Strasbourg Music Week SMA - Syndicat des Musiques Actuelles 's 20 th anniversary - panel on work conditions

Some people hate talking about themselves — she's one of them. If you'd like to know more, here's her LinkedIn profile: [link]

Created in 2005, the SMA (Syndicat des Musiques Actuelles) is the union representing the pop music sector in France. Today, it brings together over 600 companies, including festivals, concert venues (including Salles de Musiques ACtuelles, venues labeled by the State), live performance producers, record producers (labels), training centers, radios, as well as federations and networks.

These independent and mostly non-profit organizations share a common goal: working in the public interest and promoting diversity — especially by supporting artistic expression and public access to culture. They advocate for limited profitability.

Within the Afdas Institutional Relations and Branches Department, he is in charge of deploying the employment/training policy of the branches, particularly the performing arts sector.
As such, he helps to ensure that relations with the contacts in these professional sectors run smoothly.

His main tasks are to
- Provide technical support to branch representatives in drawing up their strategic employment / training policy guidelines (preparing and leading working groups).
- Ensure the qualitative and quantitative monitoring of projects and their deployment within the Afdas network.
- Provide expertise for any project carried out by Afdas directly or indirectly involving the branch
- Represent Afdas at external events (trade fairs, information meetings, etc.)

As a Skills Operator (Opco), Afdas works daily with its audiences:

• Businesses: Offering support to serve their strategy, development, and talent, making training a sustainable investment. 
• Employees and self-employed workers: Acting as a "one-stop shop" for training and career support for specific groups, such as freelance workers in the entertainment and audiovisual industries, artist-authors, freelance journalists, professional athletes, top-level athletes, and seasonal workers in leisure and tourism.

Through its strategic role as an Opco, the goal is to foster individual growth and, through them, the development of all the member sectors.

AFDAS' 6 main missions:    Support the development of apprenticeship programs,  Support businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in the development of training,   Assist professional sectors in the development of certifications and employment monitoring,   Support economic transitions, Develop access to training for specific audiences (freelancers in entertainment, artist-authors) , Inform businesses about environmental and sustainable development challenges and support them in analyzing and defining the skills needed for their projects related to ecological transition adaptation.

Emmanuelle Cuttitta is the head of Le Gueulard +, a club based in Nilvange, Moselle.
She also is member of the board of GRABUGE, pop music indistry 's network in Grand Est region, and of Syndicat des Musiques Actuelles.
 

She began her career in Lyon as an assistant to the Director of International Relations at an engineering school. She then trained in skills-based business management, and a few years later earned a Master's degree in ergonomics.

After gaining initial experience in business consulting, she joined Aract Grand Est, where she worked on Quality of Life and Working Conditions (QLWC) and was responsible for gender equality in the workplace. This is where she discovered the live performance sector — and more specifically, technical professions within it.

In May 2023, Micheline founded her own company, Travail en scène. Today, she also works as a part-time lecturer.

She contributes to various projects focused on improving working conditions. As an ergonomist, she pays close attention to the uniqueness of each situation, allowing her to develop approaches that resonate with the specific concerns of the organization and its staff. She combines collective methodologies with more creative practices such as forum theatre, and often offers tailor-made solutions.

Sébastien Etienne has been the Director of L’Autre Canal (Nancy’s SMAC – Scène de Musiques Actuelles) since November 2022, following 20 years of work in Ardèche, where he founded and led SMAC07, and later served as Head of Cultural Affairs for the Département. He places particular emphasis on the role of public policy, local engagement, and cooperation in the cultural field.

L’Autre Canal is a Public Cultural Cooperation Establishment (EPCC) dedicated to contemporary music, created in Nancy in 2007 through the collaboration of three public partners: the State, the Region, and the City of Nancy.

Located in the heart of the Rives-de-Meurthe district, it features a large concert hall (1,293 capacity), a club (351 capacity), and four rehearsal and recording studios. Recognized with the SMAC label, L’Autre Canal develops an interconnected artistic, cultural, and territorial project. Its key missions include: performance programming, support for artistic creation, development of amateur and professional practices, cultural outreach, contribution to the regional and cross-border music ecosystem, and local engagement.

Inclusion, equality, citizenship, and sustainability are core commitments at the heart of its mission.

Carole Zavadski is the Executive Director of the CPNEF-SV (National Joint Commission for Employment and Training in the Live Performance Sector).

She also leads the Forward-looking Observatory of Jobs and Qualifications, in partnership with Afdas. A sociologist specialized in professions and an expert in vocational training, she brings deep insight into the evolution of skills and employment in the cultural sector.