Changes at SME and FCMA
Everybody knows Marc Ridet, right? Well, with the turning of the year, our, and our partner organisation FCMA’s, esteemed director has become our much-admired ex-director. Retiring after twenty years at the helm of FCMA, and 16 years with Swiss Music Export, Marc will continue to work in the music world as an independent consultant and manager.
With Marc Ridet’s retirement, Jean Zuber remains as the sole director of Swiss Music Export. FCMA, meanwhile, has appointed a new director, Albane Schlechten, whose duties will include the representation of SME („Antenne Romande“) in the French part of Switzerland and the coordination of a number of SME projects abroad. Albane Schlechten, 34, was selected from well over fifty applications. The Genevan has in the past run several well-known clubs, including Usine and La Gravière. She has also acted as the coordinator of PETZI, the Swiss Federation of Music Venues and Festivals. We are very much looking forward to working with Albane and wish her all the best for her new position.
Marc Ridet: Starting off in the mid-1980s, Marc ran the legendary Dolce Vita club in Lausanne, bringing the likes of Sonic Youth, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Hüsker Dü to the Romandie, and managing Elliott Murphy and Polar. In 1997 he was approached by Daniel Rossellat from the Paléo Festival in Nyon to help launch an organisation to facilitate access of French Swiss artists to the music business infrastructure in Switzerland and France, La Fondation romande pour la chanson et les musiques actuelles (FCMA). In 2003, FCMA began to work in partnership with Swiss Music Export. From 2008, Marc Ridet was a co-director of SME, together with Zurich-based Jean Zuber.
SME wishes to extend a massive “thank you” to Marc for the huge amount of work he has put into SME and FCMA, and for his ceaseless quest for new ideas and concepts. Naturally, we also wish him all the best for his future ventures.
Picture:
The Directors and Board of Swiss Music Export (from left to right): Jean Zuber, Philipp Schnyder von Wartensee, Urs Schnell, Albane Schlechten, Marc Ridet, Balthasar Glättli, Lisa Gyger, Marius Kaeser)
