Professional Development

The European Music Council (EMC) Fellowship Programme welcomes early-career musicians seeking a professional development community.

Applications are now open for a free training opportunity in the UK for arts facilitators interested in broadening their methodological toolkit. The program, run in tandem by Leeds Beckett University and Musicians Without Borders, will train participants in the working principles of the MWB music leadership programs that serve people impacted by war and armed conflict.

Regressive lawmaking in the U.S. has led some music educators to feel unsafe talking about race, gender, or history in the classroom. In response, the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) a published a must-read report earlier this year on Divisive Concepts Laws (DCL) – legislative and executive orders that restrict teaching and learning activities related to race, gender, sexuality, and U.S. history—and their impact on music educators across the U.S.

In the second week of March 2023, El Sistema USA, an organizational network of Sistema-inspired programs in the United States, held their first in-person national symposium since the pandemic began. Attendees converged to attend workshops, rekindle friendships, and share perspectives and questions about the field. They also encountered something unprecedented: a lively cohort of Youth Ambassadors, students from programs across the country, who often took the lead in key activities.  

Free stuff! Check out these self-paced online courses available to teaching artists worldwide:

A few news hits from Sistema programs around the world:

The Lewis Prize for Music is now accepting applications for the 2024 Accelerator Awards.

Research is beginning to show how much new technology can benefit students in the music classroom. David Knapp’s recent study, published in Research Studies in Music Education, offers a few good reasons why music educators should be outfitting their classrooms with digital audio workstations (DAWs).

The Brussels-based organization SIMM (Social Impact of Music Making), a worldwide research-oriented network of scholars and practitioners, will hold its 8th annual symposium in Brisbane, Australia, November 20–22, 2023, and is now seeking proposals for research papers in the field.

The European Commission has set out to show how participation in arts and cultural programs positively impacts youth mental health in a recently published Brainstorming Report, “Youth, Mental Health, and Culture.”