The AEC International Relations Coordinators (IRCs) working group has released its Manifesto 2020 that AEC member institutions are welcome to consult and take as a reference point for their international strategy. Please find it here attached

The IRCs Manifesto 2020 is accompanyied by the video entitled  The AEC Annual Meeting of International Relations Coordinators: Who we are, What we do, Where we want to go. The video has been made by the International Relation Coordinators (IRCs) working group to accompany the IRCs Manifesto 2020. The interviews have been recorded during the IRCs annual meeting in Prague in September 2019 and during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and present what has been developped during the IRCs annnual meetings over the years, the role and importance of the IRCs within their institutions, the IRCs Reflection Paper and the topics the community will focus on in the coming years.

The IRCs Working Group, in collaboration with  the AEC office, decided to go ahead with the organization of the IRCs Meeting 2020. The event will take place in a hybrid format in order to let both those who want and can come to Vigo and those who cannot or will not be able to travel, to take part in the event in the most suitable way for them. Participants coming to Vigo will join the conference and the live networking moments (which will respect the social distance and hygenic measures required by the local authorities) and at the same time colleagues who cannot or do not feel confortable to travel and gather in groups will be able to access the content, the discussions and the online networking.

We would like to thank the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Vigo and in particular the Director Esteban Valverde and the IRC José Luis Fernandez for accepting this challenge and host this unique event in this time of uncertainity. Both the AEC staff and the Conservatorio's staff will make their best to deliver a good experience to both onsite and online audience within the given constraints.

The event will take place between Thursday 24th and Saturday 26th September. The onsite and online content will be slightly different. A more detailed programme will be published next week on the event webpage www.aec-music.eu/irc2020.

Here below some information about the event content and organisation:

– The EASY workshop will take place completely online as a webinar. It will be organized in the weeks before or after the conference, so it will not be part of the conference programme as such. More information about this activity will be sent in the Summer;

– Two pre-conference seminars will take place, one online and one in presence:
1) Seminar 1 – The Well Being of International Students by Clara Barbera, representative of the AEC SMS working group 2 on Identity, Diversity and Inclusiveness – ONLINE ONLY (the exact time will be communicated during the Summer);

2) Seminar 2 – Crisis Management by the IRCs working group – IN PRESENCE ONLY for participants coming to Vigo on Thursday 24th September in the morning;

– Both the online and in-presence conference sessions will take place on Thursday 24th in the afternoon and on Friday 25th the whole day. Saturday 26th will be devoted to the networking activity for the participants coming to Vigo.

– The Introductory session for first-time delegates will take place on Thursday 24th September from 13:15 to 15:15: there will be two separate sessions for participants phisically present in Vigo and participants connected remotely. Both sessions will be interactive;

– All plenary sessions happening in Vigo will be streamed in real time, so that both in-presence and remote audience will get the same content. Remote audience will be able to interact with what happens in Vigo;

– There will be different discussion groups and parallel sessions for the online audience and for the participants physically present in Vigo; more information about that can be found in the detailed programme that will be published next week;

– Networking and matchmaking for the remote audience will be made possible thanks to the tools provided by the Whova app. Participants coming to Vigo will be able to interact during the networking moments including the optional networking activity that will take place on Saturday. Following the IRCs tradition, the IRC boat will bring the participants fo the 2020 edition to the Cies Islands (a separate fee applies);

– A participation fee will be required for both online (members early bird rate: 40 euro) and in-presence (members early bird rate: 200 euro) participation. The early bird deadline is 31st August, after this date fees will slightly increase. Registration will be possible as of next week;

The publication of the official programme and the registration launch on the webpage of the event will be notified to all IRCs next week.