Data protection at music competitions?
Setting up a project in five steps?
EU funding opportunities for cultural associations?
28 youth music competitions and partners from 18 countries attended the INTER-NATIONAL net_works+ Conference and 31st EMCY General Assembly in Luxembourg from 29th June to 1st July 2018. This event was an initiative under the patronage of Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission.
At the conference, discussions were enriched by presentations of renowned experts including Pierre Feltgen, the legal consul of the UGDA Music School, Irma de Jong, project manager of Cicerone Music & Art as well as Nadine Linden (ANEFORE, the national agency for Erasmus+ in Luxembourg) and Marc Rettel from the Creative Europe Desk Luxembourg.
The EMCY board and staff presented the past activities and the redesigned website, www.emcy.org. The updated website is more user friendly and includes navigational changes and an improved structure.
The meeting contributed to the development of cooperation between the EMCY member competitions, potential new members, and EMCY. New contacts and synergies were developed for bi- and multilateral collaborations and initiatives. EMCY´s Quality Standards at youth music competitions were discussed and from 1 January 2020, preselection at EMCY competitions need to be written down to promote fairness and transparency.
In order to be able to support competitions and promote their prize winners in the best possible way, EMCY is preparing Erasmus+ and Creative Europe projects. It is open to receive concrete ideas with a short description of activities that can be the foundation for common projects.
In addition, during the conference Irma de Jong presented a draft of the guidelines created for GIVE MUSIC A FUTURE. Afterwards, she proposed a questionannaire to the participants in order to receive feedback and with that she completed the guidelines that will be available in a paper and digital format from December 2018.
The delegates also enjoyed cultural activities, such as the concert «Kinnekswiss loves Elīna Garanča and the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg» by Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg with Gustavo Gimeno, direction, and Elīna Garanča mezzo-soprano. At the EMCY General Assembly, two prize winners of the Concours Luxembourgeois pour Jeunes Solistes & European Competition for Young Soloists, Yanis Griso and Cyprien Keiser performed works by J. Suk, J. Brahms, G. Faure and C. Dimitrescu.
The conference was part of the project “INTER-NATIONAL net_works+”, co-funded by Erasmus+ and was hosted by the UGDA Music School, organizer of our member competition, the Concours Luxembourgeois pour Jeunes Solistes & European Competition for Young Soloists. We are very grateful to our generous hosts, the UGDA Music School, as well as the Luxembourgish Ministry of Culture and the City of Luxembourg.
The European Union of Music Competitions for Youth (EMCY) is a European network of Youth Music Competitions, active in 23 countries. Our main task is to support cooperation and best practice of our members, to uphold fairness and transparency at youth music competitions and to promote the prize winners of our member competitions with concerts, master classes, workshops and tours all over Europe. EMCY stands for musical excellency, the promotion of youth and European cooperation.
Information: www.emcy.org, Manuela Ana Matran (manuela.matran@emcy.org) and Giovanna Bottino (info@emcy.org).
