A GALASHIELS arts venue will rock this Friday (December 5) when a seminar aimed at potential music professionals rolls into town.

The Creative Arts Business Network (CABN) is hosting an informal event from 2pm to 5pm at Mac-Arts, Bridge Street, Galashiels, which is a developing venue for music, performance and arts, in the atmospheric setting of a former church.

It will be followed by a Bevvy Sisters gig starting at 7.30pm.

Various topics will be covered relevant to today’s music professional and will combine speakers, discussion, music and exchange.

The day is aimed at those involved in all genres and aspects of music, from folk to classical, jazz to rock and all points in between, composers, performers, teachers and students, instrument makers and promoters.

The event has been put together by Borders based musician James Mackintosh, a founding member of the ground-breaking Scottish group Shooglenifty.

Topics on the menu will include: DIY Labels/Recording; Funding and Support for the Music Sector, Crowdfunding and sponsorship; Sustaining a career in Music in the post analogue age; Update on Youth Music in the Borders.

Confirmed speakers for the event include Simon Thoumire, who will present Hands Up for Trad. Tom Bancroft, MD at ABC Creative Music, Heather MacLeod of the Bevvy Sisters, Stoneyport Associates and Loveboat Big Band, Duncan McCrone of the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society, Mike Small, the founder of Shark Batter Records, and former member of the iconic Dawn of the Replicants, Ian Smith from Creative Scotland.

The event will be followed by a special gig by the Bevvy Sisters.

Mixing equal measures of sweetness and sass, grit and glamour, heartbreak and hilarity – cut with a dash of potent Scottish spirit. The Bevvy Sisters are pure vocal magic, distilled to the power of three, and since 2006 they have won a uniquely distinctive place in audiences’ hearts.

The release of their album, Plan B, earlier this year attracted lots of attention and rave reviews and they were selected for this year’s BBC’s 'Best of the Fest’ Edinburgh Fringe round-up.

Their radiantly triple-layered voices and artfully wide-ranging repertoire of vintage, contemporary and original songs stand out from the crowd in both style and substance.

For more info check out the CABN website at www.cabn.info or follow CABN on Facebook or Twitter at CABNScotBorders.

To attend the event please contact Kay.McCluskey@scotborders.gov.uk, tel 01450 360 441.

The event is free, teas, coffees and soft drinks will be provided.

The gig is open to anyone, £5 on the door, free if you’ve attended the afternoon event.