BERMUDA'S entertainers and musicians will descend on the Leopard's Club on Brunswick Street at noon on Sunday for a mass meeting to voice their concerns about the local entertainment scene and to propose solutions to problems within the industry.

The Ministry of Community Affairs & Sport has commissioned former Independent MP Stuart Hayward to study the industry and produce a report in response to requests from musicians for the Government's help in rescuing live entertainment.

According to Minister of Community Affairs & Sport Dale Butler, Mr. Hayward was the obvious choice to head up this commission for a number of compelling reasons.

"Mr. Hayward was chosen because he's been writing about this issue for a while," Mr. Butler explained. "His father, Lance Hayward, was one of Bermuda's finest musicians. He has a master's degree.

"One way of honouring a Bermudian who has pursued further education was to provide him with a challenge. He's been talking about this for a while, he has a knowledge of this, now prove to the country that you have the ability to do it! We know he has the ability and we wanted to provide him with the opportunity to do it in this regard."

In preparation for this mass discussion, Mr. Hayward has been preparing by meeting with individual entertainers and organisations such as the Chamber of Commerce and the Musicians' Union. Tony Brannon, a member of Mr. Hayward's committee, urged musicians island-wide to attend this weekend's meeting. Without the input of every musician, Mr. Hayward's report will be incomplete.

"I think it's very important that every musician shows up for this meeting," Mr. Brannon said. "There are many, many people on this committee that are putting serious input from all sides of the fence.

"It's very important that people show up. If they don't come and give their input then no one should complain going forward based upon what may or may not happen with the report or the recommendations that may come up as far as the state of the entertainment industry."

Stuart Hayward commented that while the meeting itself was important, the resulting report would contain some real answers to questions concerning the local entertainment scene.

"This meeting won't make a difference, but what I'm doing is collecting information. That, I hope, is what will make the difference," Mr. Hayward explained.

"People have already come to me with their own agendas," Mr. Hayward said. "I'm willing to give them a fair amount of leeway. These musicians have a lot on their minds."

Mr. Hayward's report will include data collected from a short questionnaire that will be handed out at the meeting. Responses will be used to assemble a database of local talent and available venues for performers.

Mr. Brannon, heavily involved in the entertainment industry, sees a change of guard within the Musicians' Union as vital for the survival of the local music scene.

"The Musicians' Union has to change," he said. "I think it's absolutely critical that there are elections held post haste and the only honourable thing would be for the current president and the whole executive to resign.

"Some have already resigned but the current president, Lloyd Simmons, also needs to step down and let younger blood take this organisation over and make this a decent organisation whereby it's not just some sort of immigration watch-dog trying to stop all foreign entertainers from working in Bermuda. This needs to be a situation where entertainment is encouraged in Bermuda, that the union can facilitate the exchange of ideas between Bermudians and foreign musicians, that the union facilitate workshops."

Mr. Brannon claims that the Musicians' Union has done Bermuda a great disservice by providing nothing for more than 20 years.

"They have done nothing," he said. "I think Mr. Simmons has been a one-man de facto president who has not had any union meetings for years, has not had a membership base, and has been a one-man band that the Government defer to and if anybody tries to bring in a foreign show, act, singer, or duo, or whatever, this one man decides it without consultation from anybody."

Stuart Hayward refrained from commenting on the state of the Musicians' Union, although he admitted that "Mr. Brannon is not the only one with concerns."

He continued: "I will be collecting information on the Union as it exists and the Union as it could be. it's not my place to make a further comment."

While Dale Butler echoes Mr. Brannon's sentiments concerning the Musicians' Union, he maintains that any reshuffling of leadership or resignations must be sorted out internally.

"The Musicians' Union have to sort that out for themselves," Mr. Butler said. "I can't solve that for them. That's their issue. My issue was I initially prompted them to meet and I think they felt threatened when I indicated that if they did not start having meetings for their members, I would take the union over myself. That prompted them to start having meetings."

"I certainly don't want to have to take over, I just want them to start to meet so that when we have new programmes that come on board we can consult them. We'll know who to go to and who to ask for advice.

"At the moment there's no listed address to contact anyone. If we want to have a benefit to honour musicians, who would we honour? We would need that advice from the union."

Mr. Butler pointed out that the plight of local musicians went beyond union difficulties.

"Medical insurance keeps coming up. Pension, immigration issues, and training keep coming up. They have numerous issues that need to be resolved," Mr. Butler said. "Then comes the whole question of venues. Are there any creative ways of having them perform, whether it's a Bermuda Music Festival, whether it's a concert in Barr's Bay Park or at Clearwater?"

He continued: "What are the innovative things that they would like to do that we can do without spending huge sums of money building stages and night clubs? There are things that can be done. Hopefully, they will be reflected in the report."

According to Mr. Brannon, one of the greatest problems within the local entertainment scene is the sense of entitlement exhibited by some of the older live acts.

"I do say that most musicians that are worth their salt are indeed working. However, there a lot of people in my view that unfortunately think that just because they were once the 'in' thing 20 or 30 years ago they still have the right to work"

Mr. Brannon was quick to differentiate between the live entertainment provided by the Government within the hospitality industry and that provided by private venues, noting that the latter must be held to a higher standard.

"I think that there's a definite difference between what hotels provide for the tourists, which is more of a service like a tennis court or a swimming pool. They simply have to put on entertainment," he explained.

For Mr. Brannon, the answer to the problem of a dying entertainment scene perhaps lies in tax cuts for artists.

"The Government needs to provide a tax-free status to all the arts in Bermuda, not just the musicians but artists, poets, and everyone, like they have in Ireland," he explained.

Mr. Hayward started research for his report in March. He has a six month deadline and expects to complete his report in September or October.