NAIP: Training Artists Without Borders

The last Intensive Programme in the project NAIP: Training Artists Without Borders, was held 24 August – 2 September in Zeereijp, in the Netherlands. The theme of this year’s intensive programme (IP) was cross-art making and collaboration.
 
The first 3 days were dedicated to cross-art workshops and artistic explorations in the local context. After the introductory days, students from the fields of music and performing arts collaborated in LAB groups, working as artists in residence at various local places.
 

The IP was held in the small village Zeerijp in the rural countryside of the province of Groningen. This village used to be located at the seaside but now it is surrounded by flat green meadows, farmhouses, agriculture and cows. This quiet village has around 350 inhabitants. Underneath this region of Groningen a big gas field was discovered during the seventies and the gas has been extracted from the soil ever since. As a result of this, the region has been suffering from many small earthquakes, causing damage to houses and farms. There is an ongoing political debate on the agenda of the national government about whether the extraction of the gas should be stopped and who should pay for the damage of the earthquakes. This local context was the starting point for the students’ collaborative cross-art making, creating common ground for them to work from.
 
This IP is the final event in the project and will form the finish point to the development work of the cross-art working group, which has been exploring how to create a collaborative learning environment for an interdisciplinary group of students.
 

Later this autumn, the results of the project will be presented in three strands: Cross-art collaboration, Mentoring and Online learning. The project’s outcomes will be published at www.musicmaster.eu as well as presented the AEC Annual Congress in Graz, Friday 9 November at 12:00-13:00.