ABOUT THE PROJECT

The B-ME: Blending Melodies: Bridging Cultural Identities was implemented by Sistema Cyprus, El Sistema Greece and the Associação das Orquestras Sinfónicas Juveniles Sistema Portugal and was co-funded by the European Union. 

The project paired local composers with musicians from a refugee or migrant background to co-create original musical compositions that bridge the different cultural identities. These compositions were performed by the partners’ youth orchestras and are available for any other orchestras in the world. Through awareness raising concerts in the partners’ countries and beyond, B-ME intended to highlight the value of cultural diversity.

Through this project we offered the opportunity to musicians who have a refugee or migratory background to work with composers from their current community and co-create music compositions that bilaterally blend the sounds of their origins. Each pair had the freedom in the creative process that allowed the composing partners to fully express their intimate music identity. The students of the partner organizations, who belong to these vulnerable groups, had the opportunity to learn through music workshops and later prepared and performed these compositions in concerts. By opening these concerts to the general public we gave people the opportunity to see these children and these composer musicians from a different perspective and enable their understanding of other cultures through music. 

Finally, other composers and university students studying music and composition had the opportunity to attend seminars focusing on the objective of promoting social equity through music. 

Orchestras in Europe and anywhere else in the world are invited to perform these compositions in their own countries.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

MAC- Music for Active Citizenship: a Young Music Mentors Programme is an Erasmus+ project implemented in Cyprus and Greece by the consortium partners Sistema Cyprus and El Sistema Greece.

The project offered opportunities for social and educational interactions between local Sistema music program students with a refugee or immigrant background and native students who study music. Based on the foundation of social music education, the project promoted social equity and acted towards social inclusion while educating for the appreciation of social diversity.

The project focused on the capacity building of young music students and used music as a tool for reaching out to marginalized young people and preventing racism and intolerance among youth resulting in the promotion of intercultural dialogue and the appreciation of diversity in society, just like in the orchestra. We aspire that other social music programs will replicate the program in their own communities.

Sharing some moments from training our Young Music Mentors

MAC aims to bring together young mentors, who are already engaged in learning a musical instrument, together with 30 children and young people from Sistema Cyprus. The program commenced on October 2nd with a training seminar for the 23 young mentors, aged 14-35 years old. Specifically, the young music mentors were trained in the method and practices of El Sistema teaching and will collaborate with Sistema musicians. 

This program will empower the competency of youth mentors promoting music as a tool to reach out to young people with fewer opportunities, as well as to prevent racism and intolerance amongst young people. In addition, the quarterly interaction with Sistema children that the participants will appreciate, will encourage intercultural and interreligious dialogue, and simultaneously strengthen the knowledge, the acceptance and the appreciation of diversity in society.

MAC is an Erasmus+ project implemented in Cyprus and Greece by the consortium partners Sistema Cyprus and El Sistema Greece. 

MAC Training Package for Young Music Mentors is now available to download

The main purpose of the program is to use music education as a tool for the social integration of refugees and migrants, but also, more generally, for the acceptance of diversity and social change. MAC is a complete educational program containing both the basic theoretical principles of community music and the El Sistema program, as well as a multitude of educational activities with all the necessary supervisory materials and audio-visual media. The program also includes the training of young musicians who have the desire to work in music education in the future, of young music educators. 

Since the completion of the program and its evaluation, the MAC training manual  is made available here for music educators around the world to access it online.

Toolkits: M.U.S.E.- Music Unites Through Social Equity

The toolkits below have been developed under the project “M.U.S.E.: Music Unites through Social Equity”, co-funded by the Preparatory Action ‘Music Moves Europe’ by the European Union.

These toolkits present five different approaches of using non-formal methodologies for music education, offering a valuable resource for professional development to youth professionals working with students with less opportunities, and especially students of migrant and refugee background.