Our Advocacy Work
For a lot of its advocacy work, the European Choral Association joins forces with other music and culture organisations and networks in Europe. Joining forces makes us stronger, it is more likely that we will be heard if we work together.
As their members, the European Choral Association especially joins forces with Culture Action Europe and the European Music Council when it comes to general advocacy work for music and culture, as well as advocacy work at European Union level. For specific advocacy initiatives and calls, such as advocacy work related to Music Moves Europe, it also cooperates with numerous other European networks and organisations. As member organisation of the International Music Council, the European Choral Association advocates for the IMC five Music Rights, as well as for Collective Singing as Intangible Cultural Heritage.
In addition it closely cooperates with EAS (the association of music teachers in schools) and AEC (the European association of conservatoires) when it comes to advocacy work in the field of music education, with AMATEO when it comes to Amateur Arts, and with TENSO when it comes to the cooperation of the amateur world with the world of professional choirs.
Advocacy Statements of the European Choral Association
Singing Improves Peoples Lives
(advocacy statement on the benefits of singing)
Singing is an important part of culture and the economic ecosystem
(advocacy statement from 2020 about the impact of Covid-19)
In addition, the European Choral Association published an Advocacy Guide as part of the #BenefitsOfSinging campaign
Advocacy Statements by others, supported by the European Choral Association
Culture 2030 Goal Campaign
(advocacy statement for the addition of a culture goal to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, supported by the International Music Council and Culture Action Europe)
Position paper on the new European Bauhaus
(advocacy paper of Culture Action Europe)
Include Culture in National Recovery Strategies
(advocacy statement to ensure that culture is explicitly included in the National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs) will help secure both the future of the sector and its important contribution to Europe’s future)
Voices of Culture Brainstorming reports
We also support and disseminate the Voices of Culture brainstorming reports which contain advocacy statements, proposals, ideas and demands about different topics.
We actively contributed to:
- Youth, Mental Health and Culture
- Audience Development via digital tools
- Social Inclusion – partnering with other sectors
Further brainstorming reports can be found —> here
ARTICLES
Collective Singing in Europe – an article by Sonja Greiner & Helmut Schaumberger
In this article Sonja Greiner and Helmut Schaumberger describe the status quo in the field of collective singing in Europe, with a focus on singing in schools. They discuss different guiding questions about the what collective singing in Europe is and what it can do, present their two organisations with their main projects, and at the end, advocate for more research, a stronger cooperation between music educatiors and leaders in the choral world, as well as between different genres and styles, among others.
FULL ENGLISH ABSTRACT
In this article, Helmut Schaumberger (European Association for Music in Schools) and Sonja Greiner (European Choral Association) describe the status quo in the field of “collective singing” in Europe. To this end, they define the central terms singing, Europe, and choir and argue for the use of the inclusive term collective singing as an umbrella term for group singing activities in school and non-school contexts. They then discuss guiding questions such as, “Are there cross-national commonalities in the field of singing together in Europe?”, “How diverse is Europe?”, “Why is collective singing important?”, “Is singing together a panacea?”, “What can digital media and new teaching/learning approaches contribute to singing together?”, and “What does collective singing look like in schools?” By introducing the two organizations they represent and their major activities, and by listing other projects in choral practice and research, the authors refine their view of the status quo. The article concludes with suggestions for concrete actions to further develop collective singing in Europe: generating more research data, stimulating further transnational research, especially on singing in schools, promoting more collaboration between music educators and leaders in the choral world, encouraging more collaboration between different styles and genres, and calling for more accountability in the world of collective singing for issues that are important to today‘s society.
AUTHORS
Sonja Greiner – Secretary General of the European Choral Association based in Bonn, Member of the Board of the World Youth Choir Foundation and Governance Advisor of the International Federation for Choral Music IFCM
Prof. Dr. Helmut Schaumberger – University Professor for Music Education at the Gustav Mahler Private University of Music in Klagenfurt, National Coordinator of Austria within the of the European Association for Music in Schools (EAS) and Head of the Special Focus Group Singing in Music Education (SiME).