and in recording studios and session work with established artists.

The School, which started in 1995 with only 20 students, now provides every year full time education to 700 students and part time courses to 600 students. This makes ACM the largest school in the UK in terms of students number.

ACM is a not-for-profit organization3. Originally, for the first 2 years, it charged commercial fees, then it was the first, and still one of the few, funded by the Government.

1 Nick Hornby, High Fidelity, 1995, 2nd ed., 2000, p.221 2 1800m2 of facilities “far better than any other Music School in the UK.” (David Marshman) 3 “ACM is a Private Limited Company, with the Liability Limited by Guarantee. In addition, the Articles and Memorandum of Association do not allow profits to be distributed outside of the Company. This combination makes the Company not-for-profit.” (David Marshman)

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ACM facts and figures

UNITED KINGDOM: ACM is the biggest Music School in terms of students number. STUDENTS: Approx. 1300 students (700 full time, 600 part time, 5% coming from foreign countries) STAFF: Approx. 80 teachers and 30 administrative employees PREMISES: 1800 square metres of floor space over 3 premises EQUIPMENT: 3 M € invested in equipments

EXTERNAL CONSISTENCY OF THE SCHOOL4

4.1 State: United Kingdom and Music5

The United Kingdom, together with the U.S.A., is the homeland and the landmark for rock and pop music. It is a fact that, since the second part of the XX century, all major trends, changes and innovations in popular and contemporary music, both artistically and commercially, have been introduced in turns in the UK and in the US. According to the central Government, “the music industry is one of the UK's biggest and most culturally significant creative industry6. Its many component parts (composers, producers, managers, music publishers, artists, concert promoters, record companies, online music entrepreneurs) interact to produce a dynamic, vibrant and ever changing industry. The UK is the third largest market in the world for sales of music and it is second only to the USA as a source of repertoire. It is estimated that Britain may account for as much as 15% of the global music market.”

4 All economic values were, of course, originally expressed in sterling (£), which have been considered equal to 1,5 €. 5 When not specified from other sources, all contents in this paragraph are taken and adapted from: Matteo Parrinello, La cultura della musica dal vivo in Inghilterra ed in Italia, 2000, passim 6 In 2001 Creative Industries, which include all kinds of cultural and entertaining activities, accounted for 8.2% of Gross Value Added (GVA) and grew by an average of 8% per annum between 1997 and 2001. Exports by the creative industries contributed £11.4 billion to the balance of trade in 2001, which equated to around 4.2% of all goods and services exported and grew at around 15% per annum over the period of 1997-2001. In June 2002, creative employment totalled 1.9 million jobs companies in the Creative Industry sectors were around 122,000. (Source: official website of the Government of the United Kingdom, see “References”) Moreover, employment in the cultural field represents 3,2% of total employment: one of the highest in Europe, second only to Scandinavian countries (in Sweden is 3,3%). Italy (2,2%) and Spain (2%) have some of the lowest employment rates in the cultural field. (Source: World Music Central, 2004, see “References”)

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The turnover of the music business within the UK has been calculated in 5,6 billion euros7, far beyond European average (i.e. in Italy, a country with about the same population, it is not more than half of that value8), and more than 60% of this value comes from pop and rock music.

Therefore, the whole sector has become a great business world-wide9, influencing tourism and giving a strong international image of the country. This impact on the society and on the economy led to the recognition and relevant consideration of this sector in public policies and opinion. As a consequence, in this country, a complex and inter-connected system of relations and synergies has developed among music institutions, public administration, industry and customers. Furthermore, it has led to the creation of highly qualified personnel in all sector of the music industry.

The presence of music in the everyday life of all UK’s citizens is also attested by the great number of places dedicated to live music: clubs, rock-pop-jazz venues, theatres, public music halls, festivals, schools & universities, pubs & restaurants, etc.

Music Education in the United Kingdom Music studies are organized in different levels and opportunities: in primary and secondary

schools, in conservatories, in extra-scholastic activities run by public institutions called “Music Service” and in private schools and colleges.

In order to complete the music education and give the student a vocational training, there are 600 different university courses divided into different areas of specialization (instrumental, management, engineering, etc.). This characteristic is typical of UK (and US), and has influenced the evolution and the structure of the most important Music Schools.

Study paths in each subjects and instruments are defined by the Government through the National Curriculum. This requires, not only to have general knowledge and ability to play an instrument, but also to develop creative and critic skills. The importance given to music education has led to a widespread basic music knowledge.

Public Sector PoliciesBoth the Government and local authorities are aware of the importance of this sector in

terms of economic value, employment and to create a better social and cultural context10. The Public Administration works closely with a wide range of industry players and trade associations to identify what can be done to improve the Music Industry's economic performance and to ensure that the industry's concerns are considered in broader Government policy making.

7 These figures are from 1998 (Source: “National Music Council”, KPMG, 1999), but what matters here is to underline the differences between UK and other European countries. 8 Precise calculations are difficult to perform. 9 About 2 billion euros of estimated export turnover. 10 Some cities, among them Manchester is the best known example, are recognized worldwide as a point of reference of how to use music and cultural activities as a way to create social and economic development.

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In practical terms, Public Administrations support Music Schools with funds and giving them proper premises and the possibility to use other public spaces (theatres, arenas, etc.) at favourable prices. Music Schools’ funds and, generally speaking, public funds to culture are provided on a short term basis and related to results, with the aim of creating competition and better services among private cultural organizations.

Ordinary schools allow Music Schools and other music institutions to make promotional concerts in their premises and university associations are allowed to organize concerts in university areas.

In recent years the central authorities have replaced local ones in giving funds to Music Services. Even so, local public administration still play an important role in supporting Music Schools as a resource to improve the social, cultural and economic environment.

WHO FINANCES CULTURE IN THE UK

State 34% City

Councils 66%

Public authorities recognize a central role to the music industry and organizations also giving them public awards and titles11.

Legislation The legislation related to music activities, as for any aspect of the law in Anglo-Saxon

countries, is not detailed or protectionist, but quite general and with the objective of not binding private initiatives and competition, but helping them also with efficient public services.

Artists and art teachers in the UK have the possibility to obtain income tax deductions for all expenses incurred in the practice of their profession, but no pensions supplements are provided.12

Music teachers do not have their own union.

Music Schools in the United KingdomIn the UK there are, as mentioned before, plenty of organizations, both private and public,

that offer instrumental courses, but when it comes to full time professional courses in pop and rock music, there are only few institutions that can offer them.

11 The Beatles have been the first ones to get it. 12 Source: European Union - Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe website (see “References”)

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The most similar to ACM is the Brighton Institute of Modern Music13, located in Brighton, on the English Channel, famous for the youth culture and cheaper than Guildford to live in14.

Another similar Music School is the London Music School, formerly MI-London15, but it has gone through a series of changes over the years (type of courses offered16, name and strategic relations, premises, etc.) and it has not the same tradition of ACM.

It is important to stress that these organizations are not felt as competitors by ACM, because “there is enough space in the market17, because they usually charge commercial fees since they are not funded by the Government18 and because ACM has unique selling points to attract students”19.

The relations with the music industry are tight and evident in the presence of many targeted courses supported or in collaboration with music companies, in the sponsorships20 to the Music School and in the general professional orientation that leads most educational choices and offers.

Music Schools often ask to manufacturers of instruments and music devices to sponsor their courses by supplying essential equipments for their activities. In this way manufacturers invest in terms of image and in terms of helping to increase the number of future potential customers.

4.2 Guildford

Economic, Social and Demographic StructureGuilford is a city with approximately 60.000 inhabitants, 50 kilometres south-west of

London, in the county of Surrey. It is a relatively wealthy area of England, a well known holiday resort and centre of studies, with an important college and university.

But the population of the area is not the only market for ACM, which is not just a local provider of education, but it aims to be the “Leading School for Rock and Pop Musicians” in the UK, and therefore in Europe. Young people from all over UK (28% of total ACM students) and other countries (5%), come here to pursue a career in popular music.

13 Established only 4 years ago. 14 “Brighton is 20% cheaper than Guildford to live in.” (David Marshman) 15 The Musician Institute of London, linked to the Musician Institute of Los Angeles, one of the world most famous professional Music Schools. 16 Trying to get Government funds. 17 “We are not really worried about it, to be honest. No, because we are always full and we are always growing. There is space for everybody in the market. We are not looking to expand anymore, if somebody think that there is space that they want to exploit, have a go, that’s fine.” (David Marshman) 18 Only the BIMM receives “some” funds. 19 From David Marshman’s interview. 20 The estimated value of private sponsorship to culture generated per year is 678M €, more than twice of its value for Italy, and ten times the estimated value for Spain (Source: European Union - Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe website (see “References”).

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Even so, the majority of students come from what it is defined “community distance”, the distance by which a student can come to School and go home everyday, which is considered 50 kilometres radius from Guildford. About 2/3 of the students come from within that radius. The rest comes from outside and has to find accommodation to do the full time courses in Guildford, which is a quite expensive place to live.

Music Environment Guildford has a strong music culture. This tradition is proved by the many places in it

where it is possible to listen to live music (pubs, clubs, the “Electric Theatre”, etc.), music shops (Peter Anderton, owner of the Anderton’s Music Superstore21, is Chairman and Co-Founder of ACM) and by the excellence in professional music education with the Guildford College, the Guildford Conservatory, the near the Middlesex University, and, since 10 years ago, ACM.

Relations and Funds from the Public Administration Full time education is funded by the Government, which sets the regulations on what the

School can charge to students in terms of additional fees. The set of rules is the same for every funded provider of further education, therefore fees for full time courses (degree) at ACM are the same as for courses in other universities22 (see Prices, § 4.4).

In real terms, ACM is not directly funded by the Government, but it is linked and its degrees are recognized by funded institutions such as the Guildford College and the Middlesex University. Therefore, it has to offer programs with the same standards, by respecting government requirements such as the amount of teaching time, the environment, the standard of teachers, the standard of course notes, etc. These standards are controlled every 2 or 3 years by Government inspectors23.

Also the local Public Administration has played an important role in the development of ACM: the local Borough Council provided in the year 2000 the new amazing facility of the Rodboro Building.

RELATIONS WITH THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

ACM positively interacts with the community at large. As it is stated in the ACM Business Plan 2005, “the business relies upon positive press coverage and the support of the local community to develop the growth of its activities.”

Specifically, ACM is currently involved with the following projects: ! Assisting the George Abbot School in Merrow (Guildford) in formulating their practice

and rehearsal studio strategy at The Vault, providing equipment and artists for

21 See “References”. 22 For example: Middlesex University, Sussex University, etc. 23 “It is a division of the Government called OFSTED (Office of Standards within Education), they are responsible for controlling education delivered in the UK.” (David Marshman)

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demonstrations and assemblies. This is a reciprocal relationship, with George Abbot students also having access to ACM facilities;

! Representing the School on the Princes Youth Business Trust, encouraging and supporting, among others, former students to start their own businesses;

! Supporting the interest of local educational establishments by holding a chair on the Surrey Learning & Skills Council.

CompetitorsEven if it may seem inappropriate to talk about competitors in the Guildford area for a

School that aims to be “the leading School in Europe”, an analysis of the environment is justified by the fact that, as it has been said, 66% of ACM students come from a “community distance” area.

In the surrounding area, for full time professional education, competitors might be considered the Middlesex University and the Guildford College. Actually there is no real competition, but instead cooperation to get more central Government’s funds, and diversification of the education provided.

For the part time courses, there are some other private musicians and small organizations that offer instrumental courses, but, here too, there is no real competition because of the uniqueness of the service provided: professional teachers, stimulating environment, smashing facilities, etc.

Therefore, the diversification of the educational and cultural offers in the area excludes and avoids fierce competition.

RELATIONS WITH CONSERVATORIES

ACM is a professional college for rock and pop music, therefore it has no relations with the Guildford Conservatory, and its teachers are unique to the School.

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INTERNAL CONSISTENCY OF THE SCHOOL24

4.3 Shared Values and Mission

Mission ACM mission is “to support and develop tomorrow musicians today.” The Business Plan 2005, distributed to all ACM personnel, starts with this vision

statement:

“Together, we will build a specialist vocational training centre for the rock and pop music industry. We will work closely with the educational establishment to ensure that our unique training provision is offered to potential artists based upon their talent rather than financial status.

When we are finished we will have developed a core business respected by both the music industry and education establishment for both its commercial and

vocational achievements. Artists wishing to pursue a career in popular music at all levels will have an accredited study path leading to work.

We will have created a working environment that is both productive and fun.

Shared Values

ACM Values25 are: ! Experience beyond expectation; ! Professional service to customers at all times; ! Excellent reputation – world leader; ! Personal growth and development; ! Creativity, inspiration and purpose in everything they do; ! Professional approach to business management; ! Mutual respect for individual contribution; ! State of the art facilities – “Wow factor”; ! To bring education and industry together.

24 When not specified from other source, all information have been gathered from the interview (19/2/2006) to David Marshman, Financial Controller and member of the Strategic Team of ACM, from ACM’s publications and from the website (see “References”). 25 Also identified in the Business Plan 2005.

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4.4 Strategy

Target Market Anyone wishing to pursue a career in popular music at all levels. The access to the programs is based on ability and merit, rather than on previous

qualifications.

4P of the School:

Product ACM offers courses in 7 main subjects: ! Guitar; ! Bass guitar; ! Drum; ! Vocals; ! DJ; ! Music production; ! Music business.

Students can choose for each subject between “full time courses”, for those wanting to work towards a qualification that supports their profession, and “part time courses”, for amateurs.

FULL TIME COURSES

Each program is 1 or 2 years long, as follows: ! ACM Diploma: 1 year, validated by Guildford College; ! ACM Higher Diploma: 1 year, validated by Middlesex University; ! B.A.(Hons.) Degree: 2 years, validated by Middlesex University. ACM constructed for these subjects a group delivery model of teaching. The practical

modules are delivered to group of students between 20 and 25 students in the classroom, with one tutor at the front. Theory lessons are in bigger groups, of about 60 students, in a large lecture theatre, with PowerPoint presentations and interactive demonstrations on screens. Then, once a week, lessons are in the Electric Theatre, a large auditorium where students get together and perform the song they studied with rest of their peers in the School.

All full time courses of study are based on modules of learning. Each course include 8 modules of different aspects of music education26. The lesson contents are defined and have

26 For example every course includes “Business Studies”, because the Academy believes that success in the music industry comes from understanding how the business works.

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to satisfy Government criteria27. The School has succeeded in delivering that content in a way that is attractive to musicians, as much interactive and practical as possible.

On the full time program there are formal exams at the end of each year. For students with problems with learning and results, the School puts in place an extra support outside of the standard lessons on a one-to-one basis, included in the course fee.

PART TIME COURSES

Part time programs are offered in modules of 10 or 30 lessons, once a week, in the evenings or in Saturdays.

At the end of the course students have an “end of session assessment”28, but not a formal certificate. If they do not pass the assessment, the School offers them to take the course again, at a discounted price.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

ACM runs also a programme called “Band Development” to enable bands to develop their song-writing and performance skills with experts from the industry. Another service offered to students deals with “Artist & Repertoire” problems, where all bands and studio projects are invited to submit demos to the school team for A&R advice and the best ones are submitted to various record companies, publishers and management.

ACM runs also an independent record label, and have artist management, music publishing29 and producer management divisions. A Business Development Centre has been created, in partnership with a variety of industry organizations, to offer all students support with their musical career.

QUALITY

At ACM, high standard quality is obtained by constantly reviewing the content of each lesson. They continuously make sure that it is interactive and interesting as possible, and relevant to the skills needed to enter a career in the music industry after studies.

The quality is monitored through the “Students’ Satisfaction Surveys” that each student takes for 5 times during the course of one year program of study: before starting the program30, at the end of each term through the year, and six months after the students have left the program. So that is ACM measure of students satisfaction and main goal: to make sure that through the course of their learning students, are at least satisfied as when they have

27 For the course to be funded. 28 “We just want to make sure that they have learned what they were supposed to learn on the program and that they are happy with what they learned.” (David Marshman) 29 That also print ACM syllabuses. 30 Asking what they expect to see and obtain.

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started and preferably more satisfied31. Then, from that surveys, the School selects areas where the education may be improved and quickly implements action plans.

Another important aspect concerning quality and the way to maintain it is the necessity to respect Government criteria in the education, to obtain and preserve Government funds. (see § 4.2)

Price Thanks to Government funds (see § 4.2 and 4.9), ACM can charge, for full time education,

fees between 1.500 and 4.500 € per year, while other not funded Music Colleges charge commercial fees of about 10.000 €.

For the part time courses, fees are set independently by ACM at about 300 € per 10 weeks courses. These are commercial courses, not funded by the Government. They consist of a 2-hours lesson per week for 10 weeks, that makes about 15 € for teaching hour.

Promotion ACM invests about 3% of the revenues in advertising. The main marketing channels are: ! The website: hits are monitored every week; ! Brochures and leaflets; ! Local newspapers; ! Specialist magazines: for guitar players in the magazine “Guitarist”, and in similar

magazines for the other subjects.32

The most important are the website and the brochures, but the main source of students is word of mouth33. Students at the beginning of the course are asked about “where they get the first point of contact with ACM?” and around 70% of the current students answered “by recommendation from former students”. The School never advertised on television or national newspapers.

The main slogan, “Eat. Sleep. Drink. Learn.”, and the logo “Investor in People”34 are written and reproduced everywhere, from School’s publication and internal documents to posters and walls, and communicate a strong image of “University/College of Popular and Contemporary Music”.

31 “As an absolute minimum, ACM must fulfil the expectations and requirements of all of the students. We must then aim to exceed these expectations through the introduction of additional benefit and therefore raise the profile of the School through sound reputation.” (from ACM Business Plan 2005) 32 “You’ll find that the majority of specialist Music Schools advertise in that medium.” (David Marshman) 33 “…and from access to the website.” (David Marshman) 34 Investor in People is the national Standard in the UK which sets a level of good practice for training and development of people to achieve business goals. The Standard was developed by the National Training Task Force in partnership with leading national business, personnel, professional and employee organisations such as the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the Institute of Personnel and Development (IPD). The work was supported by the Employment Department.

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MERCHANDISING

ACM merchandising is given to students as benefit at the beginning of the course. This creates a visible presence of the School in Guildford, with groups of students walking around with ACM t-shirts, instrument-bags, school-bags and other merchandising.

Place ACM has some of the finest music education facilities available anywhere in the world.

ACM location consists of 3 premises: the “Rodboro Building”35, 1000m2 of teaching space, the “Global House”36, which is 600m2, and “Haydon Place”37, a small practice facility of about 200m2. So in total the School has 1800m2 over 3 premises.

With these facilities, ACM can offer free practice rooms to all students, free studio time to Academy bands that are sufficiently well prepared38, a “Creativity Centre” with PCs having internet access and music programmes, magazines and books, audio visual room, etc.

The School also rents “the Electric Theatre”, which is own by Guildford City Council, for “the Live Performance Workshop Modules”, whereby students perform in a live theatre environment.

ACM is committed to providing a learning environment that enables all students to be the best they can be. For this purpose, the School has also a rolling replacement programme for all teaching equipment, to ensure that resources always represent the best that is available.

Competitive AdvantageFor ACM it is necessary to be aware of developments within the marketplace and

competitors activity and performance levels to ensure that it remains at the number one slot. Main competitive advantages identified are: ! Quality of education in unique facilities: the School delivers education that the students

enjoy and recommend to others. This is considered the main competitive advantage39

(see § 4.9); ! Government funding: ACM was the first one to demonstrate this sort of group education

and be accredited for Government funds; ! Reputation and experience: the School has been in the marketplace since 1995, far more

then other similar schools in the UK (see § 4.1).

35 Opened in the year 2000, it is a facility designed for arts and recreational use by the local borough council. 36 Opened in 2004. 37 The original home of ACM some 10 years ago. 38 Until 1 a.m., on a first come, first served basis.39 “The fact that the product is good and recommended on to others.” (David Marshman)

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Vision Focus will continue to be on results, and the processes established to repeat these results

consistently.40 The ACM model has given good results and it has been proved as sustainable for these first 10 years of the School, so the management wants just to continue as they are at this moment in time. “Stay with this model and keep improving it from now on. There are no other great plans beyond that.”41

Furthermore, as declared in the Business Plan 2005, “ACM currently maintains a number of important relationships, not only with its people and students but also within the music and educational worlds. The maintenance and continuing development of these links is the responsibility of everyone within ACM.”42

RELATIONS WITH GUILDFORD COLLEGE & MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY

A crucial factor for the evolution of ACM has been and will be the relations with the Guildford College and the Middlesex University. They validate ACM programs and made ACM able to be accredited for Government funds. In this regard, the School has no direct relations with the Government for the funding, but it receives a part of the entire funding of the two related institutions, on behalf of the Government and on the base of the delivered education. Therefore ACM has to guarantee to work at the same standards that they would be working to and is accountable to them.

RELATIONS WITH THE L.A.M.A. (USA)

ACM has an exchange program with the Los Angeles Music Academy, whereby students with their degree program, can attend for one year the connected School which will be recognized by the home school for the final qualification. So both degree programs are validated and applicable to both Schools.

The relations are purely on a commercial basis, there is no joint venture between the two institutions: students pay the fee of (and to) the attended School.

RELATIONS WITH THE MUSIC ACADEMY 2000 (ITALY)

ACM has also started relations with the Music Academy 2000 of Bologna. At this moment in time they are trying to make it possible for students that attend MA2000 and get their degree validated from Middlesex University, since in Italy degrees of Modern Music Schools are not recognized by universities and public institutions43. In this process ACM plays the part of a validation centre, only providing MA2000 with the expertise to run the degree.

