The Europe Jazz Network (EJN) recently concluded the first year of activities implemented under the 3-year funding of the Creative Europe programme of the European Union 2014-2017. The Report just submitted to the European Union covered the period from September 2014 to August 2015.
So far the project has successfully reached its predefined objectives and has been following its natural course on the basis of the original global 3-year plan. EJN’s underlying objective in all implemented activities is to encourage the cooperation and peer-to-peer learning among producers and presenters of creative jazz and improvised musics as well as to develop best practices in the field and provide professionals with tools to improve the way they work. Here below a summary of the activities implemented during this first year.
The European Jazz Conference held in Helsinki on 18-21 September 2014, for the first time open also to non-EJN members, was the occasion to present to EJN members and other participants the work to be done through workshops on future projects. It also hosted working group meetings aiming at exchange ideas and best practices on the topics of tour programming, digital working tools, festivals’ success and education and audience development. Leading international organisers, producers and managers were also invited to discuss a platform for professionals to be able to operate trans-nationally by sharing new business management models. In the Conference in Helsinki, as well as in Santiago de Compostela during WOMEX14, a special attention was also dedicated to learning about existing models and encouraging new collaborations with operators Beyond Europe, on these occasions with a special focus on the blooming jazz and improvised music sector of Asia.
EJN’s profile was further raised as a consequence of the awarding of the EJN Award for Adventurous Programming to Moers Festival, Germany, in May 2015 as the media coverage spanned beyond the circle of jazz specialised press. The Award is given each year by a jury composed of EJN members, journalists and other music professionals to the most distinctive Festival/Club/Venue.
The activity Europe Jazz Balance, on the theme of diversity and inclusion in the music scene, especially focused on gender and other forms of discrimination in the music sector, ended with the creation of an online toolkit and resource to use for events organisers in order to improve their way of working on these themes: www.europejazzbalance.net. In the same way Jazz for Young People, on programming events for young audiences, will also result, at the end of the 2-years activity, in the creation of web-based guide with tips on creating events targeting the young as well as a portal for musicians and producers to exchange information on their events for young people.
Another project completed during the first year was Yolda/En route, a musical celebration of the 50th year anniversary of Turkish migration to Belgium. The impact of this project acquires now even more significance in view of the current debate around migration into the EU as it sheds the lights onto an eventually mutually enriching experience for all involved. In addition to representing a poignant example of best practice of cultural work and research on the issue of migration, Yolda has also set the standards on which to base future artistic collaborations between different nationalities and the communication strategy for a project of this kind. It originated from a series of fruitful peer-to-peer exchanges resulting in a structured musical project, a lively travel blog and project website: http://projectyolda.be as well as a project brochure and a remarkable artistic documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjzlfxoFG6o.
Research has continued into the economic impact of jazz and improvised music in Europe with the project Strength in Numbers 2 to update the findings of the original research work of 2011/12 with a wider participation from EJN’s members and the identification of best practices in the EJN membership and beyond. Similarly, research into the Shared Roots of European Jazz, which will result in the first comprehensive study and publication on the history of jazz in Europe, has achieved the definition of the book structure, the collaboration of national contributors and secured a publisher for the book.
The development of online digital tools, namely the Calendar Wrapper, Integrated Geo-Mapping and Tour Management Tool/Artist Itinerary is progressing and these have already been integrated into EJN’s website: www.europejazz.net. They are currently being tested and will be introduced first to EJN’s members before being publicly available in the EJN website. The managing of a virtual office to prepare, coordinate and monitor EJN’s activities has been further enhanced by improving the way of working through the use of video-conferencing, online tools for project management and a filing system on the cloud.
Audience development work in the activity Jazz Across Europe has started with an investigation into the possibilities of a collaboration between the music sector and cultural tourism with a fruitful exchange of ideas and proposals among members which will now be further developed in the next 2 years of the plan with the involvement of tour operators.
The analysis and testing of environmental sustainability practices for music sector professionals was carried out with the activity Take the Green Train in a specific seminar at Sage Gateshead, U.K in April 2015, which sowed the seeds for the ground-breaking Green Manifesto for the jazz community, subsequently formally adopted by EJN members during the second year of the Creative Europe funding.
So far the project has successfully reached its predefined objectives and has been following its natural course on the basis of the original global 3-year plan. EJN’s underlying objective in all implemented activities is to encourage the cooperation and peer-to-peer learning among producers and presenters of creative jazz and improvised musics as well as to develop best practices in the field and provide professionals with tools to improve the way they work. Here below a summary of the activities implemented during this first year.
The European Jazz Conference held in Helsinki on 18-21 September 2014, for the first time open also to non-EJN members, was the occasion to present to EJN members and other participants the work to be done through workshops on future projects. It also hosted working group meetings aiming at exchange ideas and best practices on the topics of tour programming, digital working tools, festivals’ success and education and audience development. Leading international organisers, producers and managers were also invited to discuss a platform for professionals to be able to operate trans-nationally by sharing new business management models. In the Conference in Helsinki, as well as in Santiago de Compostela during WOMEX14, a special attention was also dedicated to learning about existing models and encouraging new collaborations with operators Beyond Europe, on these occasions with a special focus on the blooming jazz and improvised music sector of Asia.
EJN’s profile was further raised as a consequence of the awarding of the EJN Award for Adventurous Programming to Moers Festival, Germany, in May 2015 as the media coverage spanned beyond the circle of jazz specialised press. The Award is given each year by a jury composed of EJN members, journalists and other music professionals to the most distinctive Festival/Club/Venue.
The activity Europe Jazz Balance, on the theme of diversity and inclusion in the music scene, especially focused on gender and other forms of discrimination in the music sector, ended with the creation of an online toolkit and resource to use for events organisers in order to improve their way of working on these themes: www.europejazzbalance.net. In the same way Jazz for Young People, on programming events for young audiences, will also result, at the end of the 2-years activity, in the creation of web-based guide with tips on creating events targeting the young as well as a portal for musicians and producers to exchange information on their events for young people.
Another project completed during the first year was Yolda/En route, a musical celebration of the 50th year anniversary of Turkish migration to Belgium. The impact of this project acquires now even more significance in view of the current debate around migration into the EU as it sheds the lights onto an eventually mutually enriching experience for all involved. In addition to representing a poignant example of best practice of cultural work and research on the issue of migration, Yolda has also set the standards on which to base future artistic collaborations between different nationalities and the communication strategy for a project of this kind. It originated from a series of fruitful peer-to-peer exchanges resulting in a structured musical project, a lively travel blog and project website: http://projectyolda.be as well as a project brochure and a remarkable artistic documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjzlfxoFG6o.
Research has continued into the economic impact of jazz and improvised music in Europe with the project Strength in Numbers 2 to update the findings of the original research work of 2011/12 with a wider participation from EJN’s members and the identification of best practices in the EJN membership and beyond. Similarly, research into the Shared Roots of European Jazz, which will result in the first comprehensive study and publication on the history of jazz in Europe, has achieved the definition of the book structure, the collaboration of national contributors and secured a publisher for the book.
The development of online digital tools, namely the Calendar Wrapper, Integrated Geo-Mapping and Tour Management Tool/Artist Itinerary is progressing and these have already been integrated into EJN’s website: www.europejazz.net. They are currently being tested and will be introduced first to EJN’s members before being publicly available in the EJN website. The managing of a virtual office to prepare, coordinate and monitor EJN’s activities has been further enhanced by improving the way of working through the use of video-conferencing, online tools for project management and a filing system on the cloud.
Audience development work in the activity Jazz Across Europe has started with an investigation into the possibilities of a collaboration between the music sector and cultural tourism with a fruitful exchange of ideas and proposals among members which will now be further developed in the next 2 years of the plan with the involvement of tour operators.
The analysis and testing of environmental sustainability practices for music sector professionals was carried out with the activity Take the Green Train in a specific seminar at Sage Gateshead, U.K in April 2015, which sowed the seeds for the ground-breaking Green Manifesto for the jazz community, subsequently formally adopted by EJN members during the second year of the Creative Europe funding.
