Masterclass Media Foundation delivers virtuoso performance in USA with support from UKTI

Bristol based musical recordings charity secures orders in the US through UKTI assisted attendance at conferences.

The Masterclass Media Foundation, a Bristol-based charitable organisation that films world renowned musicians delivering masterclasses to students, has secured interest from two major American distributors thanks to support from UK Trade & Investment (UKTI).

Established in April 2006 by award-winning documentary producer and director Mischa Scorer, the Foundation professionally records musical masterclasses and makes them available to colleges, musical schools and individuals as a resource to help teach students. The aim of the Foundation was to build a library of 100 hours of material covering solo instruments, singing and chamber music as well as conducting and composing over a five year period.

The Masterclass Foundation currently relies upon grants and donations from individuals, corporate sponsors and foundations with all income from sales used to film and issue further DVDs and recordings. In the first two years the Foundation received a lot of generous donations and as a result was able to create 20 DVDs. However, over the last two years it has been harder to acquire funds and grants due to the current economic conditions.

Chief Executive Mischa Scorer explained: “It has always been my ambition that income from sales of the DVDs would allow the Foundation to continue its work with relatively little outside funding. This has driven the need to establish a global awareness of the work the Foundation undertakes and the growing library of material we’re compiling.

“We established an online store in 2007 and today sell our DVDs to individuals in approximately fifty countries across the world. However, our primary customers remain colleges and conservatoire libraries looking to purchase complete sets of the collection along with a license to lend and show these DVDs to their students and customers and getting into those institutions overseas can be challenging.”

The Masterclass Foundation began working with UKTI International Trade Advisor Norris Myers in May 2008 in order to support their global growth ambitions. Since that time, UKTI has provided the Foundation with focussed advice, as well as funding to attend two key international conferences. This included a grant to exhibit at the joint International Association of Music Libraries Archives and Documentation Centres and International Musicological Society annual conference in Amsterdam in July 2009 and, more recently, attendance at the Music Library Association (MLA) Conference 2010, held in San Diego.

Mischa Scorer explained: “The MLA Conference in San Diego provided an invaluable networking and fact-finding opportunity for us regards the U.S. and Canadian markets. The conference was also a unique opportunity to showcase our library of material and allow prospective customers to see the quality of our films first hand.

“As a result of our attendance at the conference, a large number of universities who run performance arts courses and public libraries have become aware of our work and are placing large orders. Better yet, at the conference we were also proactively approached by two major academic distributors who wish to take our entire catalogue on board – both our physical DVDs and also the prospect of streaming the masterclass films via the web – and we’re now well advanced in our negotiations with both partners.

“None of these opportunities might have come about if we had not had UKTI’s support to allow us to be at the conference to meet with prospective customers, to market our unique service, and to showcase our films.”

UKTI International Trade Advisor Norris Myers said: "Mischa and the team at the Foundation provide a truly unique service driven by a desire to ensure the maximum number of people may benefit from and enjoy access to the insight of world class musical talent. I look forward to continuing to work with the Foundation as they sign up for UKTI’s Passport programme and, through that, identify and seize new global opportunities.”

Mischa added: “With a growing reputation, both domestically and overseas, we are on the way to becoming self sufficient through DVD sales. To date, a total of 34 DVDs with fifty hours of masterclass material, have been recorded. We only need sponsorship or grants to enable us to double the number of hours we already have recorded for the Masterclass Media Foundation to reach self sufficiency and I would encourage any business or individual interested in doing so to get in touch.”

Contacts

If you are based in the South West region and are interested in developing your business overseas please contact:

South West International Trade Team

Tel: +44 (0)845 60 60 969

Email: enquiries@uktisouthwest.org