The European Digital Music Academy

We applied to this project driven by the wish to bring a much-needed innovation in the live music sector and music education.To this end, we will develop and test a training methodology aimed at e...

Our project addresses the need for innovation and especially the challenge of digitalisation in the live music sector, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. While a few good practices exist, including both higher education institutes and live music organisations, to address those challenges, our project will gather both students and professionals from the live music sector to get trained on digital skills, thus increasing resilience towards the digital shift and adding value for a sustainable career. Besides, our project will build on a cross-disciplinary approach towards live music performances, connecting different disciplines of the music ecosystem (performers, sound and light specialists, PR and marketing specialists). Thus our five project objectives are: 1 Establishing a strategic partnership to develop and test a training methodology that will enhance digital and professional skills for artistic performances aimed at higher education students and professionals from the live music sector. 2 Strengthening cross-disciplinary collaborations between higher education institutes and the live music sector in 4 European countries. 3 Providing a test case for a work-based learning collaboration between higher education institutes and the live music sector to be implemented beyond this project 4 Providing practical guidance for higher education students and live music professionals in the development of digital skills in music production, distribution, promotion and audience engagement. 5 Measuring the effectiveness of this training methodology on the enhancement of students’ skills and increased audience engagement for live music performances organised in 4 European countries.

Our main activities, key to the achievement of our objectives, are the following ones: Selection of participants to the TEDMA transnational training: In the preparation phase, the consortium will work together to open a call to select the international training participants. Guidelines will be developed and followed by all partner organisations. The selection will be internal (within the staff/students of partner organisations) and external (within the associated universities). Each organisation will select 10 learners (students/professionals) and 2 trainers (who have been involved in developing the TEDMA training scheme), making sure to have a good balance in gender, profiles and disciplines. Project result 1-The European Digital Music Academy: needs and perspectives in Europe: After a first transnational kick-off meeting, project partners will conduct national desk research to assess what digital skills students who will work in the live music sector currently lack and how this is missing in the curricula of higher education institutes. Partners will evaluate student skills before, during and after our project activities (see project result 1). The preliminary results will be used to develop the TEDMA training scheme (see project result 2). The final results will be used to evaluate our project methodology and see how this has contributed to the achievement of our objectives. The desk research and the pre-and post-evaluation results will be gathered in a European report. Project result 2- The TEDMA training scheme: According to the desk research findings, partners will meet in May 2022 to draft a training scheme that covers the needs highlighted by the research. It will aim to enhance participants’ digital and cross-disciplinary skills, thus contributing to their professional experience in the live music sector. It will be used both during the international training activity and the preparation of the 4 TEDMA multiplier events. TEDMA Transnational training: In January 2023, a 10 days transnational training will gather 70 learners (students and professionals) and 14 trainers in Germany. They will be acquainted with the training scheme developed (project result 2). This training will aim to strengthen the digital skills of students and professionals across several disciplines of the live music sector. Multiplier events: 1 event will be organised in each participating country to widen the visibility of our project results. The newly acquired skills from the training participants will be put into practice. Together, live music professionals will collaborate with students in organising an artistic event. At this stage, 40 other students (10 per country) who did not attend the international training activity will be involved in preparing the performances.