Current Projects

AEC (2025-2028) – Creative Europe Network

The Association Européenne des Conservatoires (AEC) will strengthen the role of higher music education as a driver of social cohesion, artistic innovation, and sustainable practice in response to Europe’s cultural, digital, and societal challenges.

Digitisation Working Group

Context

The digital space presents both significant challenges and transformative opportunities in every aspect of artistic, educational and professional life. The AEC Digitisation Working Group aims to guide AEC and its members through the challenges and opportunities of the digital era, helping them define a clear destination for their digital aspirations and navigating the endless possibilities of the digital world. By combining expertise in performance, digital pedagogy, strategic innovation, and working in synergy with the essential student voice, the group helps ensure that educational programmes across Higher Music Education Institutions (HMEIs) remain vibrant, forward-looking, and aligned with the evolving realities of the contemporary music profession.

Work plan

Concretely, the Working Group will deliver an institutional benchmarking tool to support strategic planning. Evolving from an earlier sector survey concept, it will let institutions assess their digital maturity through various statements across different categories, and receive scores with development-oriented recommendations. Scoring and recommendations will remain rule-based and agreed by the Working Group; AI may later help synthesise reports but will not alter scores or generate advice.

Building on the Digitisation Roadmap from the previous ARTEMIS project, the group will also produce an AI Roadmap and Recommendations, a practical guide to help institutions harness AI while addressing its challenges, followed by a DigCom framework for HME educators.

Finally, the Working Group will run online webinars with industry experts, AEC members and partners, and contribute sessions to AEC events. Planned topics include among others concert streaming, performance simulation, music technology and AI, audience interaction, AI agents for content creation, and a student-led Q&A on copyright and digital skills for emerging musicians.

Collaborations within the AEC ecosystem

Collaboration is central to the group’s mission, as it aims to respond to the needs of the wider AEC community and other AEC Working Groups through its diverse digital initiatives. Examples are:

Education and Profession Working Group – analysing how the role of digital skills in educational programmes helps students bridge the gap as they emerge into the profession
Music, Society and Sustainability Working Group – suggesting how the digital space can enable musicians to find their audience and partners and to impact society with their work
Special Education Needs Working Group – inspecting what the role of Digital tools and platforms could be in widening cultural access, participation and inclusion.