ARTEMIS Annual Network Meeting 2023 at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague!

The ARTEMIS Annual Network Meeting 2023 took place on 1-2 June at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Czech Republic. This meeting enabled Working Groups members to meet in person, get to know each other and share experiences, achievements and first results after the first year of implementation in both formal and informal settings. They also had the opportunity to address some common challenges and transversal priorities such as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), going green and participation at the upcoming AEC events.

On the first day, the participants were greeted by welcome words by Ingeborg Radok Žádná, Rector of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and former AEC Council member, and Jeffrey Sharkey, Principal of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Vice-President of the AEC. After this, the first round of Working Groups meetings took place in parallel, during the afternoon. 

Please click below to find out more about the groups’ objectives and priorities:

• International Relations Coordinators Working Group (Work Package 2)
• Lifelong Learning Working Group (Work Package 3)
• Advocacy Advisory Group and Task Force (Work Package 4)
• AEC Goes Green Working Group (Work Package 5)
• Digitisation Working Group (Work Package 5)
• Capacity Building Working Group (Work Package 7)
• Diversity, Inclusion and Gender Equality Working Group + Gender Equality and Non-discrimination Mainstreaming Task Force (Work Package 8)

In addition, the recently established European Performing Arts Students’ Association (EPASA) held its first in-person meeting in the frame of the event. As most board members are current members of other Working Groups, this was the perfect opportunity for them to come together and discuss the next activities foreseen within the association’s agenda. The first day ended with a working dinner for all Working Groups’ members to engage in formal networking, guided by some activities proposed by the AEC office.

On the second day, the plenary sessions kicked-off in the morning with a presentation on the project communication strategy and social media statistics, including useful information about the upcoming deliverables to be produced by the different groups. Next steps in terms of dissemination concern a series of surveys, the #InsideARTEMIS campaign on the AEC newsletter and the production of media material. 

The morning continued with the ARTEMIS Information Forum where all Working Groups presented in plenary the work they have been undertaking so far as well as their planned outcomes and upcoming activities. After each presentation, there was time for Q&A.

Finally, two rounds of group discussions tackling transversal aspects of the project took place in parallel, with three topics being discussed by participants coming from different Working Groups:

• Strengthening diversity, equity and inclusion within HME. Power relations and how to further disseminate the recommendations produced by the PRIhME project

Working Groups’ members were introduced to ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Higher Music Education: An Invitation for Action‘, a resource package developed by the DIGE Working Group for all AEC member institutions to explore, discuss and implement practices fostering Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in HME. The resource package has been followed by an open call for AEC members to host the group’s workshop in the upcoming years. Moreover, PRIhME was presented: the aims of the project were explained in depth, and the four stakeholder assemblies with recommendations were discussed.

• AEC Goes Green: reflections on the results of the survey and how it reflects on the work of the different working groups

The participants exchanged best sustainable practices and gave AEC suggestions on what the AEC guidelines on green sustainability could include. Some of the propositions included: indications on what transport to use (use trains when it is less than 800 km or less than 8 hours of travel), introducing bike parking in the institutions, reducing printing, deleting obsolete emails and unsubscribing from newsletters that you don’t read anymore, designating a green coordinator in the team, making space in the curriculum for the topic of sustainability to be explored creatively, adopt one carbon footprint calculator, and include examples from other networks about current practices.

• ARTEMIS contribution at the next AEC Annual Congress in The Hague, including potential joint sessions about specific topics

Pre-Congress workshops will be delivered by the Advocacy Advisory Group and Task Force, and by EPASA. The Digitisation Working Group will deliver a parallel session under the title ‘The Musician of Tomorrow – a dialogue with Teachers & Students: a conversation on how to raise the bar for digital skills across Higher Music Education’, and the Capacity Building Working Group will deliver a parallel session, whose aim needs still to be decided. Lastly, the AEC Goes Green Working Group highlights the need of reinforcing the green dimension of the Congress, for example by encouraging participants to travel by train, having recycled bottles of water and going paperless. 

In the afternoon, the closing event took place with farewell words by Sylva Stejskalová, Vice-Dean for science, research, innovation and international relations, and Stefan Gies, AEC Chief Executive. Later in the afternoon, a second round of Working Groups’ meetings took place including also some bilateral meetings between Working Groups, before the goodbye dinner.

AEC – Empowering Artists as Makers in Society (ARTEMIS, 2022-2025) is a project co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Commission, in support of the European networks. For more information about the project activities and latest developments, please take a look at the project webpage on the AEC website here, or contact Alfonso Guerra at alfonsoguerra@aec-musc.eu.