Employment is not only the key to get the necessary resources to live, but a basic mechanism for the socialization of young people and also for inclusion in the case of young people with learning difficulties (early school dropout) or even those with special needs.However, achieving this first job to gain experience, build networks of friendship and start the process to create your own family is not easy. European youth today is facing a great difficulty finding their first job, force them into an uncertain labor future. The dire situation of youth unemployment (22.8% on average in Europe) and its wide disparity among member countries (there is a difference of over 50 percentage points between Germany with 7.8% and Greece with 56.8 %) has led the European Commission to approve the April 22, 2013 Youth Guarantee Plan.Some working lines has been created to overcome this situation, but we believe that music is a little-used way. In Valencia there are 529 musical societies (which occupies 97% of the municipalities) with over 138,753 members and 39,015 federated musicians. This structure creates wealth. Its production amounted to 60,236,360 euros in 2013, creating a total of more than 2,500 full-time jobs according to the Federation of Music Societies of Spain.That is the reason why five musical societies of different EU countries, with experience in the youth and disabilities field, propouse to create a project to promote the inclusion of young people with disabilities. We believe we should go one step further and help to promote youth employability, especially those obstacles, using the results of the various youth mobility made in the past.The project “MUSIC IS THE KEY: IMPROVING YOUTH EMPLOYABILITY” will create a strategic network among five music societies in Europe (El Centro Instructivo Musical de Benimaclet - Spain, Banda Musicale Città di Staffolo - Italy, Sociedade Musical e Recreativa Obidense - Portugal, Knabenmusik Meersburg- Germany and APSAM -Belgium) and numerous collaborting organizations (many of them working in the field of disability) in order to generate high-quality materials for the promotion of youth employability through music., especially of young people with greater difficulty in access to the labor market through a participatory methodology of self-learning and non-formal education.This partnership will work for 18 months through three transnational meetings (Portugal, Spain and Italy). We will exchange experiences and get relevant results. On these meetings will coordinate the work of the music societies, young European musicians (members and non-members) and collaborating associations in the field of disability that will culminate with a large media event in Valencia.These intellectuals results will consist of:- MUSICJOB: A very innovative mobile application that can generate annual itineraries for hiring young musicians in Europe, with adapted materials, audiovisual and guides to show these young people with barriers to qualify to apply for these temporary jobs with the help the "Music inclusion specialist" formed in the "Youth leaders by integration Through Music" project KA1 Erasmus Plus program online. The application will create an accessible user-friendly environment to exchange experiences and to found the calendar of places, festivals of the participating countries and entities that have been offered employment in the past for the young musician, especially one who has mild disabilities appear, knows that those bids They cater to their special needs.- GUIDE FOR YOUNG MUSICIANS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS: THE MUSIC IS THE KEY FOR YOUR FIRST JOB. This guide will collect a series of tips on how to get your first job working with the local band. It will include tips on legal aspects of procurement modes and musical learning. This guide will also feature a series of proposals to promote the temporary employment of young people with learning difficulties and promote their inclusion in formal schooling or specific entities.We believe the impact of this project can be very high for the young people with obstacles, their families, for musical organizations, but also for the European society assuming of the difficulties of their young people, especially those who have greater obstacles.In the long term this network will be increased, gaining an increasing territorial implementation and better results thanks to the support of the collaborating institutions.
Employment is not only a paramount factor in acquiring the necessary resources to live, but also a basic mechanism for the socialization of young people and their inclusion in cases of young people with learning difficulties (early school leaving), or even those with special needs. However, getting a first job to gain experience, generate friendship networks, and start the process to create your own family is not easy. European youth currently faces great difficulties when finding a first job, the alarming situation of unemployment among young people (averaging 22.8% in Europe) and its wide disparity between member countries (there’s a huge gap between counties like Germany -7.8%- and Greece -56.8%-) led the European Commission to approve a Youth Guarantee Plan on April 22nd 2013. Among all work lines that are being undertaken to overcome this situation, we believe that music is a path scarcely used. There are 529 companies in the Valencian Community (occupying 97% of the municipalities) with more than 138.753 members and 39.015 federated musicians. This structure generates wealth since its production amounted to 60.236.360€ in 2013 and created more than 2.500 full-time jobs according to data from the Federation of Musical Societies of Spain. This is why we, five musical entities from different European countries with experience in creating projects that promote the inclusion of young people with disabilities, believe that we should go a