ICSS (International Creative Soundtrack Studies) is a strategic partnership aiming to develop a joint programme of music composition for audio-visual. The partnership consists of 4 institutions of higher education, each with its own expertise in teaching music composition for audiovisual and of 4 complementary professional partners whose main activity is focused on cinema and audio-visual arts with a particular interest in musical creation: CNSMDL, coordinator, and Institut Lumière in Lyon, School of Arts Hogent (KASK and conservatorium) and Film Fest in Ghent, Conservatorio GB Martini and Cineteca Italiana in Bologna, Music Faculty of the Montreal University and Films Denys Arcand in Quebec. Mostly before ICSS starts to develop the joint curriculum, it will make a study to expose the existing links between the musical and the audiovisual scenes on one hand and the education sector and professional structures in the field of music for audio-visual arts on the other hand. Besides the results shown in the report, this study will anyway be a success, by the simple, yet long-lasting effect of a strengthened cooperation between the educational institutes and the professional structures. ICSS is both powered by its intentions and objectives as by its innovative structure (the balance between educational institutions and professional structures; participation of School of Arts Hogent (KASK & Conservatorium), training musicians in their Conservatory and filmmakers in KASK; representation of the North American continent by Montréal University and Denys Arcand’s production company for their expertise and their specific network). The forthcoming programme will have indeed the quite unique peculiarity in the concerned area to concentrate its training on the cooperation between composers and directors. Thanks to the partnership, involved students will be immersed in a high standard international network. ICSS will bring together education with the professional world, so helping to enhance the employment of its alumni. The expertise of the partnership and the quality of the forthcoming joint programme resides in its members: leading figures of the international cinema scene as Bertrand Tavernier, Denys Arcand, Marco Bellochio, Dirk Brossé, Thierry Frémaux, researchers, teaching staff, highly skilled in music composition education and open to a large scale of possible experiments and administrative staff with the experiment and the expertise in European programmes and joint curricula. ICSS will organise educational and artistic projects, supervised by professional experts, which will allow to confirm choices and decisions taken during the development of the joint programme and to implement it. These activites will maintain and stregthen constantly the relations between the partners. The communication and dissemination schedule is very dense. The core will be a website with its diverse functions. Next to that, several events are planned during film festivals, known for their large audience and international dimension. In addition the various international networks, brought in by all partners, at both levels of education and film industry, will play a major role in this dissemination and communication plan. During the 3 years of the strategic partnership, ICSS will communicate on its curriculum in development with educational institutions (management teams, teaching staff, students) and with future potential employers. In this way, ICSS aims to recruit the best students of the world from the start of the joint program on and to share good practice which allows to improve existing curricula and to develop new ones. Calendar: Feb - Sept 2014 (preparation) = compilation of information, meeting of 5 of the involved partners in Ghent, application to the EU programme Academic year 2014-15 = study report on the relations between music and motion pictures, a round table and dissemination event n°1 in Film Fest Gent, creation of the website Academic year 2015-16 = publication of the study report, creative workshop n°1 in Bologna focused on the relationships directors/composers, student mobility, dissemination event n°2 during the Cineteca Bologna festival, development of the website Academic year 2016-17 = creative workshop n°2 in Lyon focused on the complete process of scoring and music production for motion pictures, student mobility, the dissemination event n°3 in FIFA Aubagne, development of the website, application for the joint programme ICSS to EU. Start of 2017 academic year = preparation of the European joint program and first phase of recruitment Start of 2018 academic year = first group of students
ICSS (International Creative Soundtrack Studies) is a strategic partnership with the aim to develop an international programme in music composition for the audio-visual named InMICS (International Master in Composition for Screen). The partnership is composed of 4 higher artistic education institutions with a great expertise in teaching music composition for the audio-visual and of 4 professional partners active in the fields of cinema and audio-visual arts and showing a particular interest in musical creation: Lyon CNSMD, coordinator, and Aubagne International Film Festival (France), KASK & Conservatorium/School of Arts Gent and Film Fest Gent (Belgium), Conservatorio di Musica G.B. Martini and Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna (Italy), Faculty of Music/University of Montreal and Permission Inc specialised in copyright clearance. (Canada). In addition to the development of the curriculum, a study was written and published. It consisted of a mapping process to provide an overview of curricula dedicated to composition for screen offered in Europe and North America. The analysis was based on identifying the existing of those curricula with the institutions specialised in audiovisual studies. Another objective was to determine current characteristics of the professional sector in terms of artistic, technological and economical aspects linked to music creation for screen. This study relied on the feedback of various representatives of the sector: teachers and students in composition for screen, sound design and audiovisual studies, and professionals involved in the large range of the audiovisual production area. Partners developed questionnaires and did a series of interviews.This study has been very useful to the partnership as it gave precise keys of understanding on the challenges and needs of the professional area in order to build a curriculum which corresponds to the sector specificities. The innovative aspect of ICSS is both powered by objectives and its structure relying on a right balance between the involvement of academic institutions and professional structures, profiting from the participation of KASK & Conservatorium/School of Arts Gent, educating both musicians and filmmakers and the association of 2 North American partners bringing their enriching expertise and their specific network to the project. The InMICS curriculum, ready to be integrated to an international academic offer, is unique in its field since it concentrates its training on the pooling of expertise and specific teaching methods of the 4 educational partners, on the cooperation between composers and audiovisual artists and on the immersion of students within an international network of professionals. InMICS brings together the academic and the professional world in order to enhance the employment opportunities of its graduate students. The singularity and innovative peculiarity of this educational offer lies in the very specific structure of the curriculum awarded by a double diploma. According to his/her profile and background and his/her professional project, each student will be take part in an individualised two-year programme, taking advantage of a double specialisation in two different institutions but also of courses delivered simultaneously to the entire group of students by the 4 institutions through e-learning courses or visio-conference. The quality of the international programme InMICS relies on the expertise of the partnership members and on the leading international figures of field that have been associated to the project. The diversity the stakeholders, their expertise, their background, their activity and their skills enlarged the perspectives in terms of geographical coverage, aesthetics and working habits. During the 3 years of this cooperation, the partnership conceived pedagogical and artistic pilot activities, supervised by professional experts, in order to experiment pedagogical contents and methods and to precisely and knowingly confirm choices and decisions taken during the development of the InMICS programme. The communication and dissemination activities have been key aspects of the process. The partnership has promoted the work done and hopes that it will launch new initiatives via the use of dedicated tools: website, Facebook page, newsletters, flyers, banners and videos. On top of that, partner festivals, known for their large audience and international dimension, participated in the large outreach of the dissemination events: a large panel of students, teachers and professionals, in order to recruit the best possible candidates at an international level and to exchange good practices. One coupled and sustainable effect of the activities and results of the project is to strengthen the cooperation between the academic and the professional fields, the promotion of this specific sector of the artistic creation, still under-represented in the academic area, and the incentive to create new pedagogical offers.