THE arts managers of the future will be debating the health of their sector at a Merseyside conference this week.

Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) is holding its annual Contemporary Issues in Arts Management Conference in Liverpool all week.

The event sees final-year students at LIPA, all of whom specialise in “the management of music, theatre and entertainment”, discuss the health of the sectors in which they plan to work.

Topics this year include theatre criticism, music videos, product placement on television, and the controversial Digital Economy Act.

Previous graduates of the course have gone on to work at organisations including the Lyric Hammersmith, Warner Music, Atlantic Records, Google, Apple and the UK Film Council.

Graduates include producer Lynette Howell, co-founder of Oscar-nominated Silverwood Films.

Event organiser and LIPA lecturer Maria Barrett said: “The conference will feature 32 future leaders of the performing arts giving their insight into the specific challenges facing theatre, music, film, television and new media in 2011 and beyond.

“This is a unique opportunity to hear about the future of our industries, from the future of our industries.”

The event starts today at the Contemporary Urban Centre, in Greenland Street, Liverpool city centre.

Speakers today will include Sophie Grindley, who will discuss violence in video games, and Callum Broome, who will give a speech called “Death: does it kill your music career?”

Subjects covered tomorrow will include whether people still want to “own music” in the digital era, and whether the power of television could help to tackle homophobia.

Wednesday’s talks will take in the decline of the UK’s top 40 and the use of social issues in soaps, while Laura Trapp will give a talk called “The changing face of theatre criticism: beware of the blogger.”

Thursday will see talks on subjects including product placement and ethics in the arts, while the event will conclude on Friday with Nia Moore’s talk on how the UK can learn from product placement on US television.

ANYONE who wants to follow the event live on Twitter can use the hashtag #ciam11.