SEAMEX 2023

Dear SEAMEX attendees,

In welcoming you on behalf of SEAMEX’s partner SEADOM (the Association of Southeast Asian Directors of Music), I wanted firstly to congratulate you for choosing to be a pioneer as part of an evolving adventure – the development of a sense of regionalisation for music in Southeast Asia.

The region’s musical riches, both artistically and as an industry, are well recognised but much of what gets done happens at a local or national level, with potential regional partners not knowing much in detail of what each other are up to or about.  Where SEADOM has been working since 2008 to build up a sense of broader regional awareness and focus, SEAMEX offers an opportunity for entities in the region to share with each other something more specific of their individual identity. These two dimensions are symbiotic – to deepen our sense of shared vision for the future, it is vital to know who we each are and how, on a more individualised basis, we can connect and partner.

I wanted to acknowledge here in particular Isabella Pek for her sense of vision for this project and for her incredible energy and tenacity for bringing it all together.

It is, of course, the first time we meet in this forum and I am sure much will be learnt from the experience but I am confident such awareness, exposition and interaction as planned across these few days  will strengthen and deepen the regional  network for music, building an ever greater sense of continuity linking artists, educators and industry. With such connections, music in Southeast  Asia is sure to become more resonant!

I wish SEAMEX every success and I look forward through this opportunity for exchange to meeting many new people,  attending many fresh performance and discovering many exciting trends and ideas.

Best wishes