Warm thanks again to our generous and professional hosts at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Graz for making the AEC Congress to a pleasant and memorable gathering, to all participants for friendliness, creative and critical thoughts, and to the member institutions for keeping up the General Assembly as an efficient and decisive body for AEC´s work.
 

As AEC President, I am hoping that an increasing number of our member institutions will engage in this collaborative work and that we in the coming years will see a growth in projects and networks. AEC´s mission is to inform, facilitate and support. However, as we all know, substantial results can only be achieved when clear decisions are made and continuous work is carried out within each single member institution throughout the year.
This newsletter provides updated information on several central and relevant AEC activities. I hope this will be a source of inspiration and a relevant tool for you in the daily work in your institutions. 

Looking back, we have during the last year revised our Vision and Strategic Plan, taken the first decisive steps in realising our Plan for a sustainable AEC economy, established a solid start of the SMS-project, and we are now ready to follow up interesting tracks in our advocacy work on European and national levels.

The AEC can look forward to the coming year with expectations and in good spirit and prepare for a new Congress in beautiful Italian Turin in November 2019 at Conservatorio Statale de Musica Giuseppe Verdi.

For now, my colleagues on AEC Council and the entire Office Team wish you a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year, full of joy in the making, listening and teaching of music!

Yours,

Eirik Birkeland, AEC President