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AEC support to projects

As the leading voice of Higher Music Education in Europe, the AEC strives to promote the participation of Higher Music Education Institutions in various European projects, such as Creative Europe, Erasmus+, Horizon projects and more.

Types of EU projects and benefits of participation

Projects that are financially supported by the European Union with one of its funding programmes, offer great opportunities for AEC member institutions to strengthen international cooperation and their international visibility. Moreover, EU funding might allow them to try out new pathways and to carry out pilot projects to innovate their study programmes, which as a rule are hard to finance from the regular budget. The experiences of the past show that the endeavour of application writing is in the most cases worth the effort. Although the specific conditions and chances vary from country to country, projects involving the AEC have an above-average success rate. This applies in particular to Erasmus Cooperation projects (earlier known as:  Erasmus Strategic Partnership projects). Even if an application fails the first time, it might be worth a second attempt, especially if the applicants take the feedback seriously that they receive from the evaluation committee.

Types of European funds for implementing projects in the field of the music education sector:

  • Creative Europe: Both the Creative Europe Cooperation and the Creative Europe Networks programme aim to support the European audio-visual, cultural and creative sector, encouraging the players in the field to operate across Europe, to reach new audiences and to develop the skills needed in the digital age.
  • Erasmus+: Erasmus+ is the EU’s programme to support education, training, youth and sport.
  • Horizon Europe: research and innovation framework programme with various mission areas identified each year. In 2021, five key topics are underlined for Horizon Europe funding, among them “adaptation to climate change including societal transformation” and “climate-neutral and smart cities”.

Through projects, the AEC pursues its strategic goal to foster the excellence of professional arts education by encouraging diversity and dynamism in artistic practice, learning & teaching and research & innovation in different countries and region.

The AEC encourages and supports its members and partner organisations willing to apply to European funds (i.e. Erasmus+, Creative Europe, Horizon Europe, Structural Funds, etc.) and other funding schemes to apply for and carry out projects in the fields of education, culture and research aimed at fostering cross-border activities and international cooperation, institutional and curriculum development and innovation as well as giving more people the opportunity to participate in cultural activities and access  to cultural education.

Thanks to the available funding schemes in the above-mentioned fields, institutions can get financial support and a structured framework to plan and implement developments that would be otherwise more difficult to achieve, also easing their recognition after the project completion.

Through European funded projects, institutions would be able to:

  • support development, transfer and/or implementation of innovative practices;
  • carry out joint activities promoting cooperation, peer learning and exchanges of experiences, practices and expertise at international level;
  • reach out to new networks and alliances both within the educational sector and the professional market;
  • raising the profile of their activities by upgrading them to an international scale;
  • support career development opportunities for staff, who feel inspired and valued, and enrich students’ experience with forward-looking activities;
  • improve to the quality of teaching and learning, which would ultimately enhance the institutional reputation and its international standing;
  • play an active role within society, by reaching out to the local and international community.

 

The AEC can take up different roles in projects:

• The AEC as Facilitator: creating opportunities to find project partners at AEC events and delivering training sessions about project funding schemes, as well as project writing and management;
• The AEC as Project Partner: being part of a consortium initiated by an AEC member institution or any other organisation and acting as main partner in communication, dissemination and/or evaluation;
• The AEC as Application Writer/Editor: provides project application writing services to institutions willing to outsource this task to the AEC in order to take advantage of the expertise of the AEC office staff in project application writing.

Besides the abovementioned roles, AEC might also launch project applications on its own initiative. In this case, AEC acts as Project Coordinator, initiating, coordinating and leading the project.

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