AEC Annual Meeting for International Relations Coordinators 2023
Opening Doors: Adopting a More Inclusive Perspective
After being in the South, let’s go back to the North! LUCA School of the Arts in Leuven, Belgium, had opened its doors to all participants joining the 2023 AEC Annual Meeting for International Relations Coordinators entitled “Opening Doors: Adopting a More Inclusive Perspective.” This ground-breaking event, organized in the framework of the EU Creative Europe co-funded project “ARTEMIS – Empowering Artists as Makers in Society,” invited higher music education institutions’ international relations coordinators to adopt a more inclusive perspective while looking at the themes close to the daily business of any international relations coordinator: mobility, employability, diversity, international cooperation and digitization. The meeting had been designed mostly as an in-presence one, but online pre-conference sessions had been organized on 8th and 13th September and all Plenary Sessions and their follow up discussions had been streamed from Leuven for online participants.
Unleashing the Power of Diversity and Inclusion
Workshops by the IncluMusic and TUNE projects, our keynote speaker Aygul Gunaltay Weyler and the “Safe Space” group discussion moderated by the AEC Gender Equality and Non-discrimination Mainstreaming Task Force had helped participants discovering innovative approaches to fostering diversity and inclusion in higher music education institutions and in our communities by promoting an environment that celebrates artistic and personal differences. The goal was to learn how to create an inclusive and diverse ecosystem that opens its doors to different genres and genders and nurtures creativity, collaborations, equality and personal growth and well being.
Digitization and Artificial Intelligence: Revolutionizing the Music Education Landscape
The ARTEMIS Digitisation working group and the FAST45 Project had opened a door on the future of higher music education by exploring the dynamic interplay between digitization, artificial intelligence and society within future possible scenarios for our sector. Cutting-edge technologies that amplify pedagogical possibilities, expand access to music education and exchanges, and transform the way we teach, learn, create music and cooperate had been explored: blended mobility had been addressed by the TUNE project and by the session on Erasmus Blended Intensive Programmes (BIPs); the digitisation of administrative procedures that comes with the Erasmus Without Paper initiative had been addressed during the EASY Mobility Online workshop and session.
Global Cooperation Beyond Europe: Forging Stronger Connections.
International cooperation, transcending borders and opening doors to higher music education institutions worldwide, had been addressed – on the conceptual side – by two sessions on the idea of Global Musician by the keynote speaker Anothai Nithibon and – on the practical side – during the session on International Credit Mobility (Erasmus Key Action 171). Participants had been invited to share best practices to cultivate fruitful collaborations, establish connections beyond Europe, and foster cultural understanding to shape a global community of IRC.
Unmissable Highlights Awaited You
The networking opportunities offered during the event, including our traditional final “Share your Food and Drinks” from our countries and a special tour of the charming Flemish city of Leuven on Friday afternoon, had forged lasting connections with international peers. In the session dedicated to environmental sustainability by the ARTEMIS working group AEC Goes Green, practical strategies by AEC member institutions to build a greener future had been shared and discussed; the transformative potential of international internships for music students and graduates, internationalisation at home and lifelong learning for graduates and staff had been addressed by dedicated sessions and discussion groups aimed at opening doors to institutional and personal growth and career development.
Your Voice Matters: Information Forum and Topics Discussion Groups
We thank all those who participated actively in shaping the conference’s agenda by proposing in the registration form topics for the Discussion Groups and short presentations for the Information Forum. We were thrilled by those who took the floor and shared their knowledge, insights, and experiences, contributing to a vibrant exchange of ideas and best practices. Together, we opened our doors to a more inclusive, progressive, and transformative future for higher music education. We were glad to see you online and in Leuven for the IRC Meeting 2023!
