31 October, 2022

AEC Annual Meeting for International Relations Coordinators 2022: Wrap Up

The AEC Annual Meeting for International Relations Coordinators (IRC) 2022 took place in September at the Conservatorio di Musica “Nino Rota” in Monopoli (Italy), bringing together 164 participants in presence as well as 46 online attendees. Online sessions took place on 9 and 19 September before the hybrid event in Monopoli on 22 – 24 September.

Have a look below to relive all sessions!

9 September, 2022

Two online sessions took place: one dedicated to newcomers, who were welcomed by Frauke Velghe and Dimitrios Marinos (IRCs working group members); and one from Marcel van der Poel on “Internationalisation at home” and its relevant concepts, practical issues and challenges.

19 September, 2022

Sessions were facilitated by two of the Working Groups from the AEC – Empowering Artists as Makers in Society (ARTEMIS) project, funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Commission.The Diversity, Inclusion and Gender Equality Working Group (DIGE WG) members presented the interactive e-Book entitled Artistic Plurality and Inclusive Institutional Culture in Higher Music Education. After that, the Lifelong Learning (LLL WG) Working Group introduced the groups’ mission and its future activities and had an exchange with participants about initiatives in their institutions.

22-24 September, 2022

During the first day of the IRCs hybrid event, the researcher and lecturer Errol Boon reflected on how to reset our view on internationalisation so that we can prepare our students for the challenges of a globalised cultural sector. The parallel sessions gave the opportunity to the participants to explore different topics related to well and not so well known topics in the Internationalisation field such as Blended Intensive Programmes (BIPs) and the new Erasmus+ scheme, digital means and the global perspective of internationalisation beyond Europe.

The second day of the conference started with an inspiring lecture by Lukas Pairon (founder of SIMM – Social Impacts of Music Making platform) on the social impact of music-making. After this session, the participants had the opportunity to engage in discussions on the topic during the breakout groups moderated by IRCs WG members. In the afternoon, the participants visited the beautiful town of Alberobello, as a part of the IRCs traditional networking activity.

On the third and last day of the IRCs meeting, AEC organised a special session on how to help people affected by the war in Ukraine, where participants gained perspective from hearing the experiences of colleagues who are in the midst of this ordeal. In this session, the representatives from the Ukrainian institutions explained in detail the problems they had to face in recent months and the needs they currently have. Jose Luis Fernandez (IRC – Conservatorio Superior de Música de Vigo) and Ludwig Holtmeier (Rector – Hochschule für Musik Freiburg) presented the initiatives that they carried out to support Ukrainian staff and students in these difficult times.

After this session, the latest news about EASY, the European Online Application System, was presented. During the information forum and market, the participants had the chance to present different projects related to internationalisation.

The AEC Annual Meeting for IRCs 2022 came to an end with the Closing Session, where the LUCA School of Arts in Leuven (Belgium) was announced as the host for the next IRCs meeting, which will take place on 21 – 23 September 2023.

AEC would like to warmly thank everyone who made this IRCs meeting possible, in particular, the hosting institution in Monopoli and the IRCs Working Group but also all the brilliant speakers and engaged participants who participated in the conference.