Young Music Talents in Europe (YMTE) was founded in 2018 as a partnership of a number of European schools combining primary and secondary school with a specialist preparatory track in music education and instrumental and vocal training. As an informal group of Pre-College schools that specifically prepare young talents for a career as professional musician, the consortium existed and has been in close touch with AEC since long, e.g. in the context of the Polifonia project 2007-2010, in which one out of six working groups was dedicated to Pre-college Training in Music.After this group of pre-college music schools had now been re-organised as a registered association named YMTE, it seemed high time to finally also put the collaboration between AEC and YMTE on a firm footing. After a series of preliminary conversations and many emails being sent back and forth, the presidents or chairmen of the two associations finally signed a Letter of Intent at the end of April as the cornerstone of a permanent and long-term collaboration. This paper refers, among other things, to the mutual interests that the two signatory organisations share with each other: to prepare young musical talents up to 19 years as good, as appropriate and as effectively as possible for a later music study. The Letter of Intent further states: “AEC and YMTE hence have a mutual ambition to commit to exploring best practices to widen access, enhance diversity and remove barriers for high level progression in the arts for all young people.”

In order to put this project into practice in a concrete and efficient manner, it was decided to set up a permanent working group which includes, in addition to representatives from YMTE, also three AEC representatives, namely an AEC Council member appointed by the AEC Council, the AEC Chief Executive as ex-officio member, and one more representative from among the AEC community, who has particular expertise in the field of pre-college music education.

Two AEC representatives on this body have already been determined: Lucia Di Cecca as AEC Council representative and Stefan Gies as AEC Chief Executive. The third position is still vacant, and any staff member of an AEC member institution who fulfills the following requirements is very much welcome to send us his or her candidature by 30 June 2021 at the latest. A candidate is expected to

  • have substantial experience and proven expertise in pre-college education;
  • have good knowledge of the European HME system and culture;
  • be committed to further develop both the Music HEI and Pre-College sector.

Membership in the committee is voluntary. As a rule, one out of the 2 to 3 annual working group meetings is intended to take place as a physical meeting at different locations. Any travel costs incurred should be borne by the sending AEC member institution, but the AEC will endeavor to reimburse the costs in cases of hardship.

All interested are kindly requested to send their CV together with a max. one page motivation letter and a letter of support signed by the principal / dean of their institution to applications@aec-music.eu
Please do not hesitate to share this call among your colleagues and partner institutions.