40 The focus is on the concept of working on the business as well as in the business. 41 “Steady state, which is already quite good, and that’s the point, people tend to think that you should expand and try something new, but this model works very well, it’s sustainable, so let’s stay with this and keep improving it from now on.” (David Marshman) 42 Bearing in mind that first impressions last, we must therefore ensure that everyone within the business projects ACM in an open and positive manner. 43 Only the ones from the conservatories, that in Italy teach only classical music, are recognized.

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Italian students can instead already apply to study at ACM. In this case too, the relation is purely commercial and students pay the fee of (and to) the attended School.

RELATIONS WITH THE SPONSORS

ACM, like many Music Schools in the UK (see § 4.1), has valuable and crucial relations music instruments manufacturers.44 Sponsors do not give or donate money to the School, but instead equipments, either free or at cost.

The advantage for them is in terms of future potential customers, because the students get familiar with those equipments and hopefully would go out and buy them afterwards. Moreover, classrooms where instruments are used are called with the name of the sponsor45, and sponsors’ logos and advertisements are constantly present in any School’s publications and in the website.

4.5 Structure

Hofstede’s Findings: Preferred Organization Types in Anglo-Saxon Countries46

Low Power Distance (PDI) and Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) scores, as in Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian Countries, lead to a flat, adhocratic, not-centralized structures. Relations between individuals and units are often open to negotiation and improvisation (as in village markets).

In these countries it is possible and less problematic the introduction of a matrix structure. This structure, which main characteristic is giving two chiefs to each subordinate, is created to face the increasing complexity of the activity and the environment. It requires a new way of thinking and an acceptance of the uncertainty in hierarchical relations, and it is expensive in terms of time of negotiation and decision.

Organization Chart ACM does not have a traditional hierarchy tree, pyramidal and centralized organization,

but it is instead an extremely flat adhocratic structure47.

44 Among them: Yamaha, Roland, Vestax, Fender, Marshall, Gibson, Zildjian, etc. 45 For instance, the “Marshall room”. 46 Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 2nd ed., 2001, pp.372-421 47 “We don’t have a traditional organization chart, it is not a traditional hierarchy tree, it’s with circles with people working in the different areas. It’s a kind of functional structure, but we are not hierarchical … and we try not to be overly formal in concerns to the manners to manage the business.” (David Marshman)

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Personnel belonging to the same area are in circles outlined in the same colour. Each person has his own specialization, but they all work together at the same level.

School’s Personnel is subdivided into 4 areas: ! Operations; ! Finance; ! Marketing; ! Education: where one teacher for each subject48 is Head of Department and therefore

primarily responsible for teachers in that Department on a day-to-day basis49. The Heads of Departments have to teach a minimum of 8 hours a week, so that they are still aware of what the classroom experience is. They constitute the link between tutors and managers, seniors and principals, who do not teach at all.50

48 Guitar, bass, drum, vocals, dj, production and business. 49 They have to make sure that there is a teacher in every lesson, and if one of the teachers is injured or sick, find his/her substitute. 50 “The others just make maybe occasional lectures, I may do one every now and then, for special accounting/business studies class, but not as a regular thing.” (David Marshman)

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Separately, on the top of the organization, there is the Board of Trustees, which has to oversee the academic provision. School’s managers inform them through the “trustees meetings”. Members of the Board of Trustees do not work at ACM and do not take any salary or anything else from it.

Everybody has to report up to the Strategic Team (in the centre of the organization chart), which is composed by the Financial Controller, the Marketing Manager and the General Manager. The Strategic Team supervises the operations as defined by the Board of Trustees. So the Board of Trustees set out what the School has to try to achieve, and then the Strategic Team makes sure that happens, by having monthly meetings, and by separating the bulk of responsibilities among personnel, as a reply to do those tasks.

COMPOSITION OF ACM PERSONNEL

Admin. & Mgmt 27,3%

Teachers 72,7%

Autonomy and Accountability of Each Member and UnitEverybody at ACM has a recognised specialisation and contribution brought to the team,

and therefore his/her autonomy, responsibility and role within the organization that they are accountable to, but they all try to work together. Emphasis is placed in allowing people to identify their roles and responsibilities and understand how their role integrates into the overall control of ACM.

Anybody that identify a problem can do something about it. Decisions are taken at the same and proper level. As example, the Heads of Department decide for the selection of teachers in their department.51

A hierarchy in the decision making process is required only for matters that involve a large amount of expenditures, but generally speaking people are self empowered to go and make things happen for themselves.

51 “For example the Head of Guitar will pick the guitar teacher. He doesn’t have to refer to anybody else, he is free to make his own selection.” (David Marshman)

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4.6 Style of Management

Hofstede’s Findings: Preferred Styles of Management in Anglo-Saxon Countries52

Low Power Distance (PDI) scores, as in Anglo-Saxon, German and Scandinavian Countries, lead to a democratic style of management with participation and consultation of the Staff.

In these countries subordinates: expect to be consulted, have weak need for dependence on chiefs, criticize symbols of power and social status, can go directly to top management in case of complaints, etc.

The style of management has been defined as “not hierarchical, informal, where everybody is working within their area of specialism, contributing to the business plan as a whole. Everybody knows what the overall aims of the college are, and everybody works towards those goals, to the best they can. So relations among managers and teachers are good and it is a nice place to work” and further on “we are trying to operate quite positively here, we try to apply management by examples and also by assistance. So if somebody does make a mistake, what we really try to do is just to show him how not to do that mistake again. We are trying to create an environment that is supportive. On this basis our Staff turnover is very low, people are generally very happy, a lot of them have been here for quite a long time. It is a sort of culture that prizes loyalty both ways. This is how we get long serving employees.”53

There are no written rules on “how to behave” during lessons and in School’s activities, it is generally accepted that tutors have to respect the same rules the students do in the classrooms and that there is no need to write them because they belong to common sense.54

In case of problems, at ACM, they search for solutions through communication and negotiation, “people may move to different positions, because that suits their style more, but generally speaking we always try to find a solution, preferably trying to do it by starting training, if there is a problem”, confirmed David Marshman, member of the Strategic Team of ACM.

POWER DISTANCE AND PARTICIPATION

Team leaders actively promote an informal working environment to all in the organization, endeavouring to create a fun working atmosphere within which all employees can have input. Emphasis is placed upon the effective communication between education and operations teams resulting in their pulling together to achieve company goals. A great importance is also

52 Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 2nd ed., 2001, pp.372-421 53 From David Marshman’s interview. 54 “I suppose we do that in the Introduction Programs for teachers, where we lay out the reasonable rules of what is required, but it’s all generally quite common sense, like, in the end, no smoking in the buildings, no food or drink in the classrooms… the tutors have to respect the same rules the students do in the classrooms…I can’t think of anything in particular, really its quite all common sense.” (David Marshman)

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given to feedbacks from all external and internal stakeholders, from students through to sponsors and collaborative partners, using every resource available to ensure that their expectations are both met and exceeded. ACM culture endeavours at all levels to have a blame free and open door ethos giving all employees the flexibility to be creative within an environment of encouragement and support.

Everybody can contact anybody in the organization, the organization chart is on the School’s walls, so everybody knows who everybody is. Anyone can go directly to any senior manager in the business with their complaints55, even if, predominantly, the School expects students to go first to their tutors and then to the Head of the Department they are in.

To avoid problems and set up a better relation and experience, ACM considers very important to communicate properly with students, giving them an expectation of what they will get when they arrive, and then fulfilling it. This is the main goal of the Students’ Satisfaction Surveys: “to make sure that the students know what they are expecting to get and they get it.”56

Meetings are the main management tool to inform the Staff and pass ideas and suggestions up and down through the structure57. “We want to make sure that the School has a continuous style of management and also a continuous quality of education and delivery” confirms Mr.Marshman. (see 4.9)

Furthermore, the School’s managers and tutors meet on a daily basis and ACM structure does not make it unmanageable to be informed about everything that is going on58.

4.7 Staff

Hofstede’s Findings: Motivation Patterns in Anglo-Saxon Countries59

Low Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) and high Masculinity (MAS) scores, as in Anglo-Saxon Countries, entail the research and use of motivations by personal, individual success, in the form of wealth, recognition, and self-fulfilment.

This is the classic McClelland-Maslow-Herzberg pattern.

55 “But, as a measure of the success of the college, I can’t remember the last time that happen. We do not get a lot of complaints, less then 10 a year, single figures of complaints. And generally we can resolve them quite amicably, they are not major items: availability of practice space… something that can be resolved, they are not aware of what is available.” (David Marshman) 56 From David Marshman’s interview. 57 “And if something isn’t feasible or not possible, then the information gets back down to the individual, so they understand why we are not putting in action the points that they are mentioning.” (David Marshman) 58 Managers are about 30. 59 Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 2nd ed., 2001, pp.372-421

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The Personnel of ACM is constituted by 80 teachers and 30 people employed in the administration and management. In this analysis I refer to Staff as a synonymous of School’s teachers (administrators and managers are analyzed in § 4.6 and 4.8), while I use Personnel to include both teachers and administrative employees.

CharacteristicsAll ACM teachers are active in the music industry60 and specialists in their field. Many are

big names in the UK and international music industry. Additional masterclasses are regularly given by leading industry professionals.

Teachers are selected on the base of merit, rather than any previous qualification61. Another important characteristic identified is that they have to be dedicated to the School

in terms of flexibility for the part time teaching: all teachers have part time contracts, therefore teaching has to fit in everything else they are doing62.

In 2 years time, in order to be a teacher within the UK, they will also have to possess a “teaching qualification” as a minimum requirement. The School is moving forwards to get its current teachers up to that standard.63 Therefore from 2008 the only actual qualification requirement for new tutors coming will be that they have a P.G.C.E.64 certificate.

Type of contracts

Contract typologies for teachers are essentially two: ! Part time contract that last 4 months: all the teachers have part time contracts based on

their teaching hours. School and teacher agree at the beginning of each term how much teaching s/he has to do, and that could vary on a term by term basis;

! Full time: for the Heads of Department (see § 4.5).

Generally speaking most of the tutors works for 6 hours a day, a minimum of 2 days a week. Most lessons are done in one hour or 2 hours block.

Salaries are calculated with an hourly rate, the same for every teachers, which has been considered “good, well in excess of what teachers normally expect to earn, more than any other School, in order to make it worth for them to come here.”65

Music teachers do not have their own union in the UK. There are no volunteers in the organization.

60 “Most of them are professionals.” (David Marshman)61 “The same criteria that we try to apply to our students.” (David Marshman) 62 “They may have to come here for 2 hours teaching... so they have to invest in the School in terms of working the rest of their musical career around the School.” (David Marshman) 63 “This is not a requirement of the School, that is driven by the Government.” (David Marshman) 64 Post Graduate Certificate of Education. 65 “I won’t say what it is, but it’s a very fair hourly rate... because if you are trying to get professional musicians to teach, they haven’t expectations on how much money they will learn, they have expectation for like a gig in the evening… So, as long as you satisfy that, they will give you the time, so you have to be honest about what these people can expect to earn, but we also have to be honest about what we can afford to pay, given the fact that we get the money from the Government on the same basis of every other school, so we haven’t got an unlimited top about how to pay them.” (David Marshman)

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Autonomy in methods and contents ACM deliver traditional academic programs that satisfy Government’s criteria66. These

bonds tend to dictate a lot of what it has to be told within the lessons and leave only a small space of autonomy to teachers in terms of finding the best way to make it attractive for students67.

Course programs and notes are therefore predetermined and printed in ACM syllabuses. Teachers have to teach what is in the program. Only when course notes are written originally, they have the chance to bring their ideas on them, but once the course is set and the notes are written, they have to deliver what is in the program. ACM makes sure that teachers follow School’s programs through the results of students’ exams and with the Students’ Satisfaction Surveys.

No competition among teachers has been noticed, since “they all have their area of specialism, they don’t compete for the same work, they have different skills and they will be teaching to those skills at.”68

Selection Heads of Department decides for teachers in their department. (see § 4.5)

TrainingTraining is the major tool at ACM to guarantee professional development and satisfaction

to the personnel and to solve its problems. As it is written in the Business Plan 2005, the School “is committed to investing in its people, both in terms of training and resources, and is looking to continue this philosophy in both related and unrelated areas of personal development.” This mission leads to two main targets: continuously monitor their Professional Development Review (PDR) programme and maintain the Investor in People (IiP) standard.

To achieve these targets, ACM provides ongoing training for all employees, even the ones who are not teachers, identifying what skills they need to do their job and then identifying training programs that will help them to get those skills.

Training is therefore also used to face working problems related to skills of the personnel. Instead of using “hard hand”69 or hiring a new skilled70 employee, they try to “find a solution”71, which may be moving people to different positions, because that suits their style more, but, preferably, trying to solve the problem by proper training for that employee.

66 For courses to be funded. 67 With as much interactive content as possible, as much practical content as possible. 68 From David Marshman’s interview. 69 “Very very rare, I can’t remember the last time, I have been here 5 years, I don’t think we fired anybody in the 5 years I have been here.” (David Marshman) 70 And probably more expensive. Teachers in particular all get the same hourly rate, and “if there is a problem, we will go through the training mechanism side, trying to get the quality up, rather than using pay as a lever.” (David Marshman) 71 Through negotiation.

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Finally, ACM is also running72 a Tutor Training Program for its teachers to achieve the P.G.C.E qualification73. Training lasts 18 months, and they are asked to do one evening (3 hours) a week in the School, and the same as homework.

Advancements ACM is committed to the fulfilment of the personnel with a programme of continual

development, linked to visible career opportunities, rewards, personal satisfaction, involvement, recognition and respect.

Advancements are on the base of merit. ACM is committed in giving its personnel a good progression through the School in terms of promotion. Therefore people trying to progress and develop in their career can do so within the School. For instance, many people have started off as a tutor, and moved up to be Head of Department, and then up to Head of School. All of the current Heads of the School started as tutors.

Turnover ACM Staff is generally satisfied, as it is demonstrated by the extremely low Staff turnover

assessed, less than 2% per year.

4.8 Skills74

Skills and Background of the ManagementThe first impression about ACM management is that in this School there is not one single

“guide” or leader, but a united group of people working enthusiastically towards the same direction: excellence in music education.

Each manager, as well as each teacher, has unique and important skills and background to bring to the team. Just reading short biographies of senior managers we can find a successful music outlet retailer, a guitar player, a former manager of a club in London, a former finance director for a big profit company expert in negotiating with governments, an editor and co-founder of a magazine on music business, etc.

Thanks to the success of the ACM educational model, that is also a measure of the quality of this management, the team has been consolidated and enriched with new skills and

72 And paying. 73 See “characteristics of the Staff” 74 This paragraph is based on personal impressions received during my one-day visit at ACM and from the reading of ACM documents. I know that a more in depth acquaintance would have been necessary to have a better and more exhaustive impression about the skills of the personnel. Anyway, it is important to stress that the purpose here is to give some ideas about Music School management and managers, not to describe anybody.

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experiences over the years, and has created a strong core of senior managers that gives and maintains the direction to follow.

Another important characteristic is that most of the managers have progressed in their career inside the School, starting perhaps from being teacher, then moving forwards to Head of Department, then to manager, etc. In this regard, a crucial role has been played by the constant training of the personnel, at every level. This internal professional development path has probably helped ACM and its key personnel to reach a strong organizational culture and unity of vision, goals and style, and therefore a strong and consistent image, strategy and structure.

4.9 Systems

Informative System

ACM is committed to the effective communication of its policies and strategies throughout the business, to allow everyone to appreciate the main aims of ACM and how helping to achieve them.

Reports are written for all meetings, and then available on the network server for anybody to download and read. So ACM has open information for anybody inside the School. Periodic and detailed reports are also given to the Board of Trustees, the Government, the Guildford College and the Middlesex University.

ACM mainly works on pc systems and has now introduced a new software for the management of all stages of student relations, called Eclipse Learner Provider. This will provide the much overdue replacement for the existing Access ’97 based student database and manual register systems. The software, specially constructed to control students within secondary education, holds all personal data of students75 and also their previous qualifications, attendance on programs, examination results, etc. and it is also utilised to provide resource-planning, tutors timesheets and contact management.

The School is now trying to develop an internet system to make it possible for the personnel to access the system from wherever they are.

75 Date of birth, address, etc.

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Meetings: The Cultural Litmus Test According to Pascale and Athos, “Meetings are the cultural litmus test. Culture asserts its

invisible presence on patterns of day-to-day communications. Meetings are the best known mechanism for efficient information sharing, for accomplishing collective problem solving and coordinated action.” 76

The structure of meetings is the essence and the main tool of internal communication and participation at ACM (see § 4.6). Information flows from the Strategic Team to the Operations and Education Teams by means of structured management meetings, providing the medium for the mutual exchange of information for the benefit of ACM as a whole.

Some of the most important and frequent meetings in the ACM agenda are: ! Education Team meeting: every 2 weeks; ! Marketing Team meeting: every 2 weeks; ! Strategic Team meeting: once a month; ! Meeting with the Trustees; ! informal meetings within Departments.

Planning, Budgeting and Controlling Systems

Hofstede’s Findings: Planning and Controlling Systems in Anglo-Saxon Countries77

In countries with low Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) and Power Distance (PDI) scores, as the Anglo-Saxon and the Scandinavian ones, the P&C system is less detailed, the Staff participates in planning and accepts big changes, the control system is based on trust in subordinates, norms support “strategic” and long-term thinking78.

The development of the long and short-term business policies and strategies necessary to allow for the effective management of ACM is a priority. As a result of the success of ACM, improvements have been made to the financial reporting within the business. That improvement was initially targeted for improving information for senior managers and external users, but it is now the intention to flow relevant financial information to everyone within ACM, to assist them in measuring their contribution to the business.

76 R.T.Pascale, A.G.Athos, The Art of Japanese Management, 1981, p.130 77 Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 2nd ed., 2001, pp.372-421 78 Even if all European and Western countries are generally short-term oriented, on the contrary of the Eastern ones, as explained by the fifth dimension (LTO) added by Hofstede in the second edition of Culture’s consequences (2001).

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The goals of each individual and department are established by consultation between all parties in order to ensure that everyone is satisfied that their objectives are realistic and achievable.

Furthermore, the marginal utilisation of all available resources is stated as key critical for the continuing development of ACM.79 In ten years, as a result of ACM success, the capacity has always been run completely, to 97% or more.

In this regard, it has never happened that a course did not reach the number of participants required to achieve its break even point, but should it happen80, ACM managers would not be allowed to run it, whithout a prior evaluation of the overall finances of the college. If the College had another program that was making enough money to cover that short fall, they would have the discretion to run it, and then decide81.

Teaching calendar includes 47 out of 52 weeks in the year, 6 days a week.82

Economic Valuations The main driver in economic decisions and valuations is to maintain solvency, as it is also

required by Government’s criteria. ACM is a not-for-profit organization, therefore no money gets distributed and it is not possible to spend more than earned, but a certain percentage of assets is to be maintained, in terms of cash.83

TOTAL REVENUES

Total revenues of ACM in 2005 were about 6,9 million euros.

COMPOSITION OF ACM REVENUES

Student contribution

30%

Government funding 70%

PRICING DECISIONS

Pricing decisions are described in § 4.2 and 4.4

79 The development of process controls is regarded as of prime importance to achieving maturity within ACM. 80 “Touch wood!” (David Marshman) 81 “Or we would have to return the fees and any money that the students contributed.” (David Marshman) 82 “We close down for a couple of week at Christmas, a week at Easter and 2 weeks in the summer.” (David Marshman) 83 “So the Government is sure that you are liquid and that you could pay your debt.” (David Marshman)

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COMPOSITION OF ACM COSTS

other costs 16%

Advertising & Marketing 3%

Accomodation Rentals 6%

Teaching Materials 15%

Administration Salaries 30%

Teaching Salaries 30%

Non-economic Valuations

AGE DISTRIBUTION OF STUDENTS

25+ 30%

16-24 years old 70%

DISTRIBUTION AMONG INSTRUMENTS

Drums 12%

Music Production & DJ 30%

Vocals 14%

Bass Guitar 10%

Guitar 34%

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WHERE ACM STUDENTS COME FROM

from other parts of UK

28%

outside UK 5%

inside "community

distance" (50km)

66%

See also § 4.2. This statistic is always available and controlled by the School and reported to the Government, as for its specific request.

AVERAGE LENGTH OF ATTENDANCE

Programmes last either one or two years full time. It is possible for a student to take all the full time programmes and attend a total of 4 years.

STUDENTS’ SATISFACTION

See “Quality” in § 4.4

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF TEACHERS

There is no precise performance evaluation of single teachers. In the “Students’ Satisfaction Surveys”, used to monitor the quality of the educational process, only the name of the instrument is indicated, not the name of the teacher84. If the results of those surveys are positive, the School is satisfied, if they are not, the School Management tries to make changes in the lessons or it provides training to teachers to improve their skills. But every decision is taken through previous communication and explanations to School’s personnel, “so that they do not feel watched or measured”85. (see also “Quality” in § 4.4)

Teaching standards are only measured by the formal assessment of inspectors of the Government86. In 2005, on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is the best and 5 is the worst, ACM was rated 2, “far better than average” commented Mr.Marshman.

EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNICATION

Statistics regarding the number and origin of hits on the website and the effectiveness of all other types of marketing communications are constantly monitored by the Marketing Team.

84 And not even the name of the student. 85 From David Marshman’s interview. 86 Office of Standards within Education. See § 4.2

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WHERE ACM STUDENTS HEARD ABOUT ACM

Website 15%

Other marketing 15%

Recommendations by existing/former

students 70%

Incentive System All teachers get the same hourly rate (see § 4.7). There are no economic incentives based

on results.

FINAL ASSESSMENT

4.10 Overall S-Consistency of the School All 7 S’s of ACM and the external environment (United Kingdom and Guildford) appear

aligned, connected together in a consistent way and contribute to the School’s success. The following figure is a graphic representation of the S-Consistency of the School.

