Richard Letts
Encyclopedia
Life & Work
Richard Letts trained as a classical pianist and composer and worked as a jazz band leader in his early years. In 1964 he moved to the University of California (Berkeley) where he completed his Ph.D. in 1971. In 1972 he build and became the director of the East Bay Center for Performing Arts, a community performing arts school in a ghetto on San Francisco’s East BayEast Bay (San Francisco Bay Area)
The East Bay is a commonly used, informal term for the lands on the eastern side of the San Francisco Bay, in the San Francisco Bay Area, in California, United States...
. In 1980 he became Director of the MacPhail Center for the Arts, the downtown music school of the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
in Minneapolis and in 1981 was elected Vice-President of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts.
In 1982 Dr Letts returned to Australia as Director of the Music Board of the Australia Council
Australia Council
The Australia Council, informally known as the Australia Council for the Arts, is the official arts council or arts funding body of the Government of Australia.-Function:...
, where he initiated major developments in policy that "had a profound influence in reshaping the pattern of government support for music in Australia" (Bebbington 1997). He became Director of the Australian Music Centre
Australian Music Centre
The Australian Music Centre fosters the development of an Australian music community by providing specialist support to its membership of performers, composers, sound artists, educators, students, and music specialists across Australia and throughout the world.The AMC is the Australian national...
in 1987, and introduced programs in digitisation, record production, publishing, retailing, the awards program and others. In 1994, he founded the Music Council of Australia
Music Council of Australia
The Music Council of Australia is a national peak music organisation for Australia. It is the official Australian representative to the UNESCO world peak music organization, the International Music Council , Paris...
, of which he is currently (2009) the Executive Director.
In 2005, he was elected President of the International Music Council
International Music Council
The International Music Council was created in 1949 as UNESCO's advisory body on matters of music. It is based at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, France, where it functions as an independent international non-governmental organization...
, based in UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
in Paris, and has been responsible for some major innovations in its program including establishment of an international Music Sector Development Program, the weekly e-bulletin Music World News and the initiation of the IMC Musical Rights Awards.
Awards
- 1996: Member of the Order of AustraliaOrder of AustraliaThe Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
(AM) under the Australian honours system, for services to music. - 2008APRA Awards of 2008The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 2008 are a series of awards which include the APRA Music Awards, Classical Music Awards, and Screen Music Awards. The APRA Music Awards ceremony occurred on 16 June at the Sydney Hilton, they were presented by APRA and the Australasian...
: The APRAAustralasian Performing Right AssociationThe Australasian Performing Right Association is a copyright collective representing New Zealand and Australian composers, lyricists and music publishers. The association's head offices located in Sydney Australia, and it has branch offices in Auckland, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth...
/AMCAustralian Music CentreThe Australian Music Centre fosters the development of an Australian music community by providing specialist support to its membership of performers, composers, sound artists, educators, students, and music specialists across Australia and throughout the world.The AMC is the Australian national...
Classical Music Award for Long-Term Contribution to the Advancement of Australian Music.
Selected writings
All monographs available for loan from Australian Music Centre- Creative musicianship and psychological growth : bases in some theories of personality, creativity, instruction, aesthetics and music, for a music curriculum for the late twentieth century. Thesis (Ph.D. (Educ.)) - University of California, Berkeley, 1971.
- Music board medium range plan. Sydney: Australia Council, 1985.
- The Arts on the Edge of Chaos. Report commissioned by the Australia Council, 1995. Unpublished.
- Opportunities for Australian musical works in North Asia, 1988.
- Your career as a composer Sydney: Allen & Unwin. Australia Council, 1994.
- The ART of Self Promotion : Successful Promotion by Musicians. Commissioned by the Australia Council. Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1996.
- The Effects of Globalisation on Music in Five Contrasting Countries: Australia, Germany, Nigeria, The Philippines and Uruguay. Global research project commissioned by the International Music Council, 2003.
- A statistical framework for the music sector : for the Statistics Working Group of the Cultural Ministers Council / a scoping study with Hans-Hoegh Guldberg. Canberra : Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, 2004.
- The Protection and Promotion of Musical Diversity, 2006. Global research project carried out by the International Music Council, commissioned by UNESCO. With consultants from Europe, Latin America, Africa, Arab World, Asia.
- Sound Links: Exploring the Dynamics of Musical Communities in Australia, and Their Potential for Informing Collaboration with Music in Schools, 2009. Research partnership of Music Council of Australia with the Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre, funded by the Australian Research CouncilAustralian Research CouncilThe Australian Research Council is the Australian Government’s main agency for allocating research funding to academics and researchers in Australian universities. Its mission is to advance Australia’s capacity to undertake research that brings economic, social and cultural benefit to the...
. With Brydie Leigh-Bartleet, Peter Dunbar-Hall, Huib Schippers May 2009.
A diverse range of articles is available from the Music Council of Australia's Forum. See further references in the Music Council of Australia
Music Council of Australia
The Music Council of Australia is a national peak music organisation for Australia. It is the official Australian representative to the UNESCO world peak music organization, the International Music Council , Paris...
entry.