ISM AGM Minutes

ISM AGM, Thursday 17 December 2020 held electronically via Zoom at 10am

INTRODUCTION Professor Chris Collins (President) opened the AGM and introduced the AGM panel Deborah Keyser (President Elect) Dr Jeremy Huw Williams (Past President) Ivor Flint (Treasurer) Deborah Annetts (Chief Executive) Sabrina Taylor (Head of Finance & Facilities) Apologies for absence had been received from Ian Mitchell, Jane Highfield, Jenny Jones, Ian Ludford, Shelagh M Bladon, Katherine Knock, Annette Ball, Dr Frankie Williams, Richard Hallam, Francesca Best, Judith Weir and Carolyn Westrip. The President asked for a minute of silence to remember colleagues who had died during the past year. The names of the ISM members appeared on the screen. 1. Minutes of the AGM held on 16 April 2019, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire The President asked if there were any amendments to the minutes of the AGM held on 16 April 2019 at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. There were none. The resolution to approve the minutes was proposed by Rodney Drew and seconded by Steven Goss. The resolution was approved unanimously. 2. Annual Report of the Council of the Society for 2018-19 The CEO gave the annual report for the financial year ending August 2019. The CEO covered the cancellation of Members Day in April 2020 and the postponement of the AGM from 25 April to 17 December 2020. From 18 March 2020 staff have been working remotely from home. The ISM continued to grow its membership; at the beginning of 2018 membership stood at 8,750 and the ISM closed the year with 9,150 members. Finances continue to be strong, which was covered further in the Treasurer’s report. The CEO spoke to a few highlights from the 2018-19 year including producing ground-breaking reports for which the ISM is known. The first was the ‘State of the Nation’ report which looked at the state of music education in England. The following report was the fourth Brexit report which looked at the adverse impact Brexit was already causing last year. The report was circulated across Whitehall, DCMS and civil servants. New resources were developed such as the ‘How to’ guides and the Brexit Essentials kit. The ISM Music Directory continues to be popular with over 600 members of the public viewing profiles each month. The services team continue to be busy and the ISM’s in-house legal team opened 969 cases and recovered close on £400,000 for ISM members. Communications continued to be strong with coverage in national and sector press, radio, TV and social media. Twitter followers increased to 16,000 and the website attracted more visitors than ever. The ISM had a successful Members Day at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire led by Professor David Saint, which included music performances from Lauren Zhang and BBC Young Jazz Musician winner Xhosa Cole and his quartet. Dr Jeremy Huw Williams became President for 2019-20 and John Wilson was awarded the Distinguished Musician Award and the presentation took place at the Royal Academy. The ISM groups held 24 events over the course of the year which represents twelve active groups. The CEO thanked the volunteers within the ISM which helped to make it an effective and dynamic organisation. The resolution to approve and receive the report was proposed by David Meacock and seconded by Christopher Ray. The resolution was approved unanimously. The Chief Executive gave a short report for 2018-2019 for the ISM Trust which was given for information only. The Chief Executive spoke to the resources of the ISM Trust such as the webinars which were created to support those who work in the music sector. The major highlight of the ISM Trust was the first Empowered Musician event which took place in late 2018 at Milton Court which is part of the Guildhall, with over 400 musicians attending the event. 3. To receive and approve the accounts of the ISM for the year ending 31 August 2019 The Treasurer spoke to the accounts for the ISM and reported that the ISM’s finances remained strong due to the continued growth in membership numbers. Membership grew by 6.9% during 2018-2019. Income finished 2.2% higher at £1.78 million which is a small increase on 2017-2018 figures. Membership subscription income increased by 3.4% which was due to the small increase in subscription fees and the continued growth in membership numbers. Royalty income, namely from the BBC, saw a decrease by 1.7% from the previous financial year. Income from investments grew by 11.4% due to a favourable change in the fair

value of the investments. Expenditure finished the year 3.2% higher at £1.67 million, an increase from the previous financial year. Costs increased in a few areas such as membership services and goods and services, which is to be expected in line with the growth of the membership and organisation. The ISM invested additional resources into its campaigning work which saw an increase in costs by 34.3% which is largely due to the launch of the music education, State of the Nation report which was launched in January 2019. The ISM had a successful year and finished 2018-2019 financial year with a surplus of £88.4k. The Treasurer thanked the ISM staff team and the ISM membership as well as the auditors, Lindeyer Francis Ferguson and investment brokers, Investec. The resolution to approve and receive the ISM accounts was proposed by Rodney Drew and seconded by Trevor Ford. The resolution was approved unanimously. 4. To receive the report and the accounts of the ISM Members Fund 2018-2019 The Chief Executive spoke to the report of the Members Fund which was for information only. The Members Fund undertook a review of its activities in 2017 and concluded that it needed to increase the impact of its work significantly. Following a consultation with members, the fund shifted its focus from grant giving to the delivery of counselling, hearing health and physiotherapy. In 2019, the ISM Members Fund added both face-to-face counselling and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. The number of people accessing these services increased by 185% from the previous year. The Trustee is very grateful to for all the donations which are made to this Fund which support these services. 5. To reappoint Lindeyer Francis Ferguson Limited The resolution to reappoint Lindeyer Francis Ferguson Limited as auditors was proposed by Trevor Ford and seconded by Beth Fagg. The resolution was approved unanimously. 6. To note the retirement of members of the Council ISM members were asked to note the following Council members who retired at 25 April 2020: Past President David Saint, Sue Sturrock (former President), Liz Partridge, Ed Scolding, Kevin Rogers and Karl Lutchmayer. The Chief Executive thanked all the Council members for their contributions during their terms on the ISM Council and the President expressed his thanks as well. 7. To note the election of the elected Members of Council and the appointment of Appointed Members of Council ISM members were asked to note the following appointment and elections to Council as of 25 April 2020. Two members filled the Elected vacancies. Reg Fletcher was elected to the Council as a representative for the West and Nicky Spence as representative for London. With regards to the Appointed vacancies, former President Paul Max Edlin was appointed to Council as well as Vick Bain. 8. To confirm the time and place of the next AGM The next AGM will be held on 24 April 2021 and more details will be released to the membership in due course. OPEN FORUM The President opened the discussion and invited the Chief Executive to provide an update on the ISM’s activities over the last eight months during the COVID-19 pandemic. The President then invited members to ask questions during the Forum. The ISM received a question from a member regarding trends in membership growth since the 2000s and the table provided showed that the membership had more than doubled since 2008. Another member expressed their concern over whether the wellbeing of young students was being considered by examination boards. The Chief Executive said this would be followed up with the relevant exam boards. There was a discussion around using technology platforms such as Zoom as a mechanism of opportunity for including and reaching more ISM members as well as how technology has allowed the ISM staff team to grow and reach talent that would not normally have been possible in pre-pandemic circumstances. There was a discussion about the branding of the ISM and even whether we should try and update the name while using the same initials. In response to a member’s question regarding what has driven the ISM membership during the pandemic, the Chief Executive responded that she felt that it was the quality of the services from the ISM along with its campaigning throughout the four nations which were driving membership. Various members expressed their thanks to the staff team and the Board for the useful member updates that contain the relevant government guidance and for the Empowered Musicians II conference which had proved to be a great success. The President concluded the meeting and closed the Forum at 11:30am.

See page 31 for the official notice of the AGM and proxy voting form