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5.Taller de Músics Barcelona

“…converting the street to a square, they kept the name and next to the new sign is still the old one:

“Calle de la Duda, Distrito III”. This allows us to go on living next to doubt (dubte in Catalan, duda in Spanish),

which is a condition for keeping learning.”1

Lluís Cabrera Founder and Director-General of

Taller de Músics Barcelona

una escola. un barri. una ciutat. Everything started in the Raval district2, in the “Ciutat Vella”, the old part of the city of

Barcelona, in a rather small ground-floor warehouse that had formerly served to store books.3

The yard in front of the School is a public place and that has marked its relationship with the neighbourhood. It is an “agora” in the old style, a meeting place within an area in which, not long ago, many people were still living on the margin of society.4

When Taller de Músics began its activities in the autumn of 19795, the Catalan musical industry was going through a metamorphosis of considerable degree, evidenced by the massive transfer of its decision making and production centres to Madrid. As an inevitable result of this situation, musical creativity in Catalonia experienced a profound shake-up and the pop and jazz musicians in the region went into hibernation or undertook professional retraining, which transformed a whole generation artistically cut short, into another made up of dedicated teachers.

In parallel with that, there was in Barcelona at that time a multitude of foreign musicians from very different places: from Germany, Yugoslavia, Japan and, predominantly, South

1 Lluís Cabrera, “Singing walls”: an article appeared on the magazine of the municipality of Barcelona and available on its internet website. 2 SGA (General Association of Authors) have shot a film on the Taller history in 2005. 3 “It was in the year 1979 and very few people had faith in the future of such an atypical Music School, which gathered into a small, rather uncomfortable space no less than three classrooms, one secretary and a bunch of students aged between twenty-five and thirty.” (taken from “Barcelona Metropolis Mediterrania” n. 44, available on the website) 4 “From the Taller de Músics we can explain the influence our organisation has had since 1979 in the changes and transformations experienced in the triangle formed by the Príncep de Viana, Requesens and Cendra streets, in the area bordering with Ronda de Sant Antoni, Riera Alta and Sant Antoni Abat. Twenty-five years ago, this enclave was still known as belonging to Barcelona’s “barrio chino”. The Taller is basically a music school but it is also a bar club (Jazz Sí), a record company, an artistic production company as well as a group deeply rooted from its very start-off in the neighbourhood’s social problems and its wish for progressing and achieving all that has to do with human relations in a quarter that was on the brink of marginalisation.” (Lluís Cabrera, “Singing walls”)5 The name means ‘Music Workshop’: “The idea was to set up a workshop in the old style, one of those workshops where you registered as an apprentice and were trained to become a skilled worker.” (Lluís Cabrera, “Singing walls”)

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America (Chile, Argentina and Uruguay). From these emerged the initial teaching nucleus of the Taller de Músics. This geographical eclecticism meant that for all of them jazz acted as a sound bridge, while at the same time supplying the School with two of its most distinctive characteristics: openness to varied stylistic aims and natural tendency to freedom.6

Taller de Músics (Music Workshop), is an open and generic name that well expresses these characteristics. Although jazz has always represented the backbone of the School, many other branches have emerged during the years, dedicated to rock, Afro-Cuban music and, especially, flamenco, a style which has become an essential facet of the mature stage of the Taller.

When the school completed, not without efforts, its first six months of teaching activity, the creation of the First International Jazz Seminar (Banyoles, May-June 1980) became the manifestation of a wish for permanent change and internationalization.7

Many people from Barcelona and around, in spite of their pop allegiance, attended the courses and jam sessions, and so did dedicated music students from other parts of Spain, fully aware that the Taller de Músics was where there could live the spirit of Orpheus, so often suffocated in the conservatories.

The years 1979-1983 represented a phase of tremendous dynamism and change in the internal history of the Taller. There began a period of more regulated and complex teaching structure and a generation of musicians grew up, who are today considered as the essential nucleus of current Spanish jazz.

The middle of 1992 saw the opening of “Jazz Sí”, a live music club where the school becomes a stage.8

Feeding on its suburban roots, the School has grown into an inexhaustible nursery for musicians, and its sphere of influence keeps extending through an uninterrupted flow of breathtaking activities: music festivals, meetings and seminars, concerts, special events, disc productions, assignments, publications, promotion works, etc.

Today the Taller can state with true pride that there is no Spanish jazz musician between 20 and 40 years of age who has not, at one time or another, had something to do with Taller de Músics, be it through its classrooms or by taking part in one of its seminars. At the same time, Catalan flamenco, one of the most interesting expressions of the time, blossomed over Spain, is structured around courses, concert activities, and festivals organised by the Taller. Besides this, today there are more than 20 Schools operating in Catalonia, maintaining the

6 “The arrival to the triangle of the Taller’s initiating group, was a meeting of musicians from different cultures. This mix was the most emblematic exponent of the organisation’s birth. This fact was neither planned nor sought, it simply happened naturally as a result of the circumstances given at that moment of political change and especially of the will of opening and welcoming creators and artists from all over the world and the hope shared by all in Barcelona that the new times would bring about new realities. The group was united by jazz, a language that allowed them to carry on their pedagogic work while everyone still could introduce his distinctive style. Catalans, Argentineans, Chileans, Uruguayans, Yugoslavs, Japanese and Germans conformed a mosaic where jazz was not an end but a mean.” (Lluís Cabrera, “Singing walls”)7 “This meeting of cultures, this platform of diversity had no distinctive label back in 1979. Today it has the one of interculturality. ” (Lluís Cabrera, “Singing walls”) 8 See “Product” in § 5.4

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structural model of the Taller de Músics, almost all of them under the control and the management of musicians who passed through Taller classrooms.9

Taller de Músics facts and figures SPAIN: the Taller is the biggest private Music School in terms of students number. STUDENTS: Approx. 1000 students (more than 10% coming from foreign countries to study here) STAFF: Approx. 85 teachers (8 of which are Chiefs of Department ) and 8 administrators (plus support from other Taller de Músics organizations) PREMISES: 1300 square metres of floor space over 7 premises TALLER MODEL: more than 20 schools in Catalonia have adopted the same structural model. 13 schools, centres and institutions currently receive support from the Taller for educational projects.

EXTERNAL CONSISTENCY OF THE SCHOOL

5.1 State: Catalonia10 and Music

The music tradition in the Catalan society is a characteristic feature of its identity.The most famous music genre, is the “sardana”, that accompany the national Catalan dance

since the 19th century. Flamenco, an original tradition of the south of Spain, has a strong presence in Catalonia,

mainly because of the many Andalusian immigrants, and it has a new development known as “Catalan flamenco”.

Popular music, in the European and North American sense, never had the possibility to develop in Spain. In the ‘70s, when Franchism was near the end, political songs had great importance but never let popular music to express itself completely.

Rock, pop and singer-songwriters’ scene is instead rather animated in the Barcelona’s and Catalan clubs. The most important and interesting figure is Manu Chao, former singer of the

9 When not specified from other sources, this introduction has been taken and adapted from “Taller de Músics – Music School”, 2000, a presentation of the School and the organization, sponsored by the City Government of Barcelona. 10 For the analysis of the general context it has been chosen Catalonia, instead of Spain as a whole, because it possesses peculiar and rather different characteristics.

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alternative group “Mano Negra”, that unites and mixes different music styles and languages in engaging rhythms with a countercultural message.

Another distinctive feature of the region is the explosion of experimental music. Because of the presence of large immigrants groups, Barcelona and Catalonia are a good

place to listen Latin-American and Afro music. The classical music tradition lives because of two worldwide known stars: José Carreras

and Montserrat Caballé. During the Summer the capital is animated by a great number of music festivals, such as

the Grec Festival, organized by the City Council, the European Jazz Festival, SÓNAR (electronic music festival), LEM (experimental music festival), Tradicionàrius, etc.11

Music Education in Catalonia12

In this region there is a very old tradition of education to music studies. Until the end of the XIX century, learned music was taught in monasteries while popular music by common people.

Starting from 1600, Montserrat started a period of musical splendour and, today, its School can be considered the most ancient School of Music in Europe.

During the XIX century, music education passed from the control of the Church to civic organizations, through the establishment of the Conservatory of Liceu and the Municipal School of Music of Barcelona, and the creation of several music groups, bands, chorus, church choirs, etc.

During the first third of XX century, music education in Catalonia consolidated its position, with a big proliferation of organizations dedicated to music education, such as,conservatories, private academies, religious choirs and choral groups.

After the Second World War conservatories’ deficiencies caused the establishment of private schools and organisations that often substitute public educational functions not carried out by municipal schools.

The first jazz Music Schools were established in Catalonia at the end of the ‘70s, due to the restlessness of some professionals, who wanted to create new study programs for the new music, modifying and adapting them to the educational needs.

During that period, two important Schools of Modern Music were also started, which still exist today: the “Aula” and the “Taller de Músics”, specialized in teaching jazz and modern music. In these Schools, most teachers are active musicians, and this generates an atmosphere of confidence in the students and, in most cases, an higher teaching quality.

In the Schools of Modern Music, together with Jazz, any other modern music genre is taught: from flamenco to Brazilian rhythms, from rock to Cuban music, etc.

11 Taken and adapted from: the Rough Guide to Barcelona, 2002 (ed.it. p.175) 12 EMIPAC, Escoles de Música d’Iniciativa Privada A Catalunya i la seva realitat actual, 2004, passim

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THE GENERAL EDUCATION SYSTEM LAW (LOGSE)13

The law that regulates the educational system in Spain since 1990, sets the separation of educational centres as follows14:

! Schools for the Primary Education: can teach only at the level corresponding to the four courses of the elementary degree;

! Professional Centres (Conservatories): can give music lessons at medium degree and, eventually, at elementary degree (but not at higher degree);

! Higher Schools of Music: can provide courses at higher degree only.

Therefore, after the coming into force of the LOGSE in the educational system, lessons which could have been given in the past in one centre only, will be given at least in two centres: one for the elementary and medium degrees and the other one for the higher degree.

The law has also regulated the requirements for teachers and tutors to teach in each level of the educational system and the national curriculum for music education in primary and secondary schools. 15

Public Sector PoliciesPublic sector policies in music education are here very similar to the ones of the Italian

Governments and Public Administrators. Both the Government and local authorities have always privileged and recognized only public Conservatories that teach classical music education. They have therefore massively financed these institutions, no matter their results in terms of enrolments and students’ satisfaction, leaving private Modern Music Schools without real support and possibility to issue recognized qualification.16

Some small improvements came from the new national curriculum for music education (LOGSE), that, at least, has led to the creation of schools for further education that include modern music in their programs17. Even so the general disparity of treatment between public and private schools and the lack of control and connection to results in giving funds of the system still persist and is sometimes disconcerting.

13 LOGSE is the “Lei Orgànica 1/990 d’Ordenació General del Sistema Educatiu”, the law (general planning) that regulates the educational system in Spain since 1990. 14 Taken and adapted from: Maria Serrat i Martin, Els ensenyaments musicals a Catalunya 1996/2002, Barcelona, Prohom Edicions i Serveis Culturals, 2005 15 This is Lluís Cabrera’s opinion on the LOGSE expressed “Barcelona Metropolis Mediterrania” n.49: “Another extremely negative factor, in my opinion, is the sop of including music on the compulsory curriculum under the terms of the current Education Act (LOGSE) and how this is now being applied. It is a total failure, an easy subject and mere filler to round off courses of study that, rather than awakening students' interest, encourages them to reject it. What good is it to anyone? As far as I can see, only as a lifesaver for graduates in any subject who are desperate for work and who can teach a handful of hastily learned and poorly understood clichés.”16 “Under the heading of frankly negative aspects, I would include the consistent institutional neglect of everything connected with music, which is never seen as it is, as a highly complex and polymorphous cultural (and leisure) sphere, but rather as an activity that confers social status and is therefore fertile ground for political patronage.” (Lluís Cabrera, “Barcelona Metropolis Mediterrania” n.49)17 10% of the courses are dedicated to jazz and modern music (Source:ESMUC website. See “References”)

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In Spain, Local Governments (Autonomous Regions and City Councils) finance the most part of public cultural expenditures. This is especially true for the autonomous regions of Catalunia and of the Basque countries, that indeed have created and currently finance the only two Higher Schools of Music (ESMUC18) in the country.

The Central Government’s output expenditure on culture in Spain is about 0,3% of the total State budget19 (much less than in Scandinavian countries where is about 1,3-1,5%), and are divided into the different levels of government.20

WHO FINANCES CULTURE IN SPAIN

Regions 28,6%

State 12,2%

City Councils 59,2%

Legislation Two unions defend music teachers’ rights in Spain. The most important is connected to the

socialist party and has in the Taller one tutor as representative. Information about income tax deductions, pensions and social security for artists and

teachers are not available.21

Music Schools in Catalonia22

In Catalonia, differing from the rest of Spain, most Music Schools are private (70%) and have constituted the association of the “Private Schools of Music of Catalonia” (EMIPAC), which aims to find common actions for the future of music education and Schools in the region.

The local Government did not play a central role in the development of that network of private Schools choosing instead to continue financing only public Conservatories that teach only classical music. The importance given by the politicians in the support of the Conservatories is clear when we look at the number of these institutions in the region: eleven.

As it has been remarked, in Barcelona there is one of the two Higher Schools of Music in Spain (ESMUC), which is the only one that can currently provide recognized qualifications of higher education. The ESMUC depends on and is financed by the regional Government.

18 Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya. 19 In 2003. It is almost the same percentage of Italy, but it is to be considered that in Italy the Government’s output expenditure on culture represents 52% of the total funding to culture. Culture in Spain is 4,5% of Gross National Product (GNP). 20 Source: European Union - Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe website (see “References”) 21 And probably not present in the Spanish legislative system. 22 Source: EMIPAC, Escoles de Música d’Iniciativa Privada A Catalunya i la seva realitat actual, 2004, passim

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ESMUC has been established 5 years ago, as a consequence to the new national curriculum for music education (LOGSE), it consists in the union of the Conservatory, for the classic music part and a new sector for modern music23 (10%24).

It has been estimated that in the 252 private Music Schools in Catalonia work 5100 teachers and 750 administrative employees, for a total of about 6000 people. The estimated turnover is about 45 millions euros. Total amount of pupils and students has been calculated in 60.000 participants.

5.2 Barcelona

Economic, Social and Demographic StructureBarcelona is the capital city of Catalonia, the richest part and “economic engine” of Spain.

It is located along the Mediterranean coast, 160 km south of the Pyrenees mountain range. The population of the city proper is 1.593.07525. It is the second largest city in Spain and it numbers around 230.942 immigrants, many of them from Spain's former possessions in Latin America.26

Music Environment See “Catalonia and Music” in § 5.1

Relations and Funds from the Public Administration Taller de Músics is not, and never was, funded by the Public Administration for the School

of Music27. In order to receive some financial supports, the Taller had to modify its juridical status for the part related to extra-scholastic activities, from Association to Foundation. The Taller de Músics Foundation now organizes every year important music events, such as the “International Jazz Seminar” and the “Flamenco Festival”, with the financial support of the Catalan Government.

Lately, the Town Council of Barcelona decided for the first time to support the Taller with the restoration of the School and the construction of a new library. But, apart from these

23 “Based on a copy of the education system and the methodology of the Taller” (Blanca Gallo, Taller de Músics’ Director of Operations). See also “Product” in § 5.4 24 Source: ESMUC website (see “References”) 25 Estimated 2005. 26 Source: Wikipedia, the free internet encyclopedia (see “References”) 27 “And the oddest thing is that, as Mr.Cabrera likes to point out, ‘Everything we organize is done at no cost to the Treasury, because the School is absolutely self-sufficient financially speaking’. Uttering a sardonic chuckle, he adds : ‘We have a close relationship with the public institutions, but we don't sleep together.” (from “Barcelona Metropolis Mediterrania” n.44)

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sporadic helps, the School’s personnel has been used to solve problems by itself during these first 25 years.28

RELATIONS WITH THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

The Taller, instead, positively interacts with the community at large, cooperating and communicating with it to the point of changing the surrounding environment29.

In terms of activities, the School supports and works together with 13 other schools, institutions and organizations of the whole region for educational projects.30

Moreover, Taller de Músics provided the educational model to more than 20 Schools operating in Catalonia.

CompetitorsAs it has been said, in Catalonia most Music Schools are private, and this trend is even

higher in the city of Barcelona (80%).31 Taller de Músics is, by far, the biggest School of Music in Barcelona and of the whole

Spain, and does not have any comparable private competitor in the surrounding area. The main competition and problem is, here again, on the fund raising side, which is, for the

School of Music, inexistent. Therefore, private Schools and cultural organizations, while they of course monitor and compete with each other, tend instead more to cooperate and form a common front for their claims to the Government and public institutions.

RELATIONS WITH THE CONSERVATORY

The Taller is a School of Modern Music and has therefore no relations with the Conservatory, which is teaching only classic music.

With the LOGSE, the Conservatory, already in a persisting crisis, is allowed to issue only “primary” and “medium” level qualifications, and therefore is loosing further importance and students’ enrolments.

In order to try to stop this trend, the Conservatory has proposed to the Taller to organise together sector of modern music activities.

28 “Over this long evolution we definitely did learn to be patient and to understand vis-à-vis the hardship of marginality, the dialogue has to take place above municipal and/or governmental bodies. Rather than having the police come in again and again, in the triangle we have learned to talk, we felt that communication came before repression.” (Lluís Cabrera, “Singing walls”) 29 “We cannot talk about municipal urban policies, legislation, rules or questions brought forward by official bodies. In Cendra, Requesens and Príncep de Viana it was the creation and the further development of the Taller de Músics that facilitated the enclave’s renewal, change and transformation.” (Lluís Cabrera, “Singing walls”). See also the preceding footnote. 30 Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Aules de Cultura de l'Ayuntament de l'Hospitalet, Ayuntamiento de Zarautz, Combo de Granollers, Esclat de Manresa, Escuela de Música de Premiá de Mar, Escuela Municipal de Esparraguera, Aula Musical de Girona, etc. (Source: Taller de Músics website, see “References”) 31 See “Empirical Contributions” in § 8.1

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THE ESMUC

After the LOGSE and the decision to create in Catalonia a Higher School of Music that included both classical and modern music, Taller de Músics was one of the first organizations, because of its experience and original teaching model, to be asked to contribute in the creation of the new study programs. Its Artistic Director, Lluis Vergés, one of the creators of the Taller’s teaching methodology, was officially hired as teaching advisor by the City Council for the creation of the jazz department at the upcoming Higher School of Music.

After 5 years of work, the ESMUC were established in the brand new astonishing facilities, and Mr.Vergés, definitively employed as a professor at the jazz department, left the Taller. Other tutors continue to teach at the Taller while they also teach at the ESMUC with some relevant differences: at the ESMUC they are paid four times more32 and are officially recognized as professors. Moreover, the ESMUC can issue a recognized educational qualification, equivalent to that of a University, and this is very important for the students.

An other contradiction is that, while Taller’s diploma are not legally recognized, Taller’s students are accepted at the ESMUC33.

At the moment the Taller de Músics is trying to obtain, if not funds, at least the legal recognition of its tutors and qualifications through the relations with the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.34

(See also “Music Schools in Catalonia” in § 5.1)

32 Than Taller and market salaries. 33 Because only the Diploma of the Conservatories, that teach only classical music, is legally recognized, therefore, in order to have students of modern music at the Higher School of Music, they take them from private Music Schools. 34 Because the Government seems irremovable.

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INTERNAL CONSISTENCY OF THE SCHOOL35

5.3 Shared Values and Mission

Mission The main goal of the School is to educate and train future professional musicians. From the School’s presentation36 it is possible to read some characteristic features and

objectives of the Taller’s study program ideology: “The challenge was to create a project for musical education directed towards jazz. The European teaching tradition, with its traditional difficulties, did not suit us, and the North American trends presented difficulties for a student of Latin idiosyncrasies37. From all this our own project for education emerged, a synthesis of the miscegenation of every style which defines the end of our century: jazz, Latin music, Brazilian music, rock, funk, flamenco, Mediterranean music, etc.

With the object of establishing a teaching rationale in accordance with our times, the educational program of the Taller de Músics is capable of imparting the sensitivity and breadth necessary for the awareness of other genres and styles.

The creative process within the field of performance, and that of composition, demands, in addition to ability and natural aptitude, special conditions for its expression. In this respect, we must not forget that music, as a form of artistic expression, contains an important element of craftsmanship. The profession of musician requires a systemized training which must be applied in a special way, but carried out with maximum liberty, always encouraging the student’s musicality. To achieve these objectives, the Taller de Músics stimulates spontaneity through continuous practice in instrumental ensembles. Through the interpretation of music in a group is where the student understand “in situ” the meaning of everything he is taught. On the other hand, we must not forget the discipline involved in a musical apprenticeship. In this way, we avoid falling into the trap of believing that continuous instrumental practice produces

35 When not specified from other source, all information have been gathered from the interview (3/3/2006) to Blanca Gallo (Director of Operations of Taller de Músics – Music School) and Lola Huete (Responsible for Image and Public Relations), from Taller de Músics publications and from the website (see “References”) 36 In the publication “Taller de Músics – Music School”, 2000. 37 “When the Taller de Músics was created, nobody would have imagined that its peculiar Modern Music syllabus would one day appear as a valid alternative to any other course of study. "At that time - Lluís Cabrera recalls - the sole point of reference to create a Music School curriculum was jazz. And, even though the prestigious Berklee School of Massachusetts had proposed to us that we might like to copy its syllabus, we were quite aware that our general levels of knowledge and training were rather different. So, with the contribution of other music experts, principally the Chilean pianist Mario Lecaros and the Portuguese contrabassist Zé Eduardo, we worked out a method of our own, adapted to our more anarchic, Latin idiosyncrasies". At the present time, the Taller boasts a complete teaching body directed by Xavier Fort and formed by experts in pedagogic and musical subjects who devote themselves to the creation and constant renovation of study programmes and books.” (taken from “Barcelona Metropolis Mediterrania” n.44)

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all the knowledge that is needed. For all these reasons, we emphasize all aspects related with musical language, harmony, arrangements, analysis, the history of jazz, and musical aesthetics.

