{"id":1367,"date":"2018-03-01T07:34:18","date_gmt":"2018-03-01T12:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icsom.org\/senzasordino\/?p=1367"},"modified":"2018-03-01T08:31:22","modified_gmt":"2018-03-01T13:31:22","slug":"purpose-relevance-icsom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.icsom.org\/senzasordino\/2018\/03\/purpose-relevance-icsom\/","title":{"rendered":"The Purpose and Relevance of ICSOM"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo credit: Terry Johnston<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

T<\/span>he founding of ICSOM in the early 1960s was a result of the desire and need that symphonic musicians felt to have greater control in their contract negotiations. ICSOM was the first of what are now five player conferences within the AFM. The other groups are composed of musicians who perform in US regional (ROPA) and Canadian (OCSM) orchestras, theatre musicians (TMA), and musicians of the recording industry (RMA). Each player conference has a defined and specialized mission.<\/p>\n

ICSOM is an important resource for symphonic musicians, with a purpose of promoting, communicating, enriching, supporting, and celebrating arts in our country. Today, ICSOM represents the professional orchestral musicians in the top 52 orchestras in the US and Puerto Rico, both within the AFM and to the world at large. Note that ICSOM is not the legal bargaining representative of our orchestras; the AFM and its Locals perform that role. We are proud of our AFM union membership and stand in support of all our colleagues in the AFM and the other player conferences.<\/p>\n

Having been ICSOM President for just a short time, two instances of positive collaboration between ICSOM and the AFM immediately come to mind.<\/p>\n

First, negotiations for the successor agreement of the IMA (Integrated Media Agreement) have displayed our unified working relationship. I cannot give any details, but know that ICSOM\u2019s media committee is working diligently with the AFM to ensure that musicians\u2019 rights are protected and advanced in the world of symphonic electronic media.<\/p>\n

Second, the presence of ICSOM and AFM in February at SphinxConnect 2018 in Detroit provided moments of solidarity as we represented professional symphonic musicians. Indeed, the very inclusion of ICSOM and the AFM with the Sphinx organization<\/a> in the creation of a National Diversity Audition Fund is noteworthy. To be launched later in 2018, this Fund will assist in allowing opportunities for the training and placement of African American and Hispanic musicians in US orchestras. Such support will provide travel, financial support, and training opportunities for musicians from under-represented communities to attend orchestral auditions, plus establish a mentor network with ICSOM musicians.<\/p>\n

Viewing the Recent News column at www.icsom.org<\/a> provides a number of items further demonstrating the relevance of ICSOM. To highlight a few:<\/p>\n