FOCUS Wales Reveal Full Interactive Programme for 2017

A full interactive programme has been revealed ahead of next month’s FOCUS Wales festival.

Held across multiple venues across Wrexham town centre, this year’s FOCUS Wales will take place  between Thursday 11th and Saturday 13th May. The event is supported by Arts Council of Wales, Welsh Government & PRS For Music Foundation

This year’s event sees the biggest contingent of music industry professionals to descend upon FOCUS Wales to date. Up to 100 delegates will be attending the festival from all corners of the world to offer their industry expertise and take advantage of the fantastic line-up of music and arts taking place across the three day festival.

The international delegates attending this year’s festival include Igor Lagutenko from V-Rox Festival in Russia, Dan Koplowitz of Friendly Fire Licensing, USA, Patrick Connor of Zandari Festa, Korea, Canadian delegates from Breakout West, Pop Montreal, Manitoba Music, and Music Nova Scotia, plus delegates from France, Netherlands, Germany, Greece, and Poland.

The festival’s extensive interactive programme now spans across three days, featuring panel discussions, music industry advice clinics and performances. All interactive sessions are open to weekend ticket holders, and day ticket holders within the day of purchased ticket. The conference venue for Thursday and Friday is The Wynnstay Arms Hotel, Wrexham.

Thursday 11th May kicks off the interactive programme with four panel sessions covering topics “Build a Music Career from Your Bedroom”, “DIY Toolkit: The Pros and Cons of DIY PR”, “Funding for Musicians and Organisations” and “Meet the Buyers”.

The panels feature a huge variety of international music industry professionals including delegates from VICE, BBC 6 Music, Boomtown Festival, Music Glue, and Liverpool Psych Festival. As well as one to one sessions with Tunecore and The Music Publishers Association.

Thursday’s conference comes to a close with a keynote from Don Letts, who will be in conversation with Louder Than War’s John Robb. Don Letts’ reputation has been firmly established in both the film and music world, having collected a Grammy Award for ‘Westway To The World’, his documentary on long time collaborators The Clash and currently through presenting his BBC Radio 6 Music ‘Culture Clash’ show every Sunday.

On Friday 12th May, panel sessions continue with a Musicians’ Union clinic at 10am. The day continues with a special international panel “The World at Your Fingertips” featuring Sarah Shoucri of Pop Montreal, Rev. Moose of Marauder, USA, and others.

The programme continues throughout the afternoon with “Meet The Agencies” featuring delegates from 13 Artists, ATC Live, and LPO, “The Independents” with guests including Paul Jones: A&R Manager of Rough Trade, Rich Walker: General Manager of 4AD, and Andy Black of Popty Ping Records.

Alongside the interactive programme is Digital Innovations Day, taking place on Saturday 13th May at Undegun Artspace. Digital Innovations Day will host live performances, panel discussions, and an interactive expo based around brand new digital tech companies.