The Taller de Músics, leader in the creation of the methodology and in the publication of books and manuals, have shaped the musical personality of a whole generation of instrumentalists and at the same time has formed a teaching model which has been adopted by other schools. The teaching staff of the Taller de Músics is made up of active musicians in the field of performance and composition. This is a fact, however, that is not at all common in the field of musical teaching.

Finally, it is to emphasize the flexibility of the study program, revised annually and changed to adapt it to the needs produced by the new and more varied aesthetic ideas.”38

Shared Values The Taller de Músics, through its study program, establishes a pedagogy in accordance

with our time, able to stimulate and facilitate the creative and interpretative process, as making the student enjoying the maximum of natural faculties and inclinations.

Taller de Músics’ activities are based on the following principles: ! Music contains an artisan depth charge; ! You need to have a general feeling of the process of an artistic education and go

through contents constantly; ! It is important to promote the spirit of the necessity of a constant search; ! The continuous practice (individual or collective) which is, in fact as important as

knowledge; ! Education and personal relations have to be marked by tolerance and respect for the

freedom of individuals, of his/her personality and convictions, which cannot be constrained by any kind of coercion nor obligation to take any ideology or belief;

! The right of each school member to take part in any kind of decisions; ! The guidance of the students with the purpose of making them more and more responsible

for their own education; ! The right for everybody to express their thoughts, ideas and opinions, with due respect to

the teachers’ academic freedom, without using learning as a mean for manipulating or controlling the students;

! To secure the internal order, which allows to reach, in the best possible way, the School’s educational objectives.

38 Lluís Vergés, Artistic Director of the Taller de Músics. (2000)

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5.4 Strategy

Target Market Anyone wishing to make music their profession. Amateurs can also find here the possibility to learn how to play an instrument attending

only individual weekly lessons, not completing the study program with complementary and theoretical courses. In this case, they remain at the elementary level, and do not move forward to the medium and high degrees.

There is no age limit to enrol to Taller’s courses. The most part of the students are aged between 18 and 25/30 years old.

4P of the School:

Product The original program of studies of the Taller is structured in 3 levels: elementary, medium

and advanced degree. To reach the final qualification for each level, students have to pass exams of both instrumental and theoretical subjects. Instrumental lessons are individual, while other subjects are attended in groups.39

Each course lasts three months, after which, having completed the course and passed the corresponding test, the student can move up to the following level. This is the synoptic table of the study plan:

39 “For instance, a weekly schedule might be: one (50 minutes) individual instrumental lesson, one lesson of musical language (3 hours of theory, rhythm, lecture, ear training, etc.), one of harmony (1,20h), one of instrumental ensemble (combo – 1,20h)…and all the week to study.” (Blanca Gallo)

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Once completed the elementary degree, it is possible to be admitted in lessons of the medium degree, and after that, to the ones of the higher degree, where students have to choose a specialization, becoming either instrumentalists or composers/arrangers.

As an instrumentalist, it is possible to specialize in jazz, Latin music, flamenco or rock.

AMATEURS

People not interested in a career in music can choose to attend only individual instrumental lessons, once a week.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

The School also cooperates with 13 other schools, institutions and organizations of the whole region for educational projects. (see “Relations with the community” in § 5.2)

The Taller also organizes important seminars and workshops mixing together artists coming from different fields of music.

Taller de Músics is also a Foundation, funded by the Catalan Government, that organizes musical events such as the “International Jazz Seminar” and the “Flamenco Festival”, and an organization that manages a record label, a club and several concerts in Catalonia. These other two organizations grew up with the School of Music and are still “melted together”, but are now juridically distinct.

An important part in the events and productions is played by Flamenco, especially in its Catalan development, an original Spanish music genre able to be understood and exported outside the country.40

THE JAZZ Sí CLUB

It is a meeting place for teachers and students and also functions as an auditorium, where the auditions are held every term. Also, jam sessions, and most of the talks and seminars which are organised throughout the year take place here.

Since its creation in 1992, the Jazz Sí Club has offered live music daily. Festivals have been held there, as well as musical cycles, discussions and lectures. It has also been a centre for exchanges with other similar centres such as the Stadtgarten in Cologne.41

40 “We have also a dance company of Flamenco, we are working with a Flamenco artist at the moment… More than management, we like to do production, mix artists and do something special. We are also a small record company. But the School is not distributing the cds, as we are not distributors.” (Lola Huete) 41 “The Jazz Sí Club has marked a turning point in our development insofar as we now have a showcase for our school activities. It works as a permanent musical exhibition which embraces all genres and styles and where concerts are given every day : on Mondays, jam sessions and all kinds of musical improvisations; on Wednesdays, jazz; on Thursdays, cuban music; on Fridays, flamenco; and we also welcome rock music groups whose full blast performamces often make the audience raise the roof at weekends...” (from Lluís Cabrera’s interview to “Barcelona Metropolis Mediterrania”)

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TALLER ID CARD

When students enrol at the School, they receive an ID card valid for one year which offers various discounts: 25% on all concerts performances, discount on ticket prices for the Club Jamboree, discounts and special offers in various music shops (instruments, discs, etc.) and all normal advantages of a student ID card.

QUALITY

At the Taller, high standard quality is obtained by revising annually the study program on the base of new ideas and styles.

Furthermore, students’ satisfaction and feedbacks are constantly monitored through the “Students’ Satisfaction Surveys”. (see § 5.9)

In 200442 the Taller Foundation went through a “Quality Process” required by the Government to meet the necessary prerequisites to obtain the official recognition and government funds.

Price Prices depend on the number of subjects the student chooses to attend in the four-month

period. For one individual instrumental lesson of 50 minutes the four-monthly fee is 395€, and the same cost have most of the collective lesson. Special discounts are available for each combinations of courses in the same period.

Workshops and masterclasses with well-known tutors and artists usually cost a bit more, but sometimes the School may decide to consider them important for the image of the School and the education of students, and therefore not to earn money from them.43

The School grants scholarships44 to students living in families with low income, on the base of merit. Another 8 scholarships per year are available from the A.I.E.45 The School’s students do not have access to Government scholarships, while it is possible for those attending recognized public Music Schools.

Promotion The most part of the students comes to the School by word of mouth46 from current or

former students. This is the only medium for the promotion of the School in Latin America47

and abroad, since no other advertising campaign has ever been made.

42 To which the organisation chart refers. 43 Or maybe because they are in group lessons with many enrolments, therefore the cost are easily covered. 44 Financed by the School. 45 Sociedad des Artistes Interpretes o Ejecutantes, the Association of Authors, Artists and Performers. “It is financed by 7 Spanish Schools of Music, included the Taller. Each School has to provide for as much as half of the value of the scholarship, the other half is financed by the AIE. Each of the 7 Schools, regardless of its dimension, disposes of 8 scholarships. 46 “We do not know the exact figure, but we suppose that is more than 70%.” (Blanca Gallo) 47 5% of current students come from Latin America.

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The School advertises seminars, concerts or other extra-scholastic activities, but not normal courses.

The School invests about 4% of the revenues in advertising. The main marketing channels are:

! The website: the second source of new students, after word of mouth. Hits are monitored by the IT Responsible of the organization, but from time to time and not in detail48;

! Press conferences: where news about productions or important seminars, that are appealing to the journalists, are combined with information about School’s courses.49

The School, especially through the voice of its Director-General and Founder, Lluís Cabrera, has always had a relevant presence in the local media and has always taken part in public discussions about the cultural life and music activities in Barcelona50;

! Flyers: usually available only in the School’s premises, to give information to the students. Sometimes they are distributed at the end of concerts and events;

! The Catalan magazine “Jazz”: it is now the first time that the School advertise on a magazine. They decided to do so because they have good relations and regard of this two-monthly magazine.

Place The School has 1300 square meters positioned over 7 premises and is located in the “Ciutat

Vella”, the old part of Barcelona. The main building and office are in Carrer de Requenses, while other schoolrooms are along the two surrounding streets51, easily recognizable for the common “green Taller” colour of the façades.

The main premises and the club are own by the School, while some separated schoolrooms are rented.52

48 It has been reported a monthly average of 7.000 hits to the School’s website. 49 “For instance: ‘Morientes singing with Bulgarian voices’, or ‘Poveda singing Catalan poets’, these kind of productions that the press is more interested in. And during those occasions we give information on the School’s music courses too. If we would organise press conferences only for the beginning of the School lessons, journalists would not come.” (Blanca Gallo) 50 As it is demonstrated by the many articles founded in the internet where the Taller takes position on many different issues regarding the Catalan Capital. In the following extract, Mr.Cabrera describes how this presence was also used to realize the development of the School and of the entire area: “It is important to point out that the representatives of the so-called “speculating” sector were scared at the perspective of having media reporting about their entry, no matter how legitimate it was, into a place where, apart from flats, there were facilities devoted to arts and culture. They were aware that the Taller had a certain presence in the press, radio and TV and were not ready to have that issue spread. This trump was played with intelligence to the benefit of all.” (Lluís Cabrera, “Singing walls”) 51 Carrer Princep de Viana and Carrer de la Cendra. 52 Another thing would be to refurbish them to carry out a musical activity without having the neighbours complaining about the noise, with costly and difficult sound damping under the scrupulous eyes of the dwellers, thinking that the arrival of musicians would mean another inconvenience (noise) to their restless life in the area. We are talking about century-old houses then inhabited by elderly people. (…) The general trend was to buy after tough negotiation, attempts by the “speculating” branch to divide through secret individual conditions, and so forth. Due to the seed of the denomination of origin (Taller de Músics), we had to take part in many agreements of this kind, thus gaining experience in this domain, and asserting, to our own benefit and that of the

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As the introduction to the School points out, the Taller is deeply rooted in the place where it has developed, and it has positively contributed to modify its surrounding environment.53

Competitive AdvantageMain competitive advantages identified are: ! Professionalism: all other Schools in Barcelona do not have the same study path, similar

to the university one, leading to professionalism; ! Reputation and experience: the School, one of the first Modern Music School in

Barcelona54, was established in 1979; ! Prices: the first two aspects are not to the detriment of prices. “The Taller monitors

every year the prices of the most important schools in Barcelona, and we are not the most expensive one, but just the contrary”, confirmed Blanca Gallo, Director of Operations of the School.

All these elements together lead the Taller to have more than 10% of students coming from other countries, especially South America, to study here. As a matter of fact, earlier Latin American students wishing to pursue a career in music were usually applying to Berklee or other North American Music Schools, while instead now they consider coming to the Taller because of the language and of the cheaper prices.

This evolution and the growth of the international reputation of the School has happened entirely by word of mouth, that is, recommendations from current and former students. No advertising campaign was made.

Vision Taller de Músics is currently trying to obtain the legal recognition55 of its tutors and

qualifications through the relations with the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.56 The School is therefore trying to be recognized as a College/University of Music, as in the American and Anglo-Saxon tradition, where in every university there is a Faculty of Music.

whole group, the force the Taller had in being the tenant of the piece of cake that provided most revenue to the estate agents. (…) This trump was played with intelligence to the benefit of all. What until then was simple good harmony between the Taller and the neighbours became thus a community of interests. (Lluís Cabrera, “Singing walls”)53 “We sincerely believe the Taller has done a positive work despite having moved to a piece of Barcelona that was bewitched 25 years ago. We are satisfied with what we have achieved, having been able to bring together musical education, dissemination and promotion. We knew that in order to do so it was indispensable to count on our closest allies: the people living in the triangle, in the block, in this submarine that finally emerged to the surface. We hope to be prepared for the gifts the beginning 21st century will offer to us. We will go on trying to have the communicating vessels flow, thus showing that the mix is a sign of identity to Barcelona and, of course, Catalonia.” (Lluís Cabrera, “Singing walls”) 54 And the oldest among those analysed in this research. 55 At this moment in time, the goal is not to obtain public funds (like ACM), but just the official recognition. “We cannot start asking for funds to the University, because that is a very big institution and it does not need Taller de Músics.” (Blanca Gallo). 56 As it is not possible to obtain it directly by the Government.

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Coming to courses, new extra-scholastic activities, seminars and workshops are introduced every year. Moreover, new Post-Graduate Courses will be added this summer and in the near future.57

RELATIONS WITH THE “UNIVERSITAT POLITÈCNICA DE CATALUNYA”

As mentioned before, the School is now trying to obtain legal recognition through a relationship with the University of Catalonia.

In this regard, the Taller has just signed an extension of the previous agreement with the University, which includes the possibility for Taller’s students to use the University rooms, equipments and libraries, and for University students to attend a music course at the Taller, having it validated as an optional subject in their study plan.

RELATIONS WITH INSTITUTIONS AND SCHOOLS OF MUSIC

The School cooperates with 13 other Catalan schools, institutions and organizations for educational projects. (see § 5.2)

RELATIONS WITH OTHER MUSIC INSTITUTIONS

Taller de Músics is a founder and member of EMIPAC (Association of Private Catalan Schools of Music58), of IASJ (International Association of Schools of Jazz) and of EMMEN (European Modern Music Education Net).

The School has solid relations with other Spanish music institutions, such as the SGA (General Association of Authors), that has shot a film on the history of the Taller in 200559

and the A.I.E. (Association of Authors, Artists and Performers), that provides scholarships for Taller’s students.60

The Taller organization also maintains relationship of association with the D.I.B.A. (Associated Independent Recordings of Barcelona), the A.P.P.A. (Association of Professional Performance Promoters and Agents), the Catalan Council of Music, the “From the South” (association to promote cultures from the southern part of the world) and the P.M.R. (Association of Programmers of Rare Music).

57 “For example, next summer, in July, we will propose a new “Workshop on Composition”, where important Spanish musicians will come here to teach in masterclasses.” (Blanca Gallo) 58 Escoles de Música d’iniciativa privata de Catalunya. 59 The playbill of the film is the first picture of this chapter. 60 See section “Price” in this paragraph.

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5.5 Structure

Hofstede’s Findings: Preferred Organization Types in Latin Countries61

High Power Distance (PDI) and Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) scores, as in Latin Countries like Spain and Italy, lead to a hierarchical and pyramidal structures, with centralized decision-making procedures.

Organization Chart

Taller de Músics has a classic hierarchical divisional structure. The 3 divisions (Music School, Management and Foundation) have acquired distinct legal status62 a few years ago in order to obtain Government funding to the Foundation, but it is still managed as a united organization.

On the top of the structure is the Director-General63, Mr.Lluís Cabrera, founder and president of the Taller since its establishment in 1979. He takes the main and strategic decisions of the School and of the organization as a whole64.

As it has been described, the organization is then divided in 3 divisions that correspond to its 3 different fields of activity: the Music School for music courses, the Management for productions, record label and the organization of concerts in the club and outside, and, finally, the Foundation, for the “International Jazz Seminar”, the “Flamenco Festival” and other

61 Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 2nd ed., 2001, pp.372-421 62 Now the School and the Management are limited companies. 63 “He comes from the sky and says: ‘Blanca!...’ ” (Blanca Gallo) 64 As for example when he went searching for Blanca Gallo, who had previously left the School, to offer her to be the Director of Operations of the Music School, since the former Director, Xavier Fort, had decided to embark on a career outside the School.

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events funded by the Catalan Government. Each division has its Director (or Manager) responsible for that specific field of activity.

At a centralized level, there are the functions of Administration, IT, Image and External Relations65.

THE MUSIC SCHOOL

The Director of Operations66 is in charge of the operations management of the School, and has to report to the Director-General about their evolutions.

Under her responsibility are the Secretariat (Secretaria), the Library (Biblioteca), the staff for the “Course for Professional Training” (FOC)67 and the Chief of Studies (Cap Estudis).

The Chief of Studies is directly responsible for the study programs and the relations with and among professors. He coordinates the 8 Chiefs of Departments (Latin, Flamenco, Rock, etc.), who are responsible for the relations with the professors of that specific area and for the lessons on a day-to-day basis. All Chiefs of Department are also tutors at the Taller.

All administrative employees, included the current Director of Operations, Blanca Gallo, have a background in administration, not as professors or musicians.

COMPOSITION OF TALLER PERSONNEL

Admin. & Mgmt 10+%

Teachers 90-%

(these percentages do not consider the support from the centralized functions of the organization)

Autonomy and Accountability of Each Member and UnitThe two aspects of the School’s activity, administration and education, are therefore kept

separated, but still and for this reason positively interact and cooperate, by the clear division and hierarchy in roles and responsibilities: each member of the organization can take decisions related to his/her level of responsibility.

65 Lola Huete, Responsible for the Image and Public Relations, is the connecting link of the 3 companies. 66 Blanca Gallo, at this moment in time. 67 Required by the Government and very demanding for the School in terms of bureaucratic duties.

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5.6 Style of Management

Hofstede’s Findings: Preferred Styles of Management in Latin Countries68

High Power Distance (PDI) scores, as in Latin Countries like Spain and Italy, lead to a paternalistic style of management where the decision to consult subordinates is taken by superiors69.

Subordinates have strong dependence need and expect superiors to act autocratically. Organization is a system of (written) rules70 on which everybody can rely (even if sometimes the personal authority of the superiors prevails over the rules).

The style of management has been defined as not hierarchical, informal71 and friendly, “we are like a big family” confirmed Lola Huete, Responsible for the Public Relations of the Taller. The perceived atmosphere is joyful and dedicated.72

Important decisions are taken by the Director of Operations73 and, at a strategic level, by the Director-General, but in day-to-day activities and choices “decisions are often taken with the majority criterion.”74

Tutors have the right75 to participate to all meetings and make suggestions and proposals that are evaluated on the base of their feasibility76. The Director of Operations sets the agenda of the meetings and conducts their course. (see § 5.9)

The School has written regulations77 that set rights and duties for tutors and students in terms of human relations, behaviour during lessons, respect towards School’s equipment and premises and School’s functioning. They also define the consequences in cases where those rules are not respected. In this regard, it has been remarked that School’s managers do not strictly and constantly refer to them, but instead they usually try to find a solution through dialogue.78

68 Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 2nd ed., 2001, pp.372-421 69 See “Music Schools as a particular kind of organization” in § 2.4 70 “The paradox is that although rules in countries with weak UAI are less sacred, they are generally more respected.” (G.Hofstede, Culture’s consequences, 2001) 71 “For instance, there are schoolrooms all over the surrounding streets and it is always required a key to enter them that often is kept by the students, therefore we always have to ask them for everything …” (Blanca Gallo) 72 The librarian, when informed about the research, exclaimed smiling: “Write that this is the best one!” 73 To the question: “How did you become Director?” she answered smiling “I managed my own business before, I like to give orders…” 74 From Blanca Gallo’s interview. 75 It is guaranteed by the written regulations. 76 “If the teachers propose to buy a wonderful grand piano… that is not possible.” (Blanca Gallo) 77 Five pages. Moreover, there is a non-smoking sign on every door. 78 “We have written rules, but we do not refer strictly to them. We do not keep saying ‘this is forbidden…this is forbidden…’ all the time, we try find solutions through dialogue. Only in case of big problems we have to refer to the written rules.” (Blanca Gallo)

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According to the School’s managers, the dismissal of a professor has happened only once in the recent years.79

5.7 Staff

Hofstede’s Findings: Motivation Patterns in some Latin Countries like Spain80

High Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) and medium/low Masculinity (MAS) scores, as in some Latin Countries like Spain81, entail the research and use of motivations by security and relationships.

Success is measured partly by the quality of the human relationships and of the living environment. Salaries and advancements are based on seniority and skills, rather than on performance.

The Personnel of the Taller is constituted by 85 teachers and 8 administrative employees. The School receives also support from centralized functions of the other Taller organizations. Some years ago, the Taller benefited by the service of conscientious objectors until a few years ago, but not anymore, since it is no more compulsory to choose between that and the military service in Spain. There are no volunteers in the organization.

In this analysis I refer to Staff as a synonymous of School’s tutors (administrators and managers are analyzed in § 5.6 and 5.8), while I use Personnel to include both teachers and administrators.

QualitiesAll tutors at the Taller are professional musicians, active in the music industry. “This is

what differentiate more the Taller from the other schools” claimed Mrs.Blanca Gallo, Director of Operations of the School.

79 “We are not people that like to use discipline!” (Blanca Gallo) 80 Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 2nd ed., 2001, pp.372-421 81 And France, but not Italy. (see § 6.7)

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Type of contracts

All tutors have a one-year contract82 based on the number of teaching hours. The hourly rate is the same for every tutor, apart from the most famous tutors of the workshops and specialization courses.83 Also the Chiefs of Department receive slightly higher salaries.

In the School there is one teacher who is also the representative of a union connected to the socialist party that defend teachers’ rights.

Autonomy in methods and contents The Taller has a defined study program and own syllabuses, that allow the students to

achieve predetermined educational goals. Even so, tutors may propose and use other teaching aids, but have to guarantee that the same goals are achieved. The School makes sure that teachers follow the study programs through the results of students’ exams and with the Students’ Satisfaction Surveys.

Selection No official qualification is required for tutors to be selected by the Taller. Many of them

were former students of the School.84

TrainingTaller de Músics provides85 ongoing training to both tutors and administrative employees.

Advancements Experience, in both field of education and as a professional musicians, has been defined as

a fundamental characteristic of a Chief of Department and, even more, for a Chief of Studies.86

Turnover The assessed Staff turnover is extremely low, “about 2 or 3 tutors per year, over a total of

85” confirmed Blanca Gallo87, and this can also be taken as a measure of their satisfaction.

82 Even if the students pay only for a four-month period at a time. 83 This does not automatically mean that those courses cost more (see “Prices” in § 5.4) 84 “Usually, when students are near the end of their higher degree, they start playing live music in clubs, training as professional musicians. After the end of the exams, if one teacher is ill or missing, they are called to replaced him and we can test their value as teachers.” (Blanca Gallo) 85 And pays. 86 “If you have it, you know all the professionals in the field…” (Blanca Gallo) And when asked about how she became Director of the School, she replied: “with time, step by step…”. 87 Some years ago it was a problem, but now we are satisfied with it.

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5.8 Skills88

Skills and Background of the Management

The Management of Taller de Músics has been able to create, starting from nothing, a model for Music School education and organization rooted and consistent with context, traditions, idiosyncrasies and characteristics of Spanish and Catalan people. The direction from the first year on has always been not to accept the American model (the famous Berklee School of Massachusetts had proposed it to the Taller at the beginning89), but to create an innovative “Taller Model” of education that fitted the society in which the School lived and developed.90

Moreover it has also been able to face the challenges and complexity of modernity by continuously adapting its model and activities to the “new world”: from the creation of the “International Jazz Seminars” to the development of the Management&Productions department, from the opening of the “Jazz Sí Club” to the juridical separation of the Taller in 3 entities and the establishment of the Taller de Músics Foundation, etc.

The success of this model and work is evident in its results: today Taller de Músics is the biggest private Music School in Spain, more than 10% of its students come from other countries to study here (probably the European record, certainly the point of reference for the Latin American world and the Spanish speaking countries), it is one of the oldest and with more tradition Modern Music School in Europe, and has provided expertise and tutors to more than 20 Music Schools in Catalonia, included the new public Higher School of Music.

These results and developments always happened in deep and sometimes problematic relation with the cultural and social environment, with its problems and issues, and the School has been able to positively interact with it (with constant public relations) to the point of changing it, overcoming the difficulties of a “not easy external environment”. All this through dedication, constant work, far away from the temptation of selling dreams to anyone.

A unique characteristic of the Taller Management91 is the separation of the two functions of administration and education (see § 5.5). It is the only School analysed in this research where all the administrative employee (included the Director-General and the Director of Operations) do not have a background as professional musicians92, but still have been able to cooperate successfully with the Educational Staff, through the clear division in roles and responsibilities.

88 This paragraph is based on personal impressions received during my one-day visit at the Taller and from the reading of Taller documents. I know that a more in depth acquaintance would have been necessary to have a better and more exhaustive impression about the skills of the personnel. Anyway, it is important to stress that the purpose here is to give some ideas about Music School management and managers, not to describe anybody. 89 See “Shared Values” in § 5.3 90 Also regarding School fees, that could not be as high as the American ones for the private universities. 91 Which would deserve further analysis. 92 But only of music lovers.

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Finally, it is important to underline how the strength of an organization can be measured also from its capacity to develop its resources over time and substitute key personnel when, for some reasons, they left the organization. This is certainly something that, so far, the Taller has been able to do.

5.9 Systems

Informative System

The information goes up to the higher responsibility roles by means of updated reports (see “economic and non-economic valuations” on this paragraph) and different levels of meetings.

For the data collection of students, Taller de Músics mainly works on pc systems and databases and is now planning a new software for the management to improve its possibility to provide statistics about trends in the School.93

Meetings: The Cultural Litmus Test According to Pascale and Athos, “Meetings are the cultural litmus test. Culture asserts its

invisible presence on patterns of day-to-day communications. Meetings are the best known mechanism for efficient information sharing, for accomplishing collective problem solving and coordinated action.” 94

As it has been mentioned (see § 5.6), tutors can participate to meetings and bring their suggestions about any aspect of the School’s activities. The agenda is set by the Director of Operations, who also conducts the meeting.95

The most important meetings in the Taller agenda are: ! Once a year with all Professors and the Chief of Studies; ! Once a year with the Chief and Professors of the same Department: ! 2 meetings per four-month period: with the 8 Chiefs of Department, the Chief of Studies

and the Director of Operations.

93 “When we were smaller we kept more statistic available, but now we don’t have time to do that, because now statistics are made by counting with the hands! Therefore we are waiting for the new pc program…” (Blanca Gallo) 94 R.T.Pascale, A.G.Athos, The Art of Japanese Management, 1981, p.130 95 “An example of the procedure is: the Director of Operations sends an email to the participants informing them about some news for the School, for instance new rooms available, then everyone is allowed to make proposals on how to use them, finally the Director sets the agenda of the meeting and conducts the discussion.” (Blanca Gallo)

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As it is possible to notice at first sight, the number of meetings and their frequency are considerably lower than those reported by Kulturskolan Stockholm and ACM Guildford. Culture probably plays its part, but it is important to consider that meetings (as well as P&C systems) are costly in terms of time and, therefore, money, and Taller de Músics do not receive support from Public Administrations for its courses.96

Planning, Budgeting and Controlling Systems

Hofstede’s Findings: Planning and Controlling Systems in Latin Countries97

In countries with high Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) and Power Distance (PDI) scores, as in Latin Countries like Spain and Italy, needs and power require a more detailed planning and controlling system, with more short-term feedbacks.

The information flow is centralized and planning is left to superiors and specialists. Trust on subordinates is lacking. Norms support “political” thinking.

The planning and budgeting system has been defined as “not super-defined”: at the beginning of the academic year a budget is made that defines the estimated revenues and, consequently, the number and type of masterclasses and seminars the School will propose apart from the normal courses98. Then these decisions are adapted during the year to the actual flow and disposal of resources.

The main control tool are the “Students’ Satisfaction Surveys”, in which the name of the tutor is reported, as well as a judgement over the secretarial staff. (see below)

The academic year is subdivided into 2 four-month periods: from September to February and from February to June. The enrolments are made at beginning of each period and for the same period only.99 Summer courses and seminars are offered in July and August.

All the following data concern the first four-month period of the year 2005/06, and are gathered and available to School’s managers for each period of academic activity.

96 This is true also for the Italian case analysed in the next chapter, and it influences the resources (time and people) that the organization can put also in other systems and procedures. 97 Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 2nd ed., 2001, pp.372-421 98 “Five or six per year as a minimum, possibly more.” (Blanca Gallo) 99 “The ideal would be to attend the School all the year long, but there are many university students who do not have the possibility to attend the second four-month period because of their exams. In this way it is not a problem, they come back in September.” (Blanca Gallo)

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Economic Valuations

TOTAL REVENUES

Total Taller de Músics’ revenues for “normal”100 music courses in 2005 were about 600.000 euros.

COMPOSITION OF TALLER REVENUES

Student fees 100%

PRICING DECISIONS

Pricing decisions are described in § 5.4

COMPOSITION OF TALLER COSTS

other costs 29%

Administration Salaries 7%

Advertising &Marketing

4%

Teaching Salaries 60%

100 Excluded masterclasses, seminars, etc.

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Non-economic Valuations

AGE DISTRIBUTION OF STUDENTS

19-21 12,1%

31-40 18,7%

13-16 1,7%

40+ 6,5%

17-18 3%

26-30 31,4%

22-25 26,6%

DISTRIBUTION BETWEEN SEXES

Females 22,3%

Males 77,7%

(also available per age bracket)

DISTRIBUTION AMONG INSTRUMENTS

Piano 24,6%

Vocals 14,5%

Sax 5,5% Bass Guitar 6,6%

Flute 1% Drums 12,5%Clarinet 0,6%

Flamenco Guitar 3,6%

Guitar 26,9%

(also available data concerning complementary courses and other group lessons)

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WHERE TALLER STUDENTS COME FROM

South America 5%

other countries 2,1%

other European countries

3,5%

Spain 89,4%

(data available regarding the country-by-country distribution)

Therefore 10,6% of total Taller’s students come from a foreign country to study here.

AVERAGE LENGTH OF ATTENDANCE

The School does not keep a precise statistic “but, on average, most of the students attend the elementary and medium grade, therefore 2/3 years.”101

STUDENTS’ SATISFACTION

See “Quality” in § 5.4

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF TUTORS

Tutors’ performances are evaluated and monitored through the “Students’ Satisfaction Surveys”, at the and of every four-month period. Students are asked for a judgement over both teaching and administrative staff of the School. The names of their personal tutors are written on the survey.

Once the information are gathered and the statistics calculated, the results are communicated to the tutors. In case of unsatisfactory results, the Chief of Studies has a personal meeting with that tutor to point out and face the problem.

101 From Blanca Gallo’s interview.

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Cases of serious problem are very few, and normally come from the instrumental lessons, which are individual for the students, and therefore, in case of lack of feeling with the teacher, the lesson can be unsatisfactory. Problems due to technical or educational reasons are very rare.

EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNICATION

See “Promotion” in § 5.4

Incentive System All teachers get the same hourly rate (see § 5.7). There are no economic incentives based

on results.

FINAL ASSESSMENT

5.9 Overall S-Consistency of the School

All 7 S’s of the Taller and the external environment (Spain, Catalonia and Barcelona) appear aligned, connected together in a consistent way and contribute to the School’s success.

The following figure is a graphic representation of the S-Consistency of the School.

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6.CEPAM Reggio Emilia

“Zucchero1 was born in Reggio Emilia in November 1955. It is curious to notice that in a few square kilometres,

between Reggio Emilia and the Emilian mountains, it is possible to find many different successful experiences:

Vasco Rossi, singer of the inextinguishable rock soul of the region; CCCP-Fedeli alla Linea, with their pro-Soviet punk;

the crazy and genial Lady, oh Lady Spagna, born from the huge discos of the “lowlands” of the province

and ended up achieving the top of many world’s charts. Everything there, between Reggio Emilia, Modena and Bologna:

Nomadi, Equipe 84, Francesco Guccini, Lucio Dalla, Ladri di biciclette, Ligabue…”2

Pier Vittorio Tondelli Un weekend postmoderno3

The Schools of Music in Reggio Emilia and its Province since 1981

CEPAM, Permanent Centre for Music Activities, was created in 1981 by a group of teachers4 guided by Giuseppe Codeluppi, Director of the School until 1992, with the support of the local ARCI5 Committee and the City Council of Reggio Emilia6. It was the result of the previous experience of the Popular Courses of Music, started in 1976 and guided by ARCI, the biggest Italian non-profit organization in the cultural field. CEPAM now belongs to the ARCI Reggio Emilia Committee and organizes its permanent music courses and activities7.

CEPAM main characteristics are the total openness towards any music genre and the attention to the continuing evolution of the music language. CEPAM Schools are open to all people, no matter their age, level and ambitions.

From its beginning, the Centre has always grown, passing from 100 pupils the first year to the current 900, for a total of approximately 15.000 pupils in instrumental courses, becoming the biggest private Music School in the Emilia Romagna region, and one of the most important and peculiar in Italy.

But beyond numbers, what makes CEPAM a unique experience is the deep connections with its territory, people and institutions. A distinctive characteristic of the School is the

1 Zucchero “Sugar” Fornaciari. 2 And, among others: Luciano Pavarotti, Gianni Morandi, Iva Zanicchi, Pierangelo Bertoli, Modena City Ramblers, Andrea Mingardi, Luca Carboni, Cesare Cremonini (Lunapop), etc. 3 Pier Vittorio Tondelli, Un weekend postmoderno, 1990, p.77 4 Among whom: Giuliano Giovanelli, future Director of the School, and Massimo Giuberti, drum and music theory teacher of the School, fundamental for the development of the network of Schools in the province. 5 ARCI, Italian Cultural and Recreative Association, has about 1.200.000 members. 6 Especially with the Culture Councillor Rossi. The City Council has then, during the years, more and more reduced its support to the School. 7 Concerts and events are organized by another division called “ArciSpettacoli” (ArciEvents).

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organization and management of municipal Music Schools in the Province, in agreement and with the support of the local municipalities.8 This promotes the diffusion of basic music knowledge and solves the problem of transportation for youngsters. The main School in Reggio, offers both basic and specialization courses that attract people from the entire province.

During the years, CEPAM has expanded its field of activity offering and developing music workshops in ordinary schools, music courses for young people living in troubled families, music activities in centres for elderly people, centres for disabled and in a community for the recovery of drug addicted people. This evolution has made CEPAM a real centre for cultural production and the point of reference for music activities in the whole province.

CEPAM facts and figures ITALY: CEPAM is one of the biggest Music Schools in Italy in terms of students number. STUDENTS: Approx. 900 pupils in 12 Music Schools managed STAFF: Approx. 50 teachers, 3 administrative employees and 2 volunteers (plus support from ARCI’s centralized functions) COURSES: more that 50 instrumental courses and workshops PREMISES: 350 m2 of floor space in the main School plus 35 schoolrooms in 11 towns in the province EXTRA-SCHOLASTIC ACTIVITIES: in 20 centres for elderly people, 2 centres for disabled people, more than 10 primary schools, 4 GET9, 1 community for the recovery of drug addicted people

EXTERNAL CONSISTENCY OF THE SCHOOL

6.1 State: Italy and Music

Music Education in Italy Music education has always been considered in Italy as “the Cinderella of the subjects”,

because of the very low attention that Governments payd to this subject.Italy, land of great music traditions such as opera and melodrama and, more recently, in

popular music, never had an original and unitary method for music education10 and Public Institutions had always disregarded this subject, confining it to narrow or inexistent pedagogical spaces11.

8 That could not afford and be able to run a Music School by themselves. 9 Group of young people living in troubled families.10 As it has happened in other countries such as Germany (Orff), Hungary (Kodaly) or Korea (Suzuky), where culture and music were promoted as a mean of national pride and identity. 11 One hour per week in primary schools, too often with teachers not able to teach it, or 2 hours per week in lower secondary schools with teachers possessing conservatory diploma, who teach recorder only.

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Governments thought to fill this gap by strengthening and financing the Conservatories, which, due to their own nature, aim to give vocational training in classical music to few students and not basic education for everybody.

All these problems led to the current situation, with attempts to increase time dedicated and educational objectives of the music teaching in the ordinary schools12, and the announced reform of the Conservatories, which will probably become only institutes for higher music education, at a university level.

Basic music education is therefore left to primary and lower secondary schools, with all the mentioned limits, music gymnasiums and, above all, to private Music Schools.13

Public Sector PoliciesAs it has been said, Governments have always privileged funding classical music

education and activities. In this scenario, the tendency of public administrators has always been to subsidize the same activities, often with chronic negative economic performances, instead of basing funds on results and competition among organizations, and helping the growth of activities in new music sectors.14

In recent years things have gone even worst: central and local public authorities are more and more reducing the funds to the Conservatories15, but not supporting other organizations, just reducing the funds to culture.

Government’s output expenditure on culture in Italy vary between 0,3 and 0,5% of the total State budget (while in countries like Sweden is about 1,3-1,5%)16, and are divided into different levels of government.

WHO FINANCES CULTURE IN ITALY

Municipality 30%

Province 3%

Region 15%

State 52%

12 With some doubts regarding the practical application of the new ministerial programs. 13 Source: SIEM, Società Italiana per l’Educazione Musicale (see “References”) 14 Matteo Parrinello, La cultura della musica dal vivo in Inghilterra ed in Italia, 2000 15 As many other funds to culture, especially during periods of economic difficulties. 16 0,5% is the percentage recorded in the year 2000, the year of the jubilee, where many cultural expenditures were made in Italy, especially in Rome. In Spain is also about 0,3%, but the Central Government’s output expenditure on culture represents only 12,2% of the total funding to culture (which is in Spain 1% of GDP).

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It seems particularly unwise, especially in our times dominated by unemployment and globalization problems, not exploiting some of the most important Italian resources: arts, tourism and culture.17

Legislation The legislation in this field, one of the worst in the European Union, is full of gaps. Artists and art teachers in Italy do not have the possibility to obtain income tax deductions

for the expenses incurred in the practice of their profession. No pensions supplements are provided. Laws about social security, pensions and the general conditions of teachers and musicians are confused and incomplete.18 Contracts for musicians are usually as self-employed artists or even inexistent19. Finally, music teachers do not have their own union.

All these problems, of course, do not help life and growth of music activities and the possibility to use them as a resource of economic and social development.

Music Schools in ItalyThe Popular Schools of Music, the most important of which is the Popular School of Music

of Testaccio20 (Rome), developed mainly at the end of the ‘70s, with the mass explosion of the new music genres: jazz, rock, folk, etc. The new Schools tried to close the gaps left by the conservatories, giving a chance to amateurs of any age and level to attend music courses of their preferred style.

However, it is important to emphasize that Popular Schools of Music do not want and cannot replace public compulsory schools in giving the basic music education to everybody, but they occupy the “social space” of the free and leisure time.21

6.2 Reggio Emilia

Economic, Social and Demographic StructureReggio Emilia is a city with approximately 140.000 inhabitants, 60 kilometres west of

Bologna, in the Emilia Romagna region. Its province, in the middle of the north of Italy, has a total population of about 430.000 inhabitants.

17 As it is also shown by the estimated cultural employment level, that have reached 503.000 people in 1999. Since 1993, there had been an increase of 24% in this field, while the increase in the rate of general employment for the same period was as low as 1%. (Source: ISTAT, Italian National Statistical Institute) 18 Source: European Union - Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe website (see “References”) 19 A survey made by a music magazine reported that 50% are self-employed, 41% without contract, 1% with open-ended contract, 8% with other kinds. 20 Scuola di Musica Popolare di Testaccio, established in 1975. (see “References”) 21 Alessandra Avanzini, Musica, poteri e identità culturale, 1995, pp.113-116

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This province is a wealthy area22 of Italy and Europe. It has always been considered as an industrial and practical minded province, with excellence in the field of agriculture23 and of small and medium enterprises.

Reggio Emilia is well-known in the world for its approach in childhood education24 and its nursery and pre-primary schools, but the cultural guide of the region is with no doubt Bologna.

Reggio Emilia is one of the provinces in Italy with the highest rate of associationism, voluntary works, cooperative and non-profit activities. This social environment has permitted the growth of one of the most active and important local ARCI committee, and its effective support to CEPAM, assuring its continuity and growing, from its early beginnings in 1981.

Music Environment Music has always played a very important role in the life of this province25. The Emilia of the myth of Melodrama, of Giuseppe Verdi and Arturo Toscanini, of voices

and studies, of courts and of the more than 100 theatres, of classic music, opera and dance26 is evidenced by the presence in the heart of the city of three theatres: Ariosto, Cavallerizza and Valli.27

All other styles, from valzer and traditional music to pop and folk, from jazz to electronics, live every night in the innumerable clubs and summer events all over the province: in Arci clubs, discos, festivals, etc.

Musical education has here a strong tradition: every province of the region has its own Conservatory28, every town its Popular School of Music and there is an ongoing debate on the future and perspectives of music education.29

22 Which is important for supporting and sustaining the cultural activities sector.23 And for this reason the European Union established here, in the near province of Parma, the European Food Safety Authority. This is the area where are produced Parmigiano-Reggiano, Lambrusco wine, Parma ham, balsamic vinegar, etc. 24 With the Association Reggio Children (see “References”). 25 The Emilia Romagna region is the one with the highest rate of ticket sales related to musical activities, the Reggio Emilia province holds the 12th position, the 8th position for the popular music. To be remarked that Modena, the neighbouring province, has got the first place in both charts. (Source: Source: SIAE, Italian Society of Authors and Editors and ISTAT, La musica in Italia, 1999) 26 Roberto Verti, Emilia Romagna – Terra di Musica, di Voci e di Mito, , 1996. p.7 27 The Association responsible for their management is now directed by Daniele Abbado, son of Claudio Abbado, former Director of the Berliner Philarmoniker, which has been always having a privileged relationship with the Emilia Romagna region (as well as Riccardo Muti, another famous Italian orchestra director) and with this town. 28 In Reggio Emilia the “Istituto Peri” (see “References”) 29 Which was started in the ’70s with the Conferences Musica/Realtà (Music/Reality), and continued until today with the annual conventions that attract from all over Italy institutions, teachers and amateurs to discuss the perspectives of the musical education. Just mentioning the last three years publications of the results of these conventions: Barbieri T., Capitani L. Villa R. (by), Vietato suonare. Musica e scuola italiana, 2003; AAVV, REMUS – dal sapere, al saper fare, al saper fare musica, la musica nella scuola primaria, 2004; Antonella Coppi, REMUS – studi e ricerche sulla formazione musicale, 2005

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Thanks to this humus rich of lovers, amateurs and professionals, many Music Schools have developed30, and, among those ones, faraway from the biggest cities, CEPAM, Permanent Centre for Musical Activities, in Reggio Emilia.

Relations and Funds from the Public Administration As mentioned in the introduction, the City Council of Reggio Emilia supported the

establishment of CEPAM some 25 years ago, but now it does not financially support the Music School anymore31. The only help that the Centre receives is in terms of premises: the main building is rented from the City Public Administration at a “less than commercial” price.

The School has instead a strong and long-lasting relationships with the municipalities of the 11 towns in the province, where it manages the local Music Schools. The local Town Council provides for premises and equipments and gives a funding that allows the reduction of the School fees. In exchange for it, CEPAM provides teachers and organizes the School in operative terms32 guarantying its standard.

RELATIONS WITH THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

CEPAM has also important relations with the local community and territory. The School offers activities to more than 10 ordinary schools and in more than 15 centres for elderly people.

Furthermore, the most important foundation in Reggio Emilia, the Manodori Foundation, related to the formerly local bank group, finances CEPAM extra-scholastic activities in centres for disabled people and for young people living in troubled families.

CEPAM also offers and organizes concerts of different kinds, involving School’s pupils, teachers and bands, in agreement and on demand of town councils or clubs.

CompetitorsThere are countless organizations and individuals that offer music courses in the province,

but none of them has CEPAM’s dimension and management capability. Most of other schools, related to music shops, local associations, citizen bands or individual musicians, can offer courses in only few instruments and are often “on the margin of legality” in terms of contracts to teachers. CEPAM, as it has already been said, has many competitive advantages (see also § 6.4), but yet suffers their competition, especially in smaller towns, as an additional factor in the already difficult situation of music education in Italy.

Other competitors, for the fund raising, are all other organizations in the cultural field of the province, and particularly the Conservatory, completely funded by the City Council of Reggio Emilia.

