Nod Knowles Productions

Nod Knowles - Chronological & detailed CV

1970 - 1983: Self employed
Retail businessman & gigging musician.

1983 - 1992: Director of South West Jazz
Regional jazz development agency in the English West country.

Role:

Completing the legal & organisational set-up and charitable registration of company.
Planning the work of the company - a combination of strategic, active work to cover the region & aims of company plus re-active responses, assisting others in building promotions, education projects etc.
Fundraising for projects & activities.

Work at South West Jazz included:

Devising and running a number of education & outreach projects.
Direct promotion of gigs and series.
Assisting start-up of promoters in region.
Marketing, PR.
Advisory services.
Touring.
Editing JazzUK magazine.

During this time, began as consultant Jazz Programme Director to Bath International Music Festival (centered on jazz but also incorporating traditional musics from around the world) and developed its contemporary and European style of jazz programming.

1992-1993: Interim General Manager of Bath International Music Festival

Working with Bath City Council & Norman Dadd of Gilesdown Associates to wind down bankrupt company, inaugurate a new company (Bath Festivals) with a broader arts remit, secure funding & change-manage the transition, including new structure & recruiting new staff.
Running 1992 & 1993 Bath International Music Festivals whilst planning & enacting change.

1993-1998: Nod Knowles Productions
Arts and music production & consultancy.

National & international project & tour producer & concert series promoter - for artists including Lemn Sissay, Sweet Honey In The Rock, David Murray, Keith Tippett, Willem Breuker Kollektief, Louis Sclavis, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Randy Weston.

International projects - including work with these & other artists in Soviet Georgia & Russia, Latvia, South Africa, Finland, France & Italy.

Consultancy for (inter alia):

Arts Council England - various including Lottery assessment.
Exeter Phoenix Arts Centre - strategic marketing and PR development plan as part of capital bid to ACE for rebuilding.
Wigmore Hall - programme and production with and for John Dankworth - concert series under his artistic direction.
City of Edinburgh Council - with Judith Ackrill Associates - Music Strategy for Edinburgh - comprehensive strategy across all musics (following establishment of Edinburgh City Council after unitary local authority reorganisation).
Edinburgh International Jazz Festival - organisational review and strategic development plan - project commissioned jointly by Scottish Enterprise, City of Edinburgh Council & Scottish Arts Council.
Bath International Music Festival jazz & non-classical music programming & fundraising for programme & special projects.
Bristol Harbourside - consulting on plans & budgets for new venue as part of capital funding bid to ACE.
Bath Festivals - scoping a jazz academy project for Bath Festivals.
Print journalism & Radio 3 broadcasting.

1998-2005: Head of Music, Scottish Arts Council (SAC)
Role:

Determining music policy & planning.
Creating & managing developmental initiatives.
Grant determination & monitoring/reviewing 20+ core funded music organisations.
Managing departmental & Youth Music Initiative staff.
Managing budget of circa £25m.

Policy & strategy work:

Wrote & published policy on contemporary popular music.
Commissioned & published research & policy on traditional music.
Commissioned full-scale research and report - 'What's Going On? - into music education nationally, in formal & informal sectors.
Wrote and published SAC's Five Year Strategy (with Action Plan) for Music.

Development work:

Initiating and managing the Youth Music Initiative on behalf of the Scottish Government - a project granted £10m p.a. including additional funding for 32 Local Authorities. Reporting to the Scottish Government.
Inaugurating and planning the Tune-Up national music touring system.
Initiating the Distil project offering musical CPD for professional traditional musicians.
Establishing international showcases for Scottish musicians (including SxSW, Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Showcase Scotland at Celtic Connections).
Music/tourism projects with VisitScotland.
Initiating a Music Industry Association for Scotland.
Initiating the development of a jazz federation for Scotland.

Funding, monitoring & review:

20+ regularly funded organisations from Scottish Opera to St Magnus Festival to Feisean nan Gaidheal (the pan-Scotland network of traditional music workshops and summer schools).
Overseeing change-management schemes ('Advancement') for funded organisations of all sizes (from the Royal Scottish National Orchestra to the BT Scottish Ensemble).
Reporting to Scottish Executive on Scottish Opera and other national companies.

May 2005 to September 2010: Chief Executive of Bath Festivals Ltd
Role:

Overall responsibility for directing the artistic and administrative work of the company.
Managing 18 permanent staff (=12 FTEs) & contracted freelance artistic and production personnel.
Managing budget of £1.2m.
Reporting to Board and core funders.
Relationships with core and project funders.
Strategic and operational planning for the company.

Bath Festivals is the umbrella company promoting Bath Literature Festival & Bath International Music Festival, programmed by Artistic Directors James Runcie and Joanna MacGregor respectively. The Literature Festival - www.bathlitfest.org.uk - is in its 16th year and growing rapidly in national significance. The Music Festival - www.bathmusicfest.org.uk - begun in 1948, directed by, amongst others, Yehudi Menhuin & Sir Michael Tippett, has an established international reputation and encompasses a broad range of musics, especially contemporary styles.

Bath Festivals is funded by Bath & North East Somerset local authority and Arts Council England - plus substantial private funds and box office income.

Nod Knowles' initial period at Bath Festivals was concerned with reviewing the company's structure and finances and delivering a three-year plan for change, accessing £390K from Arts Council England's 'Recovery' scheme.

Before leaving in autumn 2010, Nod Knowles produced the company's 4 Year Plan for 2010-11 to 2013-14, adopted by the Board in spring 2010, dealing with projected cuts in local authority and ACE core funding by diversification and new project development.

Bath Festivals also runs:

A year round education programme, created and developed under Nod Knowles' period as CEO through a number of projects within each festival and also major long-term music and creative writing projects with substantial trust funding.
A year-round Box Office for the city, serving 80 different clients.
The co-ordination & administration of the Bath Area Cultural Forum which works on collaborative issues for mutual benefit.
Under Nod Knowles' guidance Bath Festivals has taken over responsibility for Bath Festival of Children's Literature - www.bathkidslitfest.co.uk - from 2010.

During the period at Bath Festivals, occasional independent consultancies, including:

Devising a cultural element to a town centre development plan for Newcastle Under Lyme (with Nick Miller Research Ltd).
Mentoring arts administration students at Oxford Brookes University and the Clore Leadership Foundation.
Seminars on music industry issues with Glasgow and Edinburgh universities.
Evaluation of Music courses for Bath Spa University.

Plus:

Two 3-Year strategic plans for Europe Jazz Network, accessing long-term European Commission EACEA funding.

Current voluntary activities:

Board member of the Europe Jazz Network 2003 to date - www.europejazz.net.
Occasional music adviser to the British Council.
Finance Committee member, Widcombe Social Club (Bath).
Music industry seminar member for universities of St Andrews, Edinburgh & Glasgow.

Previous voluntary posts:

Primary school governor, Cullompton, Devon.
Board of Exeter & Devon Arts Centre.
Board of Jazz Services Ltd.
Board of Picture This film & video collective, Bristol.
Founding president of TECMO (European creative music network), which merged with Europe Jazz Network in 2003.
President - Europe Jazz Network , 2005 to 2010.
Occasional adviser to Welsh Arts Council.