Current Projects

AEC – Empowering Artists as Makers in Society (2022-2025) – Creative Europe Network

Higher Music Education (HME) graduates are the makers of tomorrow's musical life. Facing new challenges, such as dealing with the digital shift, climate change, the growing diversity of cultural and societal needs and a labour market under constant dynamic change, they will be tasked with promoting the resilience of artists, musicians and other cultural professionals.

Meet the AEC Digitisation Working Group

Sandrine DESMURS, Cefedem Auvergne Rhône-Alpes, Lyon, France (WG Chair)
Philipp AHNER, Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Trossingen, Trossingen, Germany
Haakon KVIDAL, Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo, Norway
Enric GUAUS, Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC), Barcelona, Spain
Thom GILBERT, Royal College of Music, London, United Kingdom
Mimi HARMER, Leeds Conservatoire, Leeds, United Kingdom – EPASA
Alessandra CALLEGARI, AEC Office Team (WG Coordinator). Contact here.

Goals

Updating and strengthening the AEC National Overview of Higher Music Education systems
Supporting the working groups and the AEC Office with professional expertise when collecting and analysing data
Supporting the process of digital transformation in HMEIs

Updates

The group helps the AEC assist HMEIs in dealing with the digital shift (which is affecting their practices and educational methods, as well as how artists interact with their audience). The group also collects and analyses data through surveys, discussion groups and interviews to ultimately guide the sector on the challenges connected to digitalisation processes and the changes brought by disruptive technologies.

Areas of work and Audience reflections

The group defined four topics to shape the work of the group:

Digital learning and teaching (digital pedagogy),
Digital skills for musicians,
Digital as a creative medium,
Digital Audiences

Throughout the project, the working group has delivered various sessions in the frame of AEC events.

In Year 1 of the project (2022), the WG offered a pre-conference workshop in the frame of the Annual Congress. The year after the group held an online session in the frame of the IRC Meeting 2023 as one of the pre-conference sessions. Three members of the working group also delivered a talk on artificial intelligence (AI) in higher music education. In 2023, the group contributed to a panel discussion with various digital experts in the frame of the AEC Annual Congress 2023 in The Hague. The panel discussion is titled: “The Musician of Tomorrow. A conversation on how to raise the bar for digital skills across Higher Music Education” and it featured interdisciplinary digital experts involved in a variety of AEC’s projects as well as students.

The working group has collaborated with EPASA in drafting and launching a survey directed at understanding the digital needs and capabilities of students of higher music education institutions. The working group members also exchanged with the ARTEMIS Lifelong Learning Working Group and the Advocacy Working Group.

The group is now focused on a few more initiatives: