The Project STAMP - Shared Training Activities for Music Professionals responds to a need voiced by professionals in the music sector for greater professional training based on the lifelong learning process. The aim was to develop free training for music professionals including tools, guidelines & online training on how to transform one's career with music. These tools were developed to strengthen entrepreneurial skills of mentors, trainers and other music professionals. The project’s specific target group was Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe, where was discovered a strong need for networking opportunities and support in entrepreneurial thinking. Different aspects that are relevant for professionals in the music sector have been addressed.With the Webinar Series (Online Course) we presented ways to diversify one’s musical career and to know more on specific topics such as social entrepreneurship in music. And to also learn how to produce yourself Webinars with our guidelines “Webinars – an interactive tool”.A model inspired by the existing Young Event Management Programme (YEMP) was developed for festival managers to create a win-win situation for the management and festival volunteers. The Guidelines offer detailed descriptions on how to prepare a YEMP, how to organise the training weekend, followed by work based training and how to prepare your staff for the programme. Additionally we have produced an Event Management Toolbox filled with tips, tricks and helpful links. To adapt one’s communication strategy to one’s audiences in the cultural sector is a real challenge in a fast changing world. A strong communication strategy is needed to attract news audiences but to also keep your regular attendees. This is why we created an Online Handbook to help professionals to review their strategy, their communication channels and manage their different audiences. Another aspect that we looked at was how to further include disadvantaged youth in the society through music. With our Online Handbook, one can learn how to make the best of a multicultural environment through participation in music activities and get step by step tips on how to be more inclusive with disabled youth or minorities and on how transform disabilities into strengths through music.You want to start your international cooperation project but are not sure how? Through the Online Course on Intercultural Cooperation & Networking – developed with the results of our summer course – you will be guided through the process step by step, from developing your idea further, to finding project partners and to building your suitable financial business model. Additionally, a training database was produced to collect information in one place on the available training opportunities in Europe. This tool was developed to increase staff mobility and professional training across Europe.Different models for MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) have been developed based on the project results that have been tested during the lifetime of the project. The Online Learning Platform STAMP offers all the learning material and Online Courses developed through the project. It can be used for self-learning or serves as material for teachers and trainers to instruct others. It will remain online after the life time of the project. All details on www.stamp-music.org

The project “Sing Me In - collective singing in the integration process of young migrants” provides children and youth choir conductors, music teachers and youth workers with pedagogical approaches and tools that allow collective singing activities to play a positive role in the integration process of young people with migration background.Many young people in different European countries are confronted with the challenges linked with migration. They risk being excluded due to their socio-economic origin, because of the neighbourhood they live in, because of migration backgrounds, because of their religion, etc. This issue started long before the last migration episode, triggering a lot of initiatives from all the sectors of civil society. We strongly believe that the world of collective singing can and should play a role in this integration process.A number of choral organisations expressed their need for structured tools to address the issues at hand: they share the same challenges and are only partially aware of the solutions developed in the other European countries. Yet, most organisations did not have the resources to research and develop solutions at the national level, and it would have likely lead to duplicating the effort in each country. As a European network with a long-standing experience in cooperation projects, we decided to address these needs at the European level, to ensure that the whole sector and as many young targets as possible can benefit from it in Europe.The project gathered 11 musical organisations involved in youth work in 10 countries including Turkey and Lebanon. They joined forces and used their extensive networks to collect good practices related to the use of collective singing in the process of inclusion of young migrants in their respective professional and geographical areas. They evaluated the existing experience to extract best practices, and used this basis as well as input from experts in the field, to collectively develop systematic pedagogical contents.The main outputs of the project are three practical handbooks targeting children and youth choir conductors, music teachers and youth workers, providing methodological guidance and awareness to typical challenges encountered in projects aiming at the inclusion of young migrants. The handbooks were tested and evaluated by stakeholders during the process, to ensure their usability by the final targets.The three handbooks are addressing different situations where collective singing can be used to foster integration:- Singing with groups of young refugees- Including young people with migrant background in existing choirs- Working in a school environmentThey are available in 11 languages, and freely downloadable under a creative commons license.Another innovative tool is the “repertoire guide”, a carefully curated collection of repertoire reflecting the migrant’s cultural background to allow for musical exchange between the young singers, This resource is mirrored and complemented by the full indexation of the selected resources on the Musica International choral database, that allows for easy search and filtering of the repertoire. It