Global Initiative for Cultural & Social Cohesion: meetings Report overview, Athens 21-24th of June 2018

The Global (or) Glocal Collaboration Initiative Project
Report from the 1st meetings and activities held in Athens from the 21st till the 24th of June 2018, during the 19th European Music Day events.

Original Publication from NIMPE GREEK PARTNER MESO EVENTS

Few months after the successful organisation of a cross-connected series of events between different projects &  networks, MESO Events Team are very happy to present a summary of this first collaboration which included the co-production of several live music events, 3 seminars / webinars, 2 international round tables, 1 Open discussion, 3 Working Sessions and 1 Preparatory meeting  (see Events at the end of the page).

For this first successful attempt that made possible from the common efforts of the all the partners representatives, we would like to express our gratitude for sharing the same visions and for having trusted the Greek network of collaborators to coordinate such a promising initiative.

Projects Organizations: Certified Competences For Live Events Professionals -European Consortium , Cultural Foundation of Piraeus Group – Greece, Eleusis 2021 Organisation – Greece, European Live Music Association – EU, Network for the Internationalization of Young Producers in Europe – European Consortium, the ΣYMANSIS Resilience & Development Assistance Project – Global Consortium and last but not least, the European Music Day Association Network.

Organizations Representative participating in the events:
1. Foreign Partners :

Peter Baros, President of International Association of Music Information Centres (IAMIC), Secretary General of Slovenian music information Centre (SIGIC) /  Prof. Mahamouda Salouhou, President of Djagora University (SEN), President European Centre for Leadership and Entrepreneurship Education (ECLEE – FR) / Mark Sheridan, Reader in Music and Creativity University of the Highlands and Islands –UHI, Director of the Centre for Rural Creativity, Humanities Department, UHI / Professor Keith Smyth, Professor of Pedagogy | Àrd-Ollamh ann an Eòlas Foghlaim University of the Highlands and Islands, Scotland / Ms. Stacey Toner, Business Development in the CCI’s University of the Highlands and Islands; former director of the Highland Youth Arts Hub, a consortium of 13 creative industries organisations in Highland Region / Conchur O Giollagain Professor of Pedagogy University of the Highlands and Islands, Scotland / Ms. Maria Lilholt Executive director DSI Swinging Europe and Mr. Steen Mikkelsen DSI project Manager and NIMPE project partner / Ms. Jenny England musician, composer and educator, University of the Highlands and Islands and Roma Tre / Peter Noble, composer, director and education, leader CCI NHC and Georges Perot, Co-founder & Member of the BoD European Live Music Association and of the European Research and Innovation Agency For Cultural Clusters.

2. Greek Partners :

Ms. Ermina Kyprianidou, Vice-Governor of Attica Region / Mr. Konstantinos Bitzanis, President of Athens Cultural, Sports and Youth Organization (OPANDA), President of the Technopolis of Athens / Ms. Monica Tsiliberdi, Head of European Programmes, International Synergies and Promotion of Cultural Entrepreneurship Dpt., Hellenic Ministry of Culture & Sports, Expert at the European Commission for the Cultural and Creative Sector/ Ms. Kelly Diapouli, Artistic Director Eleusis 2021, European Capital for Culture 2021 / Ms. Eleftheria Fili, Head of Publications & Audiovisual Department, Marketing Department, Greek National Tourism Organisation / Antonis Ekonomou, Project Manager Innovathens powered by Samsung  Hub of Innovation and Entrepreneurship of Technopolis of the City of Athens / Ms. Sofi Lamprou, Co-founder Impact Hub Athens,Co-founder El Sistema Greece / Ms. Anna Kallinikidou, Archaeologist, Museologist and delegate at the Cultural Foundation of Piraeus Group Museum Department / Yiannis Tsiatsianis Social Entrepreneur, Music Supervisor of the EMD Collaboration of Eleusis 2021 /  Ms. Peggy Tsolakaki Director, Cultural Infrastructure, monitoring and EU funding at Eleusis 2021 | European Capital of Culture, Georges Perot, Founder MESO Events & National Coordinator European Music Day Hellenic Network /  Ms. Aliki Evangelinou Manager, independent label, artists management and Live music events / Lazaros  Damanis MESO Events &  NIMPE Greece partner Expert / George Dimitrakopoulos Music Editor, Digital promotion, Athens Voice Press / Serafim & Mrs. Aggeliki Tsotsonis (Ocean Hope) International Artists, Musicians, Composers, Music Producers, Visual Artist / Mike Pediotis Independent media promoter, Grass root talents promoter / Ms. Christina Jackson Musician, Cahorn Keys band member, Music Teacher and Facilitator / Georges Pyrounakis member of the board Children Support Centre of Eleusis / Ms. Alexandra Boti, Musician, Cahorn Keys band member, facilitator and member of the board of ESMA Carl Orff Greek Association / Ms. Nicky Pyrounakis CSCE stakeholder and Facilitator / Ms. Myrto Bolota, Social worker, Social economy and amongst others, ARSIS Association for the Social Support of Youth partner and Ms. Olympia Agalianou, Dpt. of Philosophy, Pedagogy, Psychology (U. of Athens), Εuropean University Cyprus, Dancer, choreographer, Vice-president of Hellenic Association of Orff-Schulwerk.

