Mark Pemberton Arts
Mark Pemberton Arts
Strategy, advocacy, research and solutions
Mark Pemberton is an experienced consultant in the music industry and the performing arts.
He has curated two editions of Audio Classique, the international gathering of the classical recording industry, and Orchestras Now!, the first ever international orchestras conference in Wroclaw, Poland. He has led governance workshops for Arcangelo and Music at Oxford and worked as public affairs consultant for the English Folk Dance & Song Society and Music Mark. Other clients include Newzik, ISM and Cartier.
Mark has been a speaker and panel chair at conferences in the USA, Brazil, China, Japan, Russia and across Europe. Most recently he has given keynote speeches at Accord Majeur at the Aix-en-Provence Festival and to the annual conference of Association of Finnish Orchestras, and chaired panels at the League of American Orchestras conference in Houston and Classical Next in Berlin.
During his 15 years as Chief Executive of the Association of British Orchestras, his achievements included:
- Negotiating with the UK Government to enable orchestras to navigate and survive the Covid-19 pandemic
- Securing Orchestra Tax Relief, creating a vital new income stream for ABO members
- Getting orchestral musicians included on the Home Office Shortage Occupation List
- Launching the All Party Parliamentary Group on Classical Music
- Curating and growing the ABO Conference into Europe's largest gathering of the orchestral sector
- Securing a waiver from visa fees for Ukrainian orchestras touring to the UK
Testimonials
“Mark Pemberton has been a key figure in keeping UK orchestral life on the rails.”
BBC Proms Festival Guide, 2022
“From the outset of the pandemic Mark has given a very calm lead in steering the response and in helping to assemble the arguments for support from government. I know how grateful colleagues at ACE have been and also DCMS.”
Sir Nicholas Serota, chairman, Arts Council England
“Mark has natural authority, a calm and assured manner. He has developed its thinking across
a broad swathe of complex issues facing the sector, often without precedent, including mitigating the impact of performance sound on orchestral players.”
Alex Beard CBE, chief executive, Royal Opera House
“Mark Pemberton has been an extremely distinguished CEO of the ABO, with wide support across the cultural sector. During the pandemic, he worked closely and effectively with colleagues across the arts in lobbying government for viable, covid-safe working conditions, for emergency funding and for longer term funding in terms of an extension of
Tax Relief.”
Dame Kathryn McDowell, managing director,
London Symphony Orchestra
Career
Mark Pemberton OBE is a consultant specialising in music and the creative industries. He is the former Chief Executive of the Association of British Orchestras, which exists to champion, connect and develop professional orchestras across the UK.
After graduating from Oxford University he started his career in arts management as Administrator of professional touring theatre company Quicksilver Theatre for Children, before moving to leading drama conservatoires Drama Centre London as Administrator and Mountview Theatre School as Head of Development & Marketing. Before joining the ABO he was Chief Executive of the National Operatic and Dramatic Association, the UK’s representative body for amateur and community theatre, during which time he served as chair of Voluntary Arts England.
He served as chair of the UK’s National Music Council, which exists to promote the interests of the music sector as a whole, from 2010 to 2022. He was awarded an OBE for services to music in the New Year Honours 2022.