provides links to video sources, sound files, transliterations and translations, pronunciation files to help conductors implement inclusion using relevant material.A collection of 35 pedagogical videos was also produced to share songs and musical games in a more accessible way, especially for those who might not feel confident reading scores (like some primary school teachers, or others).The outputs (representing a total of 984 pages produced) were presented along six multiplier events, gathering 538 participants. Two month after their publications, the outputs have already been downloaded 2200 times, and we counted over 1400 consultations of the videos produced. The dissemination effort will be carried on by the partners in the coming years, so that the expected long-term impacts (more diversity in choirs, emergence of new integration projects, positive effect on young migrants’ socialisation and integration, etc.) might be felt across Europe.If we are to believe anthropology, the human voice was likely amongst the first instruments used by humans to produce music together and it helped members of a group to develop their skills, share emotions, organise common life and provide a sense of belonging. The “Sing Me In” project thus relies on a multi millenary tradition to look into the future and offer innovative and effective tools to help young people to meet without prejudices, acquire skills and enter a productive and balanced relation with the community.------------------More information and access to the free ressources:www.SingMeIn.eu------------------

SHIFT – Shared Initiatives for Training In today’s rapidly changing world, it is a great challenge to create a path for sustainable societies working together to face the global challenges such as climate change, gender equality or inclusion of minorities. Arts and culture have a recognised role in shaping societies and have the potential to significantly contribute to a better and more sustainable future for all, as demanded by the UN with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs - https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/). European cultural networks have an acknowledged structuring effect on their specific field within the arts and culture sector, as they often have been created for that very reason. Specific training for cultural leaders is needed in order to face the above mentioned challenges and to implement necessary changes. Personal and professional development as well as knowledge based training on particular subjects is crucial. University programmes in cultural management only offer very limited specific training in cultural leadership and hardly any VET programmes exist when it comes to knowledge about and the implementation of SDGs in the field of culture. Thus, the enormous potential of transnational cultural networks towards a more sustainable future is not fully used and therefore new training models are needed.AIM: The project SHIFT aims at shifting towards better trained cultural leaders, specifically those of transnational cultural networks, with regards to SDGs. Cultural leaders shall be enabled to implement changes where needed and to pass on their knowledge gained through the project to leaders and staff of members of their network and to the broader cultural sector.OBJECTIVES:Three out of the 17 SDGs, which are the most relevant for the cultural sector in Europe at the moment, have been selected as a starting point to activate and increase the sector’s awareness of the sustainable goals. In order to use in the most optimal way the resources and capacities of the networks and to enable the target group to learn about these, the focus will be put on the following SDGs, other SDGs might be addressed in future initiative: ●SDG 13: Climate Action ●SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities ●SDG 5: Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women In order to achieve the aim of the SHIFT project it is necessary ●To improve the personal and professional development of leading staff within cultural networks and beyond to enable them to face challenges and adapt changes when needed, including the evaluation of planned activities;●To increase the knowledge about the three SDGs mentioned above and to improve the capacity of leading staff for their implementation.TARGET GROUPS:●Direct Beneficiaries of the project activities, within the consortium on partners:○Leaders / directors / coordinators ○Board / working group / commission / committee members ○Fellows / members of youth groups ○Junior staff members with the potential to develop into leadership positions○Senior staff members leading one or more projects or activities within the network●Indirect Beneficiaries:○staff of members of the networks in the partner consortium○staff of other networks and organisations in the sector Indirect benefits will be achieved through multiplying events, through communication about the project development and through the dissemination of project results.EXPECTED Results●Production of Output 1, Online Manual “Cultural Leadership”●Production of Output 2, Online Manual “Environmental Sustainability”, referring to UN SDG no. 13●Production of Output 3, Online Manual “Gender and Power-relations”, referring to UN SDG no. 5●Production of Output 4 Guidelines “Reducing Inequality and contributing to more inclusive societies”, referring to UN SDG no. 10All outputs will be tested in a TRAINING ACTIVITY, that will allow leading team members from the network of the partner consortium to improve their skills and that can also serve as model for future generations.PARTNER CONSORTIUM:The EMC has gathered 8 transnational cultural networks from diverse fields of culture to achieve the above mentioned aims, implement the proposed activities and produce the outputs SHIFT:TEH – Cultural LeadershipFACE – Cultural LeadershipELIA – Environmental SustainabilityIETM – Gender and Power-relationsECA-EC – Inclusion EMCY – Inclusion OTM – Cultural Leadership (Evaluation)IMC – Cultural Leadership (Digital Tools)EMC – Cultural Leadership (International Cooperation)The chosen networks are highly influential as they all work to increase the capacity of the members and to formulate policy recommendations. They are to a great extend recognised by political decision makers (on EU level, but also on local and national level). With their members, which often are networks themselves, they reach out to a large number of organisations in culture and can serve as multiplyers.