Richard Albert Letts is a music advocate and administrator.

Life and 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 PhD in 1971. In 1972 he built 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 Bay. In 1980 he became director of the MacPhail Center for the Arts, the downtown music school of the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

and in 1981 was elected vice-president of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts. In 1982 Letts returned to Australia as director of the music board of the

Australia Council Creative Australia, formerly known as the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announ ...

, 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 The Australian Music Centre (AMC), founded as Australia Music Centre in 1974 and known as Sounds Australian in the 1990s, is a national organisation promoting and supporting art music in Australia. It operates mainly as a service organisation, a ...

in 1987, and introduced programs in digitisation, record production, publishing, retailing, the awards program and others. In 1994, he founded and was inaugural executive director of the Music Council of Australia. In 2005, he was elected president of the

International Music Council The International Music Council (IMC) was created in 1949 as UNESCO's advisory body on matters of music. The original request of the foundation of the IMC was under the Director of the UNESCO. It is based at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, France, ...

, based in

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

in Paris. He was responsible for some major innovations in its program, including the establishment of an international music sector development program, the weekly e-bulletin ''Music World News'', and the initiation of the IMC Musical Rights Awards.

Recognition and awards

* 1996: Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AM) under the Australian honours system, for services to music.

APRA Awards

The APRA Awards are held in Australia and New Zealand by the

Australasian Performing Right Association APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwri ...

to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members annually. ! , - ,

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, , Richard Letts , , Long-Term Contribution to the Advancement of Australian Music , , , , , -

Bernard Heinze Memorial Award

The

Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award The Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award is an Australian music award. History and description The award was inaugurated in 1982. It honours the memory of Sir Bernard Heinze (1894–1982), who for 31 years was Ormond Professor of Music at the Unive ...

is given to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to music in Australia. , - , 2020 , , Richard Letts , , Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award , , , -

Selected writings

All monographs are available for loan from the 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 Cultural Ministers Council was an Prime Minister of Australia, Australia intergovernmental organisation for Minister (government), ministers of culture and the arts. History It was established in 1984Australia Council, 27 November 1985 (https:// ...

/ 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 Council The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...

. With Brydie Leigh-Bartleet, Peter Dunbar-Hall, Huib Schippers May 2009.Available fro
The International Music Council website
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References

Sources

* Bebbington, Warren. 1997. (ed.) ''Oxford Companion to Australian Music''. Melbourne; New York: Oxford University Press. .

External links

Biography at Australian Music Centre
{{DEFAULTSORT:Letts, Richard APRA Award winners Members of the Order of Australia Year of birth missing (living people) Living people