Carl Cox and Yousef talk ‘Co-Existing With COVID’ for the first discussion of the 2021 series.
International Music Summit (IMS), the leading voice for industry, culture and education in electronic music, today announce details of the digital discussion series ‘The Big Questions’, in partnership with Pioneer DJ, Beatport, shesaid.so, and the Association for Electronic Music (AFEM).
Hosted by IMS Co-Founder and BBC Radio 1 Broadcaster Pete Tong and fellow BBC Radio 1 broadcaster, journalist, curator, DJ and tastemaker Jaguar, the online series will be live streamed via Beatport’s streaming channels, presenting a series of powerful and timely conversations between industry visionaries, artists and thought leaders, co-curated by shesaid.so, a global independent community of women and gender minorities in the music industry.
With a key topic under the spotlight each month, The Big Questions will examine and deconstruct the most vital subjects facing the electronic music industry today, enabling its resilient international community to reconnect through debate and discussion. Each month two new influential thought leaders will be united in an intimate conversation on one of ten topics, followed by expert analysis from industry experts presented by AFEM, highlighting key learnings, action points and potential for best practice for the wider industry.
The first stream, ‘Co-Existing with COVID’, will take place on Tuesday 27th July at 5pm BST when electronic music pioneer, producer, label owner and King of Ibiza Carl Cox will be in conversation with DJ, producer, label owner and promoter Yousef, sharing their experiences of life during the pandemic and their thoughts on the ‘new normal’ as the industry slowly gets back to business. Providing further insight and analysis will be James Kirkham (Defected, Chief Business Officer), Michael Kill (NTIA, CEO) and Morgan Deane (508 Events/Lasher Louis Productions, Director/Founder) in a conversation moderated by DJ, Presenter and AFEM Diversity & Inclusion Working Group co-chair Kikelomo.
The global electronic music community is invited to nominate which speakers they wish to hear discuss these vital topics. Suggestions can be made via IMS social media platforms and the IMS website, with feedback used to help shape the curatorial approach of the series. A balanced and diverse line-up of speakers will then be selected to reflect upon and analyse the most important issues and challenges presented in a post COVID world, providing a framework for future change.
The fundamental objective of the series is to create a workable plan of action and roadmap to recovery, serving as a catalyst for debate and industry collaboration as we collectively find pathways to sustainably rebuild and develop the global electronic music industry.
IMS Co-Founder Ben Turner states: “The pandemic continues to impact negatively on our industry and as we start to prepare for some form of switch-on, we felt it particularly important to bring back The Big Questions to the front of people’s minds. We have learnt a lot about our industry (and ourselves) during this time and its critical we deliver on the key values that we have subscribed to. This series is designed to reflect, remind and re-invigorate us all to focus on fixing our key issues but also understanding how to do that with possibly having to operate alongside strains of Covid-19 for years to come.”
A full list of the series’ discussion topics can be found below, and you can find out more from HERE
THE TOPICS:
Co-Existing with Covid
Environment & Sustainability
Diversity & Inclusion
Racial Equality
Education & Legacy
Monetisation
Decentralisation
Sexual Harassment
Mental Health & Wellbeing
Mentorship – The Next Generation