30 Almost 300 Schools in a region of 4 millions of inhabitants (of which more than 40 are in the Reggio Emilia province), with 20.000 estimated students and 1000 teachers. (Source: “Indagine sulle scuole di musica dell’Emilia Romagna”, Bologna, Assonanza 2004. Associazione Scuole di Musica dell’Emilia Romagna). 31 While instead it covers all expenses of the local conservatory. 32 Enrolments, payments, final concert, etc.

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RELATIONS WITH THE CONSERVATORY

The “Istituto A. Peri”, the Music Institute (Conservatory)33 of Reggio Emilia, is a vocational centre for classical music education. The only connection among the two institutions is in terms of teachers: most of CEPAM’s teachers of classical music instruments come from this conservatory or from the ones in the near provinces.

INTERNAL CONSISTENCY OF THE SCHOOL

6.3 Shared Values and Mission

Mission Since 1981, the Permanent Centre for Music Activities of Reggio Emilia is active in

spreading and enhancing music culture, both in Music Schools management and in other specific projects.

The slogan has always been “a school for everybody”, meaning that CEPAM Schools are open to all people, no matter their age, music genre, level and ambitions and committed to offer those courses at “popular” prices. CEPAM didactic is characterized by a constant and evolving research of new offers and ways to follow students during their music courses.

This was already clear and stated in the preface of the School’s first guide in 1981: “Purpose of the School will be to fill the gaps left by specialized public schools (Conservatory, Music Gymnasium), offering a music education as critical as possible, with the actual technical and historical means at disposal of the Centre. We make clear that our School aims to operate on a different level from the one of the public schools, trying to satisfy a demand of music education for all levels, ambitions, ages, not excluding the possibility of finding talents. In other words, we aim to increase the mass music education, apart from the public institutions and their specific purposes, but cooperating with them, in the interest of the young people, to get them more and more participating in cultural

33 Because it is a Music Institute that can issue qualifications recognized as equals to the ones of the Conservatories, and it is therefore funded by the local City Council, not by the national Government.

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discussion issues, and developing their desire to express themselves and their capacity to criticize.”

Shared Values All CEPAM activities are based on the mutual respect among people, honesty and

openness.34

In terms of activities, CEPAM main characteristics are the total open mindedness towards any music genre, the attention to the continuing evolution of the musical language and the consciousness of the importance of the music culture as a catalyst of positive values and as emotional vehicle.

For these reasons, CEPAM’s students are followed by teachers during their study course and can customize it on the basis of their characteristics and needs. In this way, it is possible to avoid or limit stress and frustrations typical of rigid methods that so often lead students to abandon their instrument and the musical language.

CEPAM teaching methodology is based on an initial and direct approach to the instrument in order to attain, in a further time, the theoretical acquisition of the musical language. A great educational importance have also the moments where pupils play in ensembles and groups, stimulating socialization and emulation, and the final year concerts, where pupils confronts with their music knowledge and themselves. All pupils are invited to take part in them as one of most important activities for a musician: to play live.

6.4 Strategy

Target Market Anyone interested in learning the musical language, no matter his/her age, preferred genre,

level and ambitions.

4P of the School:

Product The organization and management of Schools of Music is CEPAM main activity, and in

this field the School has recognised experience and skills. CEPAM main School in Reggio Emilia can provide lessons in more than 50 different

instrumental courses and workshops of all music genres: from Afro-Cuban percussions to accordion, from flamenco guitar to banjo bluegrass, from harpsichord to DJ, etc.

34 Taken from “Memorandum for CEPAM teachers”. (see “written regulations” in § 6.6)

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The courses are organized in 5 areas: instrumental courses, specialization courses, preliminary courses for children, complementary courses35 and music workshops. Lessons are weekly and usually individual or in pairs36, apart from the complementary and preliminary courses that are in small groups37.

The Centre also manages 11 municipal Music Schools in the province, offering to the local Town Councils a “complete service package” for the payment of a contribution, which is usually not more than 10% of the students’ fees38. CEPAM supplies them with a complete and professional service, including teachers, organization of lessons, final year concert, student fees’ collection, etc.

At the end of the scholastic year, CEPAM organizes a final concert in each School where all pupils are invited to perform individually or in group. After the concert, the teacher gives to his/her students the certificate of attendance.

EXTRA-SCHOLASTIC ACTIVITIES

As already mentioned, over the years, CEPAM has acquired distinctive and recognized competences and experiences in other fields of musical activities. The Centre currently proposes musical activities in ordinary schools, centres for elderly people, G.E.T.39, centres for disabled people, communities for the recovery of drug addicted people, music itineraries and concerts performed by School’s bands, etc.40

ARCI CARD AND CEPAM DISCOUNTS

CEPAM students are members of the Arci Association and therefore receive the Arci card that offers them various discounts at a national and local level: music shops, bookshops, magazines, newspapers, movie theatres, museums, etc.

Price The School’s mission41 and its non-profit soul has always guided it to try to maintain fees

as low as possible, having paid the operating costs. This has remained a priority even in recent years in which the School’s courses are full and the management costs are continuously increasing.

35 Theory, solfeggio, harmony and composition. These lessons are in groups. 36 There has been a change in CEPAM teaching methodology in this regard, for the first ten years were preferred group lessons, while from the ‘90s the lessons have become mostly individual or in pairs, to provide a better relation with the teacher and higher learning results. 37 Of 3 to 5 participants. 38 While in the Emilia Romagna region, the average contribution is 42%. (Source: “Indagine sulle scuole di musica dell’Emilia Romagna”, Bologna, Assonanza 2004. Associazione Scuole di Musica dell’Emilia Romagna) 39 Groups of young people living in troubled families. 40 For more information see CEPAM website. 41 “A school for everybody”.

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The fees vary considerably between the main School and the other municipal Schools, because of the contributions of local Town Councils42. In Reggio Emilia, the fee for a one year individual43 course for learning an instrument is 440€44, divided into 3 instalments, and with the possibility to leave the course at the end of each instalment without paying the others. Preliminary courses for children, in small groups, are given at a “promotional price”, while specialization courses, given by well known and experienced teachers, cost about 10% more. In the local municipal Schools, the fees cost about 30% less.

Pricing decisions are described in “Budgeting & Controlling System” in § 6.9.

Promotion The School has historically invested very few resources in advertising and marketing

(1,5% of total costs). The most part of new students comes to the School by word of mouth (34%) and because of its reputation and long lasting presence in the city and province (31% of new students declared they have always heard about CEPAM).

The main marketing channels are: ! School guide: is the main investment in terms of money. It is printed in about 2000

copies and distributed to former students45, CEPAM Schools, libraries, cultural centres, during concerts, etc.;

! Website: about 8%46 of new students declared they came to the School because they found and read about it in the CEPAM website. A monthly newsletter47 is published on the website and sent to School’s students, institutions, media, and anyone interested in it. Hits are monitored and analysed on their major trends from time to time. The website is part of a network of sites belonging to the Arci Reggio Emilia Committee and related to its different fields of activities;

! Posters: big ones posted along the streets of the city of Reggio at the beginning of the courses, and smaller ones in libraries and CEPAM Schools at the beginning of the courses, to communicate new courses and offers and to announce the final year concert;

! Press conferences and local TV participations: not frequent. Usually one press conference per year at the beginning of School’s courses and maybe one or two TV participations in local talk shows. Some press releases are issued during the year.

42 And the provided premises. This support does not exist for the School in Reggio Emilia. 43 For a total of 24 weekly lessons, from October to May/June of 40 minutes each. One hour lesson costs more, lessons in pair cost less. 44 For the scholastic year 2005/06. The School would like to keep the prices lower, especially in Reggio Emilia, as well as giving higher salaries to teachers, but without public support this is the best possible level for both. 45 Of the previous scholastic year only. 46 This percentage is rapidly growing over the years.47 L’ABCDario del CEPAM.

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Place The main School and offices are located over 350 square metres of floor space, rented from

the City Public Administration at a “less than commercial” price48, in the city centre of Reggio Emilia. Here about 400 students may choose among more than 50 courses and workshops. The other 11 municipal Schools count on 35 schoolrooms provided by the local municipalities.

The Arci’s movie theatre in the centre of Reggio Emilia is used for the final year concert of the main School, while other Schools use public places provided by the town councils.

Competitive AdvantageMain competitive advantages identified are: ! Reputation and experience: the School, established in 1981, is well known in the

province; ! Organization and variety of courses offered: CEPAM is the biggest Music School in the

Emilia Romagna region in terms of student number and courses offered. No other School in the province of Reggio can be even compared to it. (see “Competitors” in § 6.2)

Vision The difficult situation of music education in Italy has led CEPAM Management to think

with a short-term horizon, year by year. The idea of a Popular Music School “for everybody”, and therefore the renunciation of a

more “professional” and structured teaching program49, seems justified50 by the great majority of students attending the School as amateurs (90% are in “non-specialization” courses in the main School51) and by the overall difficulties of the music sector and industry52. Only bigger cities like Milan (i.e. CPM53) and Rome (i.e. SMPT54) seem to have the real “market space” for developing more vocational programs, and people interested in that kind of education are generally prepared to go there and get it.

In terms of activities, the School is continuously adding and creating new courses. In this regard, new ideas and collaborations55 are developing to widen its offer of summer courses.

48 This is the only support that the City Council of Reggio Emilia gives to the School. 49 Even if, with the specialization courses, the School “does not renounce to the possibility of discovering new talents”. 50 Besides local cultural and social traditions. 51 Which is the only CEPAM School with specialization courses, therefore, analyzing CEPAM has a whole, specialization course are attended by 4,5% of total students. 52 That does not permit, to the conscientious educator, to try to “sell dreams that become nightmares” after the course. 53 Centro Professione Musica (see “References”) 54 Scuola di Musica Popolare Testaccio (see “References”) 55 One with “Let’s Dance”, a local dance association.

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RELATIONS WITH TOWN COUNCILS AND LOCAL COMMUNITY

See “Product” (above) and “Relations with the Public Administration” in § 6.2

RELATIONS WITH MAFFIA CLUB

CEPAM has recently developed an interesting and rather successful relation with the internationally renowned Maffia Music Club56 of Reggio Emilia for the creation of courses for DJ of electronic music, music producer and VJ. The club also offers its stage from time to time for School’s concerts.

RELATIONS WITH THE MUSIC SHOP DEL RIO

The School has a convention with a local music shop that provides discounts for CEPAM students, a piano for the final year concert and a small sponsorship.

RELATIONS WITH OTHER MUSIC INSTITUTIONS

CEPAM is a founder and member of AISM (Italian Association of Schools of Music57) and SIEM (Italian Society for Music Education58).

6.5 Structure

Hofstede’s Findings: Preferred Organization Types in Latin Countries59

High Power Distance (PDI) and Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) scores, as in Latin Countries like Spain and Italy, lead to a hierarchical and pyramidal structures, with centralized decision-making procedures.

Organization Chart CEPAM has a classic hierarchical structure, included in the Arci Reggio Emilia

Committee organization in the form of an independent division.

56 Which is also an Arci club. (see “References”) 57 Associazione Italiana Scuole di Musica. 58 Società Italiana per l’Educazione Musicale. 59 Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 2nd ed., 2001, pp.372-421

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CEPAM has always had an high degree of independence from Arci, starting from its location, always different from the one of the Committee. During the last years this “separation” has been more and more reduced, the School’s Director now is a member of the Board of Directors of the Arci Committee, the use by the School of the centralized functions and the creation of connections and synergies with other sectors of Arci’s activities are ever-increasing.60

On the top of the structure is the President of the Arci Committee of Reggio Emilia, elected every 5 years by the Council61, he is the legal representative and therefore final responsible of the association.

Below him there is the Board of Directors of the association, formed by the persons in charge of each division of the association’s activities. The Board meets once a week to discuss and decide over the most important issues of the association.

At a centralized level, there are the functions of Administration, Secretariat, Enrolment, Personnel and Press Office.

60 There is an ongoing debate, inside CEPAM and between Arci and CEPAM, about the degree of independence CEPAM should have, but it is not an objective of this thesis to investigate more this issue. 61 The Council is formed by all representatives of the Arci clubs of the province and of the Committee.

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THE MUSIC SCHOOL

The Director, Giuliano Giovanelli62, is in charge of the management of the School, and decide its strategic and operational choices, having consulted the Teaching Body Representatives. He has then to periodically report to the President and the Board of Directors about its evolutions.

The Director is also a part-time teacher63. Under his responsibility are the School’s Secretariat (two part-time employees) and the

volunteers64 (usually two and part-time as well) of the national community service.

COMPOSITION OF CEPAM PERSONNEL

Volunteers 4%Admin. &

Mgmt 6%

Teachers 90%

(these percentages do not consider the support from the centralized functions of the organization)

All the management of the municipals Music Schools in the 11 towns in the province is carried out at a centralized level, with the support of the local administrations. The relations with the Town Councils representatives is kept by the Director with meetings at the beginning of the year and flow of information and reports during the year65.

Autonomy and Accountability of Each Member and UnitSince CEPAM is not a large organization, there are not different levels of responsibility

and autonomy, all decisions of the School are finally taken by the Director. The decision-making process of the School and the Director are, as mentioned before, considerably autonomous from Arci, but not independent.

62 Since 1996. 63 In guitar. 64 Volunteers are remunerated by the Government and come from the national voluntary service, which is of course a positive and vital aspect for the School, but their presence is not always “guaranteed”. 65 Mainly using fax and emails as communication tools.

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6.6 Style of Management

Hofstede’s Findings: Preferred Styles of Management in Latin Countries66

High Power Distance (PDI) scores, as in Latin Countries like Spain and Italy, lead to a paternalistic style of management where the decision to consult subordinates is taken by superiors67.

Subordinates have strong dependence need and expect superiors to act autocratically. Organization is a system of (written) rules68 on which everybody can rely (even if sometimes the personal authority of the superiors prevails over the rules).

The style of management is informal, straightforward, human, with much lower perceived power distance than in other Italian working environments69.

Teachers can always propose ideas and suggestions, during everyday activities or in meetings with all teachers (assembly) and the Director. The proposals are evaluated on the base of their practicability. The Director sets the agenda of the meetings and conducts their course. (see § 5.9)

Any other problem is communicated to the School’s Secretariat or immediately to the Director and, if considered real and feasible, a prompt solution is searched70. Moreover, at the end of each scholastic year, individual interviews between the Director and each teacher are made to point out problems arisen during the year and plan the next one.

During the lasts years, the growth in dimension and complexity71 of the School have required a less participated decision-making process, to allow quick answers to everyday problems and issues. Teachers, especially those more involved in the life of the School, and the Teaching Body Representatives, are informed and consulted about important issues during informal meetings in the School and during periodic meetings with the Director, but the general idea is that problems need more and more quick solutions.

Even so the general atmosphere perceived is friendly and joyful72. The School has written regulations for its teachers that set principles and duties they have

to respect “to optimize, homogenize and permit the consolidation of the CEPAM quality standard.”73 The regulations concern the relations teachers-CEPAM, the relations

66 Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 2nd ed., 2001, pp.372-421 67 See “Music Schools as a peculiar kind of organization” in § 2.5 68 “The paradox is that although rules in countries with weak UAI are less sacred, they are generally more respected.” (G.Hofstede, Culture’s consequences, 2001) 69 See “Music Schools as a particular kind of organization” in § 2.4 70 The Director and the Secretariat keep constant and direct contact with the teachers through emails and immediate phone calls (through the use of mobile phones) to communicate problems or news. 71 And the limited resources, in terms of time and money. 72 Even if with some regrets for the School as it were 10 or 15 years ago “where everybody knew and see each other, and there was not the frenzy of recent years, that leaves little space for interpersonal relations.” 73 Taken from “Memorandum for CEPAM teachers”.

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teachers-Secretariat, the School’s operating functioning and the behaviour to keep during lessons. In this regard, School’s managers constantly repeat and remember those operating rules74, not with an authoritarian manner, but instead with patience, understanding, dialogue and accepting a degree of organizational chaos in “some” of them75.

According to the School’s managers, the dismissal of a professor and the use of “hard hand” has rarely happened. (see “Selection” and “Advancements” in § 6.7)

Finally, the Centre has the possibility to receive two volunteers every year from the national voluntary service. In their regard, the style of management must be adapted to their needs and characteristics, and require special attention to their motivations to make them feel that they are an important part of the organization.76

6.7 Staff

Hofstede’s Findings: Motivation Patterns in some Latin Countries like Italy77

High Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) and medium/low Masculinity (MAS) scores, as in some Latin Countries like Spain78, entail the research and use of motivations by personal, individual security.

This security can be found in wealth and, especially, in hard work. Salaries and advancements are based on seniority and skills, rather than on performance.

The CEPAM Personnel is constituted by about 50 part-time teachers79, 3 part-time administrative employees and 2 part-time volunteers from the national voluntary service.

The School receives also support from centralized functions of the Arci Reggio Committee. In this analysis I refer to Staff as a synonymous of School’s teachers (administrators and managers are analyzed in § 6.6 and 6.8), while I use Personnel to include both teachers and administrators.

CharacteristicsThe Centre counts on a team of 50 teachers with different experiences and competences, in

all music styles. Besides that, they are constantly stimulated by the creative dynamism which

74 Sometimes with little success. 75 But appreciating their creativity, playfulness and dedication. 76 The relations with volunteers involve a series of management problems, issues and skills, which are not an objective of this thesis to analyse. 77 Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 2nd ed., 2001, pp.372-421 78 And France, but not Italy. (see § 6.7) 79 They are self employed with a one-year contract.

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has always been one of CEPAM main features. This makes CEPAM able to have the right teacher for the right job: from the small Schools with mostly children in the province to the specialization courses in the main School.

CEPAM teachers, as most music teachers80, are committed and passionate about their work. This becomes sometimes a problem, because the job, in some cases, is not only a job, but it absorbs all their energies and it becomes almost as voluntary activity, but, also because of the School’s limited resources, that cannot meet their expectations and they risk to become frustrated and unsatisfied.

Teachers have part-time contracts, and only for the scholastic year (see “Type of contracts” below), therefore another important characteristic identified is that they have to be flexible in terms of fitting and combining together the teaching activity for CEPAM with everything else they are doing: concerts, teachers in ordinary schools, other jobs, etc.

Type of contracts

All teachers have a contract for the scholastic period81, as self employed teachers, based on the number of teaching hours. The hourly rate is the same for every teacher, apart from teachers of specialization courses, who receive an higher rate.

Teachers have the implicit right82, if the previous year was satisfactory, with no relevant problems, to be a teacher in the same School the following year. Current teachers are, of course, also favoured in case of a teaching post left empty in a CEPAM School.

No union defend self employed teachers’ rights in Italy.

Autonomy in methods and contents CEPAM leaves a great space of autonomy and trust to teachers in terms of methods and

contents of the lessons. The main goal to pursue is the satisfaction of the pupils, therefore the lessons are and must be adapted to his/her level and ambitions. The type of lessons83, their prices and the general “teaching philosophy” (see § 6.3) are set, but within those frames, teachers can choose their own methods and contents.

Selection No official qualification is required for teachers to be selected by CEPAM. The selection is

based on the curriculum and skills, on references, and on job interviews. Teachers are then, at first, proposed in smaller Schools of the province to test their skills “on the field”.

80 “And for all persons working in the art and cultural field, where their first passion becomes their job…” (see “Kulturskolan Staff” in § 3.7) 81 October-June. Some teachers involved in extra-scholastic activities during the summer have longer contracts. 82 Mentioned in the “Memorandum for CEPAM teachers”, but not on the contract. The goal is also to guarantee the educational continuity to pupils. 83 The most common are the individual lesson for 40 minutes or one hour, or the lesson in pairs.

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TrainingThe School does not provide any training course for its teachers.

Advancements There is no advancement system at CEPAM in terms of salaries and responsibilities. All

teachers are at the same level and receive the same hourly rate. The only progression is in terms of Schools where they teach, and it comes with time. As mentioned before, teachers are tested in smaller Schools and then, if they have good results, proposed in others where there is the need for a new teacher, until they become teachers in the main School of Reggio Emilia.

Teachers have a great amount of freedom and trust from the School in their activity, even so the satisfaction of pupils remains the first target, and it is evaluated on the basis of the expressed opinions, final year concerts and activities, complaints and with the Performance & Satisfaction Analysis. (see “Performance Analysis” in § 6.9)

Turnover Due to the difficult economic situation of music education in private Schools in Italy, the

turnover of teachers has become an important issue and problem for the School. A percentage that vary form 5 to 10% of teachers, mainly the young ones84 that do not see a satisfying economic future in this profession, leave every year the School.

No solution to this problem seems possible to be found in the short term.

6.8 Skills

Skills and Background of the ManagementAn historical analysis of the characteristics of CEPAM Management cannot avoid to

describe the two Directors that have shaped and influenced its evolution.

GIUSEPPE CODELUPPI (Director from 1981 to 1992)

Giuseppe Codeluppi, together with a small group of teachers85, created CEPAM some 25 years ago. His vision was surprisingly clear from the very beginning of the School86: to create “a school for everybody”, independent but with the support of the Institutions, with the main centre in the city of Reggio for the specialization courses and with a network of Schools in the province for the basic music education.

84 And unfortunately too often very good potential teachers. 85 He was a computer music teacher. 86 See “Mission” in § 6.3

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The structure of courses87 and their teaching philosophy have remained essentially the same over time and the memory of the thrilling and stimulating atmosphere of the birth and first developments of the School is still alive in the memory of the teachers.

