Scottish Reception 'Highlight' At The Great Escape

Scotland’s reception at the UK’s largest music business gathering, The Great Escape, has been hailed a “highlight” after more than 300 delegates signed up to take part. The networking event saw Scottish industry representatives and showcasing artists, networking with leading industry figures from more than 20 countries last Thursday (18 May). 
 
Hosted in Brighton's Old Ship Hotel by Creative Scotland and Born To Be Wide, the company behind the annual Wide Days convention, the reception included whisky tastings in a 400-year-old smugglers’ cellar, traditional Scottish food and music selected by some of the country’s leading promoters.
 
“Wide Days and our Born To Be Wide music-business seminar evenings, have a long track record of bringing the international industry to Scotland,” says the events’ founder, Olaf Furniss. “Our partnership with Creative Scotland provided a fantastic opportunity to build on this work at one of Europe’s key gatherings.”
 
This is echoed by Alan Morrison, Creative Scotland’s head of music.
“It was massively encouraging to see such genuine interest and excitement about the Scottish music scene from all over the world,” he says.
 
The reception, was attended by a broad cross-section of the music-industry, with booking agents, promoters, festivals, managers and export offices particularly well-represented. In addition to delegates from most European countries, there were guests from Australia, New Zealand, North America and Bangladesh.
 
“The reception hosted by Wide Days and Creative Scotland was the highlight at The Great Escape,” says Stephen O’Reilly, head of marketing at leading management company, ie:music. “It was also the most international, so as well as meeting key figures from the Scottish industry, I also had the opportunity to make connections from around the world.”
 
The networking event was part of a large Scottish presence which included official showcases from Be Charlotte, Emme Woods, The Lafontaines, Saint PHNX, Shogun, Spinning Coin, Teen Canteen and The Van T’s.