Project Background:

Following years of intense networking in Greece and other European Countries, MESO Events team (Founding partners and National Coordinators of the European Music Day Hellenic network since 1998) have become partners of important European networks for the development of umbrella initiatives such as the:

• European Consortium Certified Competences For Live Events Professionals 
  • co-funded by ERASMUS+ programme of the European Union,
• Eleusis 2021 Organisation (Greece),
• European Live Music Association (EU Association),
• European Music Day Association Network (EU Association)
• European Consortium European Music Market Accelerator
  • Large Scale project co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union,
• European Research and Innovation Agency for Cultural Clusters (EU Association),
• European Consortium Network for the Internationalization of Young Producers in Europe
  • co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union,
• Innovathens,the Hub of Innovation & Entrepreneurship of Technopolis City of Athens (Greece),
• Museum Network of the Cultural Foundation of Piraeus Group (Greece),
• ΣYMANSIS Global Consortium for Resilience’ & Development Assistance Project ( Scotland UK Based)
  • co-funded by the University of Highlands & Islands, Global research Fund Scotland & Djagora University (SE)

These networks  encompassing Public and Private sector organisations are involved at higher level in National and European based projects. Their main focus concerns events and projects that supports the role of Music and Culture as a vehicle capable to enhance innovative and sustainable models of development regarding Cultural diversity, Education, Vocational Educational Training needs, entrepreneurship, urban regeneration, Tourism and… social inclusion.

To achieve their objectives and in order to operate jointly as an umbrella of networks, some of the key elements of the collaboration are clear short & long term goals, common event planning and capacity building expertise, delegation of roles and of course synchronization among the partners.

Besides, the success of such initiative is highly linked to the possibility of generating consequent multiplier effects, capitalizing on each others expertise and projects assets, as to enable a maximum of economies of scale and gain as many as possible strong synergies.

Eureka!

Following a series of meetings (kickoff for new projects and on-going projects), and while planning future common matrix of activities (distinctively for each project) on a 3 years based agenda, MESO Events team started scouting the possibility to develop a cross-network partnership between all organizations and networks, and in a larger framework of operation the projects duration in many cases (e.g. EU funded projects).

Besides, the Hellenic network of the European Music Day (EMD) brings together hundreds of soloists, bands and orchestras (530  in 2018) – literally thousands of amateur and professional artists – and hundreds of organizers from all over Greece (55 cities in 2018), creating an tremendous multiplier effect that is spreading all over the country, enhancing and supporting Live Music Making year after year, for already 19 years!

As such and in this context, considering many projects already have a time plan until 2021, and stepping on the fact that several on-going projects have their Greek based multiplier events already planned simultaneously in Athens during the European Music Day Events , the Greek team proposed to all networks and projects representative to sync distinctive activities for 2018 edition but also for the 2019, 2020 and 2021 editions!
The Global Initiative for Cultural & Social Cohesion” was born.

“Collaboration in a Challenging World ” – The idea in a nutshell:

Thinking globally and acting locally, the Greek Network of the European Music Day has always aimed to connect people from different regions, from complementary interdisciplinary fields and different social backgrounds.

As the distinctive projects tackles different sector of activities but are strongly interconnected, and considering partner’s complementary expertise, assets and objectives are highly complementary, the development of a cross-sectoral umbrella network could lead to the development of an International incubator / accelerator supporting  creative sector collaborations and projects at national but also European level.

In this sense, considering most of the Greek and European partners are actively involved in Policy Making, VET or Entrepreneurial activities, and considering furthermore that many representatives participates in the discussions with the European Commission for the development of the #CreativeEurope and #MusicMovesEurope programmes, the development priorities of the initiative, at this stage, concerns the identification and connection between projects:

1. generating data & good or bad practices collection
2. fostering the development of the EU Cultural sector in general & Music sector particularly (starting from Live sector)
3. based on an professional evolutionary basis, as a chain process (e.g. education, coaching, mentoring, entrepreneurship and business incubation / acceleration…)

Supported by a vast and strong network of organizations and experienced managers in transnational project management, the umbrella network implementation strategy aims at connecting primarily networks, projects and experts operating with Creative artists, Live Event professionals and  encompassing large target audiences of young citizens (16-30) from EU (& other European Countries), from any social background, including young migrants and refugees.

Kickoff Meetings and Common Activities: Athens, Eleusis & Chios events, 21st – 24th of June 2018

In that context, the main objective for the 1^st common events and the kickoff meeting with all organizations representative, aimed at identifying the initial focus of the initiative, piloting some fist team building meetings and common events, and identifying  the needs / tasks to be delegated between partners.

The agenda included the co-production of several live music events, 3 seminars / webinars, 2 international round tables, 1 Open discussion, 3 Working Sessions and 1 Preparatory meeting to draft the creation of a common agenda between our distinctive projects and our existing common projects. Topics focused on the following sectors of activities:

• European Music Sector Mapping (5 -6 countries initial model)
  • to support Policy Making at EU Commission and EU Parliament level,
• Cultural entrepreneurship, Vocational Educational Training needs for young professionals
• Innovation and cross disciplinary needs for sustainable Glocal development
• Intercultural dialogue & Social and professional inclusion

It is noteworthy that the timetable of the aforementioned projects and their implementation are linked to each other over time, and that we already discussed about the European perspective of such collaboration through events with strong visibility, such as, among others the 20 years anniversary edition of the Hellenic Network of the European Music Day in June 2019 or the Eleusis 2021 events which will take place in Eleusis, European Capital of Culture in 2021.

MEETINGS & PROJECTS OVERVIEW

21^st of JUNE

Live Music Event: Official Opening Ceremony of European Music Day 2018
Location: Chios Mastic Museum of the Cultural Foundation of Piraeus Group
Official Opening Ceremony of European Music Day 2018 see event details here
The second edition of this prestigious event was held in the wonderful Mastic Museum of the Cultural Foundation of Piraeus Group in Chios. The concert was broadcasted live from social media channels of the Greek National Organism of  Tourism of the Hellenic Ministry of Tourism, inaugurating with the nicest way, the official participation of the island in the Hellenic network of the European Music Day cities.

22^nd of JUNE

1. Discussion for the enhancement of Young creative professionals through CCI
   Location: Innovathens powered by Samsung
   Collaboration in a challenging World Agenda & Participants: see meeting details here
   Topics: Creative Industries, inclusion, vocational educational training, entrepreneurship and sustainability.
   Event organized as a round table was supported by the Ministry of Culture and Education, Ministry of Tourism, Attica Regional Government and Innovathens Hub of Innovation and Entrepreneurship of Technopolis of the city of Athens.
2. Round table and presentation of CCLEP (EU)- Partners from France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and UK
   Location: Eleusis
   CcLEP Meeting Agenda and Participants details here
   Topic: The live entertainment industry suffers from the lack of a systematic approach to the recognition of professionals and their training. The recognition of the figures is fragmented, and often the training courses are based on obsolete models. In this context and following the partnership of the CCLEP project (Certified Competences For Live Events Professionals). CCLEP objectives aims to facilitate the recognition and validation of qualifications, skills and competences of the professions of riggers, scaffolders and live music events producers.

23^rd of JUNE

1. ΣYMANSIS lab “Resilience and Official Development Assistance”
   Location: Children Support Centre of Eleusis
   ΣYMANSIS Meeting, Workshop & Participants see details here
   Topic: The aim of the laboratory aimed to bring together a collaborative interdisciplinary team from Humanities Arts and Culture Cluster and Society, Identity, Landscape, and Knowledge Cluster with 20 youngsters (from disadvantaged families and refugees or Migrants families) to support analysis of, and action in, resilience factors in the lives of young people and communities in the Official Development Assistance (ODA) Framework categories.
   
   
2. NIMPE MUSIC FACTORY Seminars and webinars
   Location: PAKPA Eleusis
   Nimpe Music Factory Meeting, workshops and participants details here
   NIMPE MUSIC FACTORY (NMF) is part of the NIMPE Initiative, a project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. The national workshop addressed to the representatives of the 74 Greek Musicians & Music Professionals who applied at the European call (April 2018). They had the opportunity to meet renowned producers, artists, managers & promoters and discuss the needs of international collaborations, networking & promotion. At the end of the workshops, out of 306 European bands that have applied from Denmark, Greece, Italy, Slovenia and United Kingdom the 3 Greek bands selected (15 in total) for the NIMPE Music Factory during the Milano Music Week and the Linecheck Music & Conference festival,were also revealed.
3. Live Music event in the framework of the EMD 2018
   Location: European Music Day Eleusis
   A Live presentation of the ΣYMANSIS collaboration was planned during the European Music Day Eleusis, but rainy weather conditions did not allow the concerts to take place, as most of them were programmed in open air venues.

24^th of JUNE

Preparatory Meeting on a common AGENDA 2019-2021
Location: Innovathens – Samsung Space
Agenda & Participants: see meeting details here
Topics: Discussion started from a good brain storming on ways to support the “collaboration further development” and the opportunity to create a common Matrix of activities between foreign and Greek partners – with the horizon 2021.