The main elements of his CEPAM vision and management seem to be: ! “Philosophy”: “a school for everybody”, no matter their age, music genre, level and

ambitions and committed to offer those courses at “popular” prices; ! Network of Schools (since 1982): CEPAM has been the first Italian Music School

organized in a system of separated Schools, connected by a centralized management; ! Organization of seminars, masterclasses and workshops with the most important Italian

jazz musicians; ! Relations with the media: attested by the number of articles about CEPAM written in

that period and by the consideration of the Centre expressed by important local journalists such as Alberto Bonafini88;

! Relations with the Public Administration: both with the City Council of Reggio89 and with the Town Councils in the province;

! Relations with Music Institutions: CEPAM established contacts and relations with the most important local, Italian and international music institutions (Ist.”A.Peri”, SIEM, AISM, AMJ, AIMI, SISMA, CMA, etc.);

! International relations: lead the School to organize visits to twin Schools abroad, such as the Jugend Musik Schule of Pforzheim90 (Germany).

GIULIANO GIOVANELLI (Director from 1996)

Giuliano Giovanelli, guitar teacher of the School from its very beginning, took over CEPAM management in 1996, after a troubled period for the School. Pragmatic and methodical, he can be considered an example of the concreteness typical of this province. His first commitment, that brought immediate results, has been to regain economic balance and solidity, necessary to the life and future developments of the Centre.

An important strategic choice and direction has been the development and strengthening of the relations with Arci91, always fundamental in the history and for the stability of the Centre, with the creation and utilization of synergies and connections among the two entities92. (see “Structure” in § 6.4)

87 Teaching calendar of 24 weekly lessons from October to June, even if at the beginning they were mostly group lessons, while now they are individual or in pair. 88 Former Director of “la Gazzetta di Reggio”, the most important local newspaper. 89 That provided funds and premises for the first years. 90 Together with the Music Institute (Conservatory) “A. Peri” of Reggio Emilia in 1991. 91 As underlined in the “Conclusions” (§ 8.1), the most successful and stable over time Music Schools are the one that developed relations and connections with other organizations and institutions, both internally and externally. As mentioned, there is an ongoing debate on the consequences of this relations, both inside Arci and CEPAM, but it is not a goal of this thesis to investigate more this issue. 92 Juridically united, but historically distinguished.

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After 10 years, results explain more than words the effectiveness of his management: the Centre has always recorded positive economic statements and the School has almost doubled its number of enrolments (from about 500 to 900 per year) and its organization.

But it is important to underline that this description, as all other description of managers in this research, does not want to give the idea of CEPAM as an organization created by one or two persons. It is instead the final, exceptional and precious result of the work of a group of people working together toward the same goals for decades. In this sense, it would be correct to mention the work of Massimo Giuberti, drum and music theory teacher of the School from its establishment, fundamental for the construction of the network of Schools in the province, Tiziano Bellelli, who gave an essential contribute for the creation and development of the School’s extra-scholastic activities, and then Maria Grazia Lazzarini, Valentina Brindani, Giorgio Aristi, Pierpaolo Curti, Ivano Borgazzi, Mauro Magnani, Claudio Incerti, Sandro Animini, Paola Bandini, Sara Dieci, Federica Fontanesi, the Sgavetti Brothers… and all the others93 that, over the years, contributed to create CEPAM has it is today and formed a nucleus of expert and qualified teachers that permit the School to introduce every year new teachers, without losing its identity and style.

6.9 Systems

Informative System

The strengthening of the secretary’s staff94, has permitted to manage the increased amount of work of the ever growing School and to dedicate more time and human resources to the creation of a computerized students’ data bank, to communication95 and to a more detailed and methodical management control.

Periodic written reports are provided to the Director (monthly), Arci and public administrators of the towns with CEPAM Schools.

Meetings: The Cultural Litmus Test According to Pascale and Athos, “Meetings are the cultural litmus test. Culture asserts its

invisible presence on patterns of day-to-day communications. Meetings are the best known mechanism for efficient information sharing, for accomplishing collective problem solving and coordinated action.” 96

93 My excuses go to each of them. 94 Even if it still seems under-sized. Until 2002 there was only one employee. 95 Both internal and external, with the School’s newsletter and the updated website. 96 R.T.Pascale, A.G.Athos, The Art of Japanese Management, 1981, p.130

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As it has been mentioned (see § 6.6), teachers can participate to meetings and bring their suggestions about any aspect of the School’s activities. The agenda is set by the Director, who also conducts the meeting.

The most important meetings in the CEPAM agenda are: ! Twice a year97 (Assembly) with the Director and all teachers; ! Once every 2 or 3 months98 (College) with the Director and the Teaching Body

Representatives; ! Once a year99: the Director with each teacher in individual meetings; ! Once a week: Arci Board of Directors. As it is possible to notice at first sight, the number of meetings and their frequency are

considerably lower than those reported by Kulturskolan Stockholm and ACM Guildford. Culture probably plays its part, but it is important to consider that meetings (as well as P&C systems) are costly in terms of time and, therefore, money, and CEPAM does not receive support from Public Administrations for its courses.100

Planning, Budgeting and Controlling Systems

Hofstede’s Findings: Planning and Controlling Systems in Latin Countries101

In countries with high Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) and Power Distance (PDI) scores, as in Latin Countries like Spain and Italy, needs and power require a more detailed planning and controlling system, with more short-term feedbacks.

The information flow is centralized and planning is left to superiors and specialists. Trust on subordinates is lacking. Norms support “political” thinking.

The planning and budgeting system has been defined as appropriate for the needs, the goals (non-profit) and the limited resources of the School.

The School’s budgeting and controlling system can be summarized as follows: ! July-Sept: determination of School’s fees and instalments with direct costing methodology and

projections of revenues and costs on the basis of previous year composition of courses; ! Sept: definition of Town Councils’ contributions and opening of the enrolments; ! Nov: budget of current year; ! Periodic (monthly) reports and monitoring on actual and projected revenues;

97 Before the beginning of the courses and before the final concerts. 98 The date and frequency is set by the Director. 99 At the end of the year. 100 This is true also for the Spanish case analysed in the previous chapter, and it influences the resources (time and people) that the organization can put also in other systems and procedures. 101 Geert Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences, 2nd ed., 2001, pp.372-421

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! March-April: final balance of previous year and closing of enrolments of current year; ! May: opening of enrolments for summer courses; ! June: first draft of final statement for the current year; ! June-July: individual meetings with teachers and “Performance and Satisfaction Analysis”.

The non-profit nature of CEPAM is visible in the choices to continue offering its educational services to municipal Schools in the province, even where the local School is so small that the managerial efforts are in no way justified by its small revenues.

With regards to control, the School aims to give a great amount of freedom and trust to teachers in terms of autonomy of contents and methods, (See § 6.7) and therefore, also for the non-profit soul of the organization, it has never been developed an extremely deep control system. The main control tool102, to guarantee the satisfaction of pupils, besides expressed opinions, complains and final year concerts, is the “Performance and Satisfaction Analysis”, in which the statistics of withdrawals, re-enrolments and new enrolments for every teachers, as well as for every School are calculated. (see below)

The teaching calendar goes from October to May-June and includes 24 weekly lessons. Enrolments are always open103 from September to March. In June-July summer courses are offered. Fees are subdivided into 3 instalments (see “Prices” in § 6.4)

Economic Valuations104

TOTAL REVENUES

Total revenues of CEPAM in 2005 accounted for about 350.000 of the total 1,6 million euros of the Arci Committee of Reggio Emilia.

COMPOSITION OF CEPAM REVENUES

Sponsor 0,2%

Extra-scholastic activities 12,5%

Contributions from Town

Councils 3,8%

Fees 83,5%

102 Recently introduced. 103 Subjected to availability. 104 All figures are referred to the scholastic year 2004/2005

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PRICING DECISIONS

Pricing decisions are described above in “Budgeting & Controlling System”.

COMPOSITION OF CEPAM COSTS

Accomodation 4,8%

Administration Salaries 15,5%

other costs 5,4%

Advertising &Marketing

1,5%

Teaching Salaries 72,8%

“Teaching salaries” includes salaries to teachers for School’s lessons (62,5%) and for extra-scholastic activities (10,3%)

As it is evident in the figure above, the extremely low fixed costs and the teaching salaries related to the amount of actual teaching hours make one of the most important CEPAM point of strength105: flexibility to changes in the market.

Non-economic Valuations

(the lighter colour is for the main School, the darker for the municipal Schools)

105 Unfortunately to the detriment of teachers, who will have their teaching hours and salaries reduced if there is a loss in the demand of music courses.

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DISTRIBUTION BETWEEN SEXES

main School

Females 35%

Males 65%

municipal Schools

Females 45% Males

55%

DISTRIBUTION AMONG INSTRUMENTS

DJ&Productor 5%

Piano 20%

PlayMusic (for children)

2%

Vocals 11%

Sax 3%

Trumpet 2%

Drums 9%other instrum. 2% Violin 2%

Accordion 1%

Bass Guitar 6%

Guitar 35%

AVERAGE LENGTH OF ATTENDANCE

The average length of attendance has been estimated in 1,8 years.106

STUDENTS’ SATISFACTION AND PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF TEACHERS & SCHOOLS

Besides complaints, expressed opinions and the final year concerts and activities, the satisfaction of pupils and the performance of teachers are evaluated107 at the end of the year analyzing their percentages of withdrawals before the end of the scholastic year and re-enrolments from the year before. The effectiveness of communication and marketing for each School is measured by the percentage of new enrolments108. Of course these results are approximations and can only give general trends, also because, for a more complete analysis, evaluations about all elements (prices, premises, etc.) of the service provided should be made. The results are only for internal use of the Director and the Management and are not usually

106 In this regard, an interesting point is expressed by Kulturskolan managers in “Average length of attendance” in § 3.9 107 Since a couple of years ago. 108 Over the total of enrolments of the previous year.

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communicated to teachers109: no special economic reward is given to the best results, no “punishment” to the worst one. The underlying idea is to give more opportunities to the best teachers on the base of merit, but not forgetting the non-profit values and goals of the association.

EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNICATION

See “Performance Analysis” above. Hits and trends of visits on the website are periodically monitored (see “Promotion” in

§6.4). Furthermore, new persons enrolled in the main School of Reggio are asked about where they heard about CEPAM. These are the results:

WHERE NEW STUDENTS HEARD FROM CEPAM

guide 3%

other 13%

white&yellow pages 9%

always known 31%

website 8%

word of mouth 34%

(results referred to the main School)

Incentive System All teachers get the same hourly rate (see § 6.7). There are no economic incentives based

on results.

FINAL ASSESSMENT

6.10 Overall S-Consistency of the School All 7 S’s of CEPAM and the external environment (Italy and Reggio Emilia) appear

aligned, connected together in a consistent way and contribute to the School’s success. The following figure is a graphic representation of the S-Consistency of the School.

109 To avoid competition among them and the feeling to be watched and controlled.

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7. Music Schools in Berlin

“Ich bin ein Berliner1“

J.F. Kennedy

Germany, the home land of the greatest classical composers2, is probably the European nation with the most important tradition in music education. From the regimes of the past to the present times, Governments have always supported and promoted culture and music as a mean of national pride and identity. From the end of the XIX century, the teaching of music education have been introduced in ordinary schools, especially through the use of the Orff instrumentation and approach3. In this country it is possible to assert that everyone can play an instrument and almost any category of workers in each city has its own band.

7.1 Berlin

Berlin, the capital of Germany, is an energetic, vibrant, ever-changing, controversial, contradictory, sharp, nonconformist, tolerant, many-sided city4. It is the bridge between the East and the West, and in this city in the heart of continental Europe all music styles find their expression: from the techno of the Love Parade to Jazz in the small clubs of the city centre, from the classical music of the Philarmonie to the punk of the eastern side, etc. In this tumultuous evolution of styles and preferences, and in a context of favourable legislation5, many different kinds of schools have been founded and developed.

Music Education in Berlin6 Each district of the city has its public Music School. They are organized in the

“Association of German Schools of Music”7. At a secondary school level, recognized music education is provided by two music

Gymnasiums, while at a university level, the Higher School of Music “Hanns Eislers” and the Universities of Arts8 can graduate students in music studies. In 1995 it has been created the Regional Music Academy9 for the training of music tutors.

1 “I am a Berliner”, sentence pronounced at the end of his famous speech in West Berlin in 1963. 2 Just mentioning a few names: J. S. Bach, L. Van Beethoven, R. Wagner, R. Strauss, G. Mahler, etc. 3 Orff Schulwerk (1930-35). 4 Taken from: Berlin, Lonely Planet Pubblications, 1999, p.1 5 In terms of tax deductions and social security to teachers, approved by the public institutions, that permitted the birth and growth also to private Schools for profit such as Datenklang and MMS. (see § 7.3 e 7.4) 6 Taken and adapted from: Klaus Siebenhaar, KulturHandbuch Berlin, Berlin, Bostelmann & Siebenhaarverlag, 2005, p.381-382 7 Verband Deutscher Musikschulen. 8 Kunsthochschulen. 9 Landesmusikakademie.

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Many other civic and public associations provide promotion to music courses, activities and studies. Three main kinds of Music Schools have been found and analysed in the following paragraphs.

7.2 Public Music Schools: the Musikschule Neukölln10

The School of Music Neukölln, established in Berlin in 1927, is one of the 3 oldest public Music Schools in Germany. With an exemplary and, at that time, largely anticipating methodology, it has obtained a very fast fame and reputation, and its foundation is considered as a starting point for the modern music education in Germany.

At Musikschule Neukölln, 150 teachers provide 60 different instrumental and vocal lessons to a total of 3100 students per year. Lessons are mostly individual, but also in groups and ensembles. The offer is addressed to pupils from the age of 2 up to youngsters, adults and seniors. All teachers have an high qualification in music education and many of them are at the same time active musicians and tutors at Higher School of Music and in the Academies of Music.

Main fields of activities are: basic music education, music activities in ordinary schools, instrumental carousel for parents with children, music of other cultures (jazz, rock, pop), school choirs, preparation for the entrance examination to the Higher School of Music, musicals, music for theatre, world music, music with new media and the organization of a total of 170 concerts and musical events visited every year by about 18.000 people.

The School cooperates with ordinary schools of the district, the Higher School of Music of Berlin, the Regional Academy of Music and with many other associations in the music field.

7.3 Private Franchising of Music Schools for Profit: MMS Berlin11

The Modern Music School Berlin is private limited company located in Berlin Steglitz, part of a German franchising network that counts about 60 Schools in and outside Germany.12

MMS, the first American styled Music School in Germany, established 18 years ago, is specialized in rock and pop music, but has a growing department of DJ courses. Lessons are weekly and in major instruments. There is no age limit (from children to adults) and the flexible teaching program can be adapted to both amateurs and professionals (until Bachelor degree). Teachers are all graduated, specialists in their field and active musicians.

Every year the centralized organization organises national contests, especially for DJs and drummers. Modern Music School has relations with the Musicians Institute of Los Angeles and with many sponsors in the music industry similar to those of ACM13. (see chapter 4)

10 Information taken from the School’s website. (see “References”) 11 Information gathered from the School’s website (see “References”) and from a visit in August 2004. 12 Some are in Greece, Turkey, Costa Rica, etc. 13 Until a few years ago they had relations with ACM and LAMA.

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7.4 Independent Music Schools for Profit: Datenklang Berlin14

Datenklang, one of the biggest private Music Schools in Berlin, was founded in 2001 as a private School of Music and Computer education in Prenzlauer Berg. In 2004 the two main fields of activities became independent divisions and centres of profit, and then, at the end of 2005, two separated enterprises15. Adrian Kroß16, one of the two founders and owners, took the responsibility of the Music School and is now its owner and Managing Director.

During the first five years of activity the School passed from 50 to 350 pupils, offering17 courses for pre-school children, vocal and instrumental lessons, band coaching, studies for professional preparation and sale of teaching programs and systems to other music teachers.

The commitment of the new School of Music is oriented to comply with the standards of the Association of German Schools of Music.

Surrounding Area In the Prenzlauer Berg district live about 135.000 inhabitants18, and it can therefore be

compared to a rather big city in a relative small territory (10,95 km2). In Prenzlauer Berg live many young people (26,2% of the population is between 15 and 30 years old19) and also the birth rate (2,1 children per woman) is much higher than the German average. Furthermore, there are 16 primary schools with about 4500 pupils, 3 secondary schools with approximately 850 pupils, 5 gymnasiums with an average of 3500 students and 2 schools for superior education with a total of 1200 students.

The district has always been distinguished for the high educational level (46% of the inhabitants have an high school graduation) and the historical inclination to creativity.

Competitors In the same area operate one private and one public Music School, as well as many private

teachers of single instruments. Private teachers have usually only a little number of pupils and cover mainly one

instrument. Their customers have therefore no chance of choice among different types of instruments and number of teachers.

The public Music School is financed by the State and can offer lessons in all instruments, but a two years waiting list to enter it is the norm and, due to its bureaucratic structure, there is an insufficient attention to the needs of individual customers.

14 When not specified from other source, all information have been gathered from the interview (6/1/2006) to Adrian Kroß, owner and Managing Director of the School, and Marcus Wisweh, Managing Director Assistant, from Datenklang’s business plan, publications and website. (see “References”) 15 Datenklang is now an individual enterprise. 16 He studied pedagogy at the Humboldt University of Berlin and obtained the music Diploma at the Higher School of Music of Berlin. He is now professor for concert guitar at the Regional Music Academy of Berlin. 17 Or planning to offer. 18 2003 figure. 19 While the average in Germany is 18,3 %.

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The private Music School has only 3 classrooms and it is basically organized as a cooperative of musicians, who make separate agreements.

Shared Values Datenklang is a network of musicians that has been committed to make possible a creative

approach to music for children, youngsters and elderly people. Music improves the learning ability and requires equilibrium, competence and creativity. Music, as no other media, can affect human senses, body, feelings, intelligence and fantasy.

Target Market The School focuses on 5 main target groups: pre-school children, children in primary

schools, young people, adults, schools and nursery schools. The most part of pupils attending Datenklang are aged between 6 and 14.

4 P of the School:

Product Datenklang offers courses in all major instruments and styles. Lessons are mostly

individual, to encourage personal expression.20 Complementary courses and ensemble lessons are offered free of charge. The study program and the enrolments are on a yearly base21, but the School gives the possibility to leave the course during the first three months with a two weeks’ notice. Pupils are free to change instrument, teacher and type of lesson during the year.22

The School puts special effort to support parents and children to choose the right instrument and the most suitable course. For this purpose, special courses that allow the testing and experience with different instruments are proposed.23 A first lesson free of charge is also offered to children.

The School can provide instruments24 for a small rental and grants scholarship and reductions to unemployed and people in strained circumstances.

Place The School has seven equipped classrooms for a total of 300 square metres over two

premises in Berlin Prenzlauer Berg. All premises have optimal transport connections.

20 While instead lessons in public schools in Berlin are mostly in groups. 21 Fees are divided into 12 monthly instalments. Lessons take place 11 months per year: all months except August. 22 While it is very hard in public Schools, because of bureaucratic procedures. 23 Such as the “Klangwiese” (meadows of music, 1-3 years old), the “Musikalishe Früherzieung” (basic music education, from 4 years old) and the “Intrumentenkarussel” (intrumental carousel, 5-10 years old).24 About 20 guitars, 10 keyboards, 1 sax, etc.

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Promotion The distinctive marks of the Music School are its high quality, the proximity to the

customers and the special service orientation. These characteristics can also be found in the advertising strategy.

In the opinion of the Management of the School the best advertising is quality: 70% of current students came to the School by word of mouth and suggestions. Previous experiences have shown that newspapers or magazine advertisements did not give the required effect. Starting from this assumption, the advertising strategy of Datenklang is based on the following channels:

Website: updated and visible25; Leaflets: distributed during concerts of School’s students; Concerts: two big public concerts per year as well as regular class auditions; Relations with nursery and ordinary schools: two visits per year to first and second

classes of primary schools for an introduction to instruments.

Price Lessons for children in small groups cost 30 euros per month, while individual lessons for

grown up cost between 60 and 110 euros per month, depending on the length of the lesson. Structure Datenklang employs 25 part-time teachers, one Team Assistant and one Technical

Coordinator. All teachers have regularly attended the Higher School of Music and have good experience in teaching and as professional musicians. The School makes also use of external advisors for management, administration and tax consultancy.

Economic Valuations Total revenues of Datenklang in 2005 were about 175.000 euros, all coming from School’s

fees. Teaching salaries accounted for 60% of total costs.

25 See “References”.

PART III

CONCLUSIONS

161

8. Findings and Contributions

“There are truths on this side of the Pyrenees that are falsehoods on the other.”1

Blaise Pascal

8.1 Empirical Findings The multiple case study has shown how culture and surrounding environment influence

managerial behaviours. A criticism2 to the research might be that there may be a difference between what it has been declared and the reality3. To a certain extent, this is of course true, and it is not possible to deny that each person interviewed wanted to give a positive image of his/her School, even if they all seem honest and sincere, and even if the research is as much as possible based on facts more than on opinions. Even so, the comparison among different ideas of music education and management has given interesting and sometimes unexpected results. Moreover, it has been evident how even the concept of “positive management” differs among cultures: for example, all persons interviewed claimed that “the School does not put too much emphasis on control”4, but the meaning of this statement was very different from culture to culture. In other words, everything depends from the (cultural) point of view from which we see things.

EVOLUTION OF MUSIC SCHOOLS IN EUROPE

The findings of this research, as well as other studies, pointed out as the evolution of Music Schools in Europe has occurred through different stages, very similar in all countries. They can be summarized as follows:

! Until the end of the XIX century: learned music was handed down by the monasteries,while popular music by common people;

! From the beginning of the XX century: birth of public Music Schools and Conservatories (i.e. Musikschule Neukölln);

! From the middle of the ‘70s: development of jazz and popular Music Schools, after the mass explosion in Europe of jazz and other new music genres (i.e. Taller de Músics, CEPAM, Popular School of Music of Testaccio – Rome, etc.);

! From the beginning of the ‘90s: establishment of vocational Music Schools of modern music (i.e. ACM), sometimes “for profit” (i.e. London Music School, MMS, etc.), new or from evolution of previous jazz and popular Schools (i.e. Taller de Músics).

1 From Pensée 60 (294). Inspired by Michel de Montaigne, Essais II, XIII, 34 2 Which was also an initial doubt about the results of the research. 3 Or that some of those ideas, mostly coming from administrative staff, are subjective and do not necessarily coincide with those of all members of the organization. 4 Which was probably true if compared to other industrial enterprises of the same country.

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Popular and vocational Schools have different view of the “role” of participants and of their “guides”: popular Schools usually think in terms of pupils and teachers, while vocational Schools5 in terms of student and tutors/professors. Even so this research has not been rigorous in this distinction when in interviews both terms were used.

IMPORTANCE OF RELATIONS AND SUPPORT FROM OTHER INSTITUTIONS

In all cases of successful Music Schools analyzed, it has been of fundamental importance for the life, stability and development of the School its links and connections, in terms of economic or/and managerial support, to other institutions: Public Administration, non-profit associations, foundations, other organizations, etc.

The table below indicates the main institution related to each School analyzed: CEPAM Taller de Músics ACM Kulturskolan

Main related Institution

Arci Foundation Taller Government,

Middlesex Uni., Guildford College

Stockholm City Council

MUSIC SCHOOLS FOR PROFIT

The opinion of many people working in the music education sector is that “this is not a profitable business”. Even so, Music Schools for profit exist6 and are characterized by dynamism and fast adaptations to new trends. The research has led the following list of typical characteristics of profit Music Schools in Europe:

! have higher fees and do not receive funds from public institutions; ! are in capitals or large cities: here they found the “market space” for specialized

Schools7; ! legislation and surrounding environment are a crucial factor for their existence,

characteristics and evolution: Music Schools for profit have been founded only in Germany and United Kingdom;

! are usually for vocational education; ! are usually focused on few, most common instruments; ! have small dimensions; ! may give economic incentives to personnel; ! have more problems of stability over time (especially if independent): among those

visited and analyzed, LMS has changed name, strategic relations and locations many times in the last years; Datenklang has been divided into two different companies (computer and music courses) and is now facing a process of reorganization, MMS Berlin has changed strategic relations (from ACM&LAMA, to MI Los Angeles).

5 Especially those structured as “Universities of Music”. 6 Even if they are of relatively recent establishment. 7 In bigger cities the potential market is bigger and therefore the number of enrolments allows private not-funded Schools to reach their break even point and survive. Furthermore, in areas with high density of population there is “space in the market” and demand for specialised Music Schools. As a consequence, inhabitants of bigger cities have better choice and higher competition, and therefore better quality of education, but higher prices, because the Public Administration do not support profit-driven organizations.

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Comparative Management Tables It is particularly interesting to compare some of the empirical findings of this research

through the use of synthesis tables:

Table 1. EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT % of funds from Public Admin.

Legislation Unions Most common

contracts

CEPAM 4,5 %* not favourable no fixed-term

Taller de Músics

0 % N.A. yes fixed-term

ACM 70 % favourable / not detailed

no fixed-term

Kulturskolan 87 % favourable yes open-ended

N.A. = not available

Table 2. THE SCHOOL

main objective structure written regulations for teachers/tutors

Training

CEPAM amateur divisional yes no

Taller de Músics

professional divisional yes yes

ACM professional flat adhocratic no yes

Kulturskolan amateur matrix no yes

Table 3. THE SCHOOL: SOME FIGURES

% of teachers in the Personnel

% of costs for teaching salaries

% of costs for marketing

% of revenues from fees

CEPAM 90 % 72,8 % 1,5 % 95,5 %*

Taller de Músics

90 % 60 % 4 % 100 %

ACM 72,7 % 30 % 3 % 30 %

Kulturskolan 88,5 % 65 % 1 % 13 %

* these percentages refer to music courses only

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Table one summarizes and shows, once again, the strong influence that the external environment can have on the organization. The last column indicates the most common kind of contract for music teachers in each country. In regard to that, it can be noted that almost all Schools, with the exception of the public ones, use fixed-term contracts and pay teachers on the base of their actual teaching hours. This happens also in the English Schools and cannot be simply motivated by the willingness to cut costs, but instead it is deeply connected with the nature of services, where, as mentioned in § 2.4, production and consumption coincide and it is fundamental to correctly size the production capacity and have it as flexible as possible.

Table two reports some of the managerial characteristics of the organization. It is clear the strong influence of culture on the structure and regulations, while other factors influence other management and educational choices.

Table three underlines the deep differences on the fund raising side of the North European and the South European countries, as well as the uniqueness of ACM management in terms of resources dedicated to administrative personnel in the organization. It is also remarked that the resources invested in marketing and advertising are relatively small for all Music Schools.

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8.2 Theoretical Contributions

“Culture has two deep anthropological roots: time and space. Cultural production is fundamentally linked to a place,

in social sense, to a community and its history, and is historically a specific and original

product of a generation.” 8

Walter Santagata

Starting from the assumption of the importance of space and time for cultural activities (see § 2.3), the 7-S Model by Pascale and Athos, used for the analysis of the internal consistency of the School (see § 2.1) has been integrated with 3 more S’s, related to space and time variables.

The result is what it has been called 10-S Framework, a model that is proposed for the study of all cultural activities and not only for Music Schools. The Framework analyses the overall consistency of the activity, to the external environment and in regard of the internal managerial variables, through the global and inter-connected description of all its 10 S’s. The consistency of all S’s has been renamed Overall S-Consistency of the activity.

The space factor has been subdivided into two elements (S’s), Surrounding Area and State, because the first marks the boundary of competition9 in the cultural sector, while the second defines the general context in which the organization operates. In this regard, it is widely accepted and demonstrated10 that competitors in cultural activities, especially for the non-profit sector, are not only organizations of the same kind, but also other cultural and leisure organizations in the same area that compete for customers as well as for fund raising. At a State level are instead defined legislation, cultural contest and managerial styles and ideas11. (see § 2.2)

The last S is instead related to time, in the sense of historical background of the organization and its environment, and of the consistency with present and future settings of the managerial S’s. To adapt to the alliteration, this element of the overall S-consistency has been therefore called “Short and long term consistency”.

The 10 S’s are connected together in a global network of interdependent relations, where each S dynamically influences the others in an ongoing re-adjustment of the overall balance. (see § 2.1)

The following figure is a graphic representation of the 10-S Framework.

8 Walter Santagata, “I distretti culturali nei paesi avanzati e nelle economie emergenti”, Economia della cultura, Bologna, n.2, 2005, p.142 9 Almost always, and, in any case, for the most part. 10 And also pointed out by this research. 11 Analysed in this research through the Hofstede’s predictions and findings. (see § 2.2)

166

167

In terms of space, all Schools analysed are located in economically developed areas, in some of the wealthier countries in Europe. This is natural and fundamental for cultural and service activities: only advanced and prosperous economies can support the service sector, and the cultural industry in particular. If the considered Surrounding Areas present similarities regarding their economic structures, the State and general contexts are considerably different and, therefore, also their influence and consequences on the life and management choices of the cultural organizations and, as a result, on the population living in those areas: passing from the social-democratic approach of Sweden (see chapter 3), to the music industry and connected system of relations and recognitions of the United Kingdom (see chapter 4), to the favourable legislation and the tradition of Germany (see chapter 7), to the unfortunately “unwise” and difficult Italian situation (see chapter 6). Considering the relations with the context, it should be also remarked that organizations are not only influenced by the environment, but they can actively participate in the process of changing it, as it is evident for the history of the Taller de Músics (see chapter 5). In regard to this aspect, this thesis is to be seen in connection and as an integration of other researches that have investigated more in-depth the role that environment and Public Administrations can play for the development of cultural activities as a resource for the social and economic growth12.

As regards the time factor, the ongoing readjustment13 of the organization is crucial for its surviving and growing. Successful and “consistent” organizations can rapidly worsen their results and lose their advantages, especially in this new changeable world. (see “Complex Foresight Horizon” in § 2.4)

This model has been used as basis for the creation of the “S-Consistency Questionnaire” (see § 1.3 and Appendix A), the framework for the structured interviews to the key personnel of the selected and visited Schools. The Questionnaire can be easily adapted to other kinds of cultural activities, permitting a clear, complete and accurate comparison of the organizations.

12 As examples: Alberto Cottica, Tommaso Fabbri, La creatività giovanile come risorsa. Relazioni, strategie, governance: i casi di Modena e Manchester, 2002 Federico Ferriani, Struttura e processi di sviluppo di un distretto musicale. I casi di Seattle, Manchester e Verona, 2004 Matteo Parrinello, La cultura della musica dal vivo in Inghilterra ed in Italia. Il distretto di Manchester e la provincia di Ravenna. Aspetti e confronti, 2000 13 See § 2.1

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8.3 Final considerations

In retrospect, what our framework has really done is to remind the world of professional managers

that “soft is hard”.

Tom Peters, Robert H.Waterman, In search of excellence14

SEPTIMUS: “When we have found all the mysteries

and lost all the meaning, we will be alone, on an empty shore.”

THOMASINA: “Then we will dance.”

Tom Stoppard Arcadia15

In conclusion, it is possible to look back at the evolution and results of this research originated from the desire to study and learn specific management control practices for cultural activities. Soon after the beginning, it became evident how all managerial choices were connected together and influenced by the culture and people of the organization, therefore the analysis has been extended to all internal managerial variables. Afterwards, when other Schools in different countries were visited, the importance of the context in which they operate came out and the study related to the external environment has been integrated and investigated more in-depth. This led to the creation of a model of analysis and understanding of management choices in cultural activities, the 10-S Framework, that considers their overall complexity and evolution, which seems the proper and only way of approaching problems and issues in today’s world.

This research also demonstrates that methodologies normally used to analyse industrial enterprises (the 7-S Model by Pascale and Athos, the environmental analysis by R. M. Grant and the study of the Hofstede’s 4 Dimensions) are effective for the description of rather smallcultural organizations. The explanation to this is16 that the relevant elements for the life of any organization are basically the same, and therefore the same methods can be used to consider all of them. This does not mean that there are no big differences on the management of different kinds of activities, as it has already been pointed out17, because the elements are the

14 Tom Peters, Robert H.Waterman, In search of excellence, 1982, p.11 15 Tom Stoppard, Arcadia, 1993 16 I believe. 17 See § 2.4

169

same ones but they differ on their relative weight and on the way they interact. In this regards, the two main aspects that come out from this study18 are the key role in cultural activities of

! the so-called “soft S’s”19 (shared values and mission, staff, skills and style of management)20;

! the time and space factors (public sector policies, cultural contest, culture’s consequences in management practices, competitors, economic and social structure...).

For this reason, the 7-S Model particularly suited the need to underline the importance of the “cultural” and “soft” elements and gave the framework and idea for the alliteration of the 10-S Model, which aims to provide a more complete assessment of the time and space variables.

From a personal point of view, I cannot avoid to go back to the introduction and say that this thesis was also about travelling, meeting people, understanding different cultures and, with them, ourselves. It was about curiosity towards what and who is different, not renouncing one’s identity and roots. It was about the role of culture and education in modern societies and how even small organizations can contribute to their social and economic progress. To all those organizations, to people working in cultural activities, even if sometimes in difficult circumstances, to music as a universal language, to the spirit of mutual knowledge and understanding this research is dedicated.

18 And that have to be considered for a wise and effective management of cultural activities. 19 Especially if the organization is a non-profit one. The importance of “Soft S’s” in non-profit organizations is well described in the book: David E. Mason, Valerio Melandri, Il management delle organizzazioni nonprofit, 1999, pp.75-130 20 See also “Music Schools as a particular type of organization” in § 2.4, § 2.1 and, as example, § 3.6

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8.4 Suggestions for Further Research

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” said Alice. “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to” said the Cat.

“I don’t much care where” said Alice. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go” said the Cat.

Lewis Carroll Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Many aspects of this research can be further analysed, depending on the goal of the study: the historical background of each organization and district and its future and present consequences, the legislation in each country focusing on more specific issues, other cultural variables such as short versus long term orientation21, etc.

With regard to the comparative management of Music Schools, it would be interesting to investigate trends and managerial choices of Schools outside Europe, and in particular the American examples (i.e. Berklee College of Music Boston and Musicians Institute Los Angeles), considered world leaders in the sector, and the Japanese ones, with the Yamaha organization already present and widely spread into European boundaries22. In Europe, it could be possible and significant to monitor the evolution of Music Schools and music education over time.

Finally, but not less important, it would be stimulating to see how the main theoretical and methodological contributions of this research, the 10-S Framework and the consequent S-Consistency Questionnaire, suit the analysis of other kinds of cultural organizations.

21 The 5th Hofstede’s dimension introduced in the second edition of Culture’s Consequences. 22 Especially in France.

173

References

Music Schools analysed

Kulturskolan Stockholm - www.kulturskolan.stockholm.se

ACM Guildford - www.acm.ac.uk

Taller de Músics Barcelona - www.tallerdemusics.com

Datenklang Berlin - www.datenklang.com

CEPAM Reggio Emilia - www.scuolecepam.it

Other Music Schools visited and mentioned:

Berklee College of Music Boston – www.berklee.edu

Musikschule Neukölln - www.musikschuleneukoelln.de

MMS Berlin – www.modernmusicschool.de

Muziekschool Amsterdam - www.muziekschoolamsterdam.nl

Centre Musical Yamaha Paris - www.yamaha-musique-paris.com

London Music School - www.londonmusicschool.com

London Centre for Contemporary Music - www.lccm.org.uk

ESMUC Barcelona - www.esmuc.net

Scuola Popolare di Musica Testaccio Roma - www.scuolamusicatestaccio.it

CPM Milano - www.centroprofessionemusica.it

Music Academy 2000 Bologna - www.musicacademy2000.com

174

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Websites

European Union - Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe website www.culturalpolicies.net

World Music Central www.worldmusiccentral.org

Eurostat http://epp.eurostat.cec.eu.int

European Culture Portal (European Commission) http://europa.eu.int/comm/culture/portal/index_en.htm

Comittee on Culture and Education (European Parlament) www.europarl.eu.int/committees/cult_home_en.htm

European Music Office www.musicineurope.org

E.M.U. (European Music School Union) www.musicschools-emu.net

The Association for Cultural Economics International www.acei.neu.edu

Government of the United Kingdom – creative industries www.culture.gov.uk/creative_industries/

Municipality of Barcelona www.diba.es

SIEM, Società Italiana per l’Educazione Musicalewww.siem-online.it

AIdSM (Associazione Italiana delle Scuole di Musica) www.aidsm.it

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AEC (Associazione per l’Economia della Cultura) www.economiadellacultura.it/english.html

Sebastiano Brusco and industrial districts www.economia.unimore.it/sezioni/pag319.aspx?id=726&liv=3&numpag=319www.economia.unimore.itconvegni_seminariCG_sept03index.html

Istituto “A.Peri” (Reggio Emilia) www.municipio.re.it/peri_biblioteca/

Circolo Arci Maffia (Reggio Emilia) www.maffia.it

Let’s Dance (Reggio Emilia) www.letsdance.it

Association Reggio Children www.reggiochildren.it

Wikipedia – the free encyclopedia www.wikipedia.org

For more information and links visit www.colarossi.net/tesi

marco.colarossi.net

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Appendix A

S-CONSISTENCY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR MUSIC SCHOOLS

by Marco Colarossicolarossi.net/tesi

THE SCHOOL introduction, juridical type, main characteristics, fields of activity, historical background…

facts&figures (the school in numbers: students, composition of personnel, premises, activities, instruments, etc…)

EXTERNAL CONSISTENCY OF THE SCHOOL adapted model taken from “Contemporary Strategy Analysis. Concepts, Techniques, Applications” by Robert M.Grant

STATE • Music education in _______ (State): hours of music in the compulsory school system

(primary and secondary schools)? Average music knowledge (people involved in amateur choirs or bands)…

• Public Sector Policies: funds each year to music/culture? • Legislation: income tax deductions for teachers? Pensions? Other specific laws? • Music Schools in _______ (State): private MS? Public MS? Profit?

SURROUNDING AREA • Music Environment: importance of music&culture among inhabitants? Average expenditures

per year? Major&typical kind of music? Music life in the city? … • Economic and social structure: possibility to pay fees? …• Demographic structure: number of inhabitants? …• Relations and funds from the Public Administration to the Music School? …• Competitors: Other Music Schools? Other cultural alternatives? Relations with the

conservatory?

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INTERNAL CONSISTENCY OF THE SCHOOL 7S McKinsey model: each of the 7S must be aligned, interconnected and working together with the others and “soft S” (shared values, style, staff and skills) are as important as “hard S” (strategy, structure and systems)

SHARED VALUES AND MISSION• Mission: mission of the school? Amateur Vs professional? • Shared values: values, super-ordinate goals, beliefs, philosophy? Statute, code of values,

symbols, school song, …? Values&mission of the school/management are shared by theachers&staff? Differences among staff? Conflict between efficiency Vs human relations? Training/education to values&mission?

STRATEGY • Target market? • 4P of the school:

Product (music courses): Core competences? Kinds? New courses? Traditional courses? Advanced courses? Examinations & diploma? What is quality? Price: Policies? Promotion: Marketing channels? Budget? Slogan? Image? Public relations? Internet? Merchandising? Place (school buildings&rooms)

• Competitive advantage of the school? • Vision? Future? Strategic relations? Sponsors?

STRUCTURE • Organization chart? Functional or divisional? Centralized Vs decentralized? Why? • Autonomy/responsibility/accountability of each member/unit? • Relations with the institution (Public Administration, Association, Foundation, etc.) to which

the School belong? their influence on strategy and activities?

STYLE OF MANAGEMENT• Kind of leadership? relations among managers? Between managers&teachers? Power distance?

Easy&common to talk directly to top management? Written rules/memorandum? • bottom-up Vs top-down model: decisions? Suggestions&criticisms from the bottom? • How often contact with managers&staff? At any hour of the day? • How long in the office Vs in school activities? • Meetings (see informative systems) • Praise? • Problem/conflicts solving: who has to find problems? chief decides Vs group decides? personal

conflicts in the organization (or only professional)? Immediately Vs “time of acceptance”? • “Hard hand”: when? How often? When dismiss teachers?

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STAFF • main qualities? • Types of contracts? Wages? Exist (national service) volunteers? (If yes, explain their activities and

how they are managed) Some teachers work in the administration? Exist teachers’ Unions? • Importance of single teacher Vs group? • Autonomy in lessons (methods/contents/programs/way of teaching)? Trust Vs control? • Proud/happy/self-fulfilled to be part of the School? • Competition Vs help among teachers? • Life job philosophy Vs contract based on results? • Selection: characteristics? Who decide? • Training? (paid by the school) • Advancements: age Vs merit? • Turnover (new teachers every year): problem?

SKILLS • Management: skills? Background education and experiences? (of the chief/s)

SYSTEMS INFORMATIVE SYSTEM • Data banks, Hard-copy (=papery) Reports, Meetings, Feedbacks …

PLANNING, BUDGETING AND CONTROLLING SYSTEM • Example • Who does it? Typical calendar&deadlines? • Reporting: how often? What? • Economic: Revenue Analysis? Cost analysis? Pricing decisions? • Non-Economic: Performance evaluation of teachers? age distribution of student?

distribution of students among instruments&courses? average length of attendance? Effectiveness of education? Satisfaction of pupils/students? Effectiveness of promotion? Word-of-mouth among pupils? …

• If a sector/course/activity has a negative economic performance?

INCENTIVE SYSTEM ?

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Appendix B

The Thesis Website

A thesis website ( www.colarossi.net/tesi ) has been created to contact and update Music Schools as well as anyone interested in the research.

www.colarossi.net/tesi

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Appendix D

The Berklee College of Music (Boston, USA)

While this edition of my thesis is about to be printed, I have just visited the Berklee College of Music in Boston1, the world’s largest independent music college (with 3800 students, 460 faculty members and an operating budget of $115M) and the premier institution for the study of contemporary music, founded in 19452. A more in-dept analysis of the School, based on the 10-S Framework, will be available soon as an appendix to this study3, but it is already possible to mention some of its main characteristics:

! Music College/University (can award a bachelor of music degree, recognized by the US Government): structure of courses and shared values similar to the Anglo-Saxon’s types (ACM, chapter 4) but with no funding by the Government4 and therefore higher fees5;

! Shared values: awareness/firm belief in all staff members and students to be a part of the best School for contemporary music in the world;

! Networking: incomparable number of courses and possibilities to create and be involved in a network of musicians, educators, composers, producers, engineers, record company executives, video-makers… providing a microcosm of the music world;

! Innovation, Technology6 and Diversity (international environment + every kind of music)7: guiding principles for the Student Experience;

! New style of management: since a new President was nominated 2 years ago8, there have been several changes in the structure (flatter, with more communication among different levels) and style of management (more bottom-up). There are written regulations for teachers’ behaviours;

! Staff: most professors have a one-year contract and part-time. There are unions. Advancements are only merit-based (age is not a factor);

! Huge and complex educational and managerial structure (compared to the ones analysed in this research), therefore it is difficult to have a single, short and uniform description.

1 All information have been gathered from the interview (19/5/2006) to S. Jay Kennedy, Assistant Vice President for Experiential Programs and Institutional Assessment, from Berklee’s publications and from the website (see “References”). 2 “Berklee is a non-profit organization, as almost all Music Schools in the US…” (Jay Kennedy) 3 Check out the thesis’ website: www.colarossi.net/tesi 4 “Because it’s a private institution…” (Jay Kennedy) 5 But with a lot of possibilities to obtain financial aids and scholarships based on merit (41% of full-time first-time students receive Institutional Grants). 6 Each student is required to own a state-of-the-art Apple laptop and the School has astonishing recording studios, music synthesis studios, learning center and film scoring labs. 7 21,7% of students comes from outside the US, there are lessons and workshops of every kind of music, etc. 8 After the retirement of the previous President, the son of the founder of the School.

When words leave off, music begins.

Heinrich Heine