AEC was invited last year to contribute to the program of the Cyprus Culture Summit: Music 2022.
Learn more about the participation of the AEC in the Cyprus Culture Summit in December 2022, through the words of former AEC Secretary General: Harrie van den Helsen.
“As the former Secretary General of AEC and current board member of the European Music Council (EMC) I had the honour of participating and presenting AEC at the summit. The summit was organised by the Organisation for European Programmes and Cultural Relations, in its capacity as the Creative Europe Desk Cyprus as a parallel event of the 9th edition of the Cyprus Jazz & World Music Showcase. This interactive event provided information and working sessions on issues related to the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a blueprint for action, advocacy and partnership in the international music field and also hosted sessions facilitated by the European Music Council (EMC) and Jeunesses Musicales International (JMI).
The three days provided the opportunity for dialogue on critical issues that concern the European music sector such as: globalisation, working conditions, the digital shift, post-Covid lessons, inclusion, gender equality, data collection, going green(er), music and peace-building and music education in the 21st century. It was this last topic that I participated in actively on behalf of AEC. I presented AEC as on organisation and fore mostly the results of our project Strengthening Music in Society and of course our new Artemis project. Finally, I shared some thoughts about the future structure of AEC. After that we had a panel discussion on the topic of music education with representatives of the European Music School Union (EMU), the International Music Council (IMC), the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth Cyprus and the European Music Council (EMC). This discussion was lively and useful since the different levels of education were represented in this panel.
Finally: the Cyprus Culture Summit: Music 2022 was organised very professionally and extremely hospitable. The Mediterranean environment of Limassol Cyprus was an extra bonus for the more than 100 participants to this Summitt.”
Harrie van den Elsen, former Secretary General of AEC, Board member of EMC.
