HH, I agree about the Artistic Director of SPNM doing the self-programming thing. You'd assume that, to be appointed to that post, you'd have to be a distinguished member of the musical community (which Rolf of course is) and therefore in no need of assistance from the SPNM for performances. But maybe I've misunderstood the situation. Maybe someone who knows can put us right.
Gosh, this one was found languishing! And I meant to chip in weeks ago. I have a certain amount of knowledge of spnm's workings. The role of Artistic Director is quite a long-standing one (at least since the late 1980s). The idea is that an individual musician, with a proven commitment to new music, is appointed for a year (or, more recently, sometimes two years). They are asked to devise a season or two of concerts and other events which can showcase the music of composers on spnm's shortlist. Sometimes this is a simple matter of programming them in straight-up-and-down concerts ('placing'); at others, it's a question of devising events, sometimes of a multimedia nature etc., which can provide opportunities for innovative or merely 'different' performing contexts. Recently, shortlisted composers have been invited to write new pieces and participate in professional development activities - in the past it was exclusively a matter of programming stuff they'd already composed.
Anyway, the Artistic Director (AD), as you can imagine, is paid a pittance for what is actually rather a lot of work. He/she liaises and plans with the Executive Director, has to submit plans to the Board and have them approved, spends hours negotiating and brainstorming with prospective performers (developing ideas, working on alternative performance spaces, initiating interactive projects etc. etc.). It's always been the case that a given AD, whether performer, composer, administrator, publisher or whoever, might, depending on their skills and experience, contribute to the series they create themselves. In recent years, Joanna McGregor, Steve Martland and Howard Skempton have done precisely that; and I think Rolf Hind is doing nothing more self-promotional than they did. In fact, one could argue that working with someone like Rolf in person is actually rather a good experience for an 'emerging' composer. And anyway, if a composer/performer like Rolf gets a couple of performance opportunities out of the deal for themselves, it's a well-deserved perk, I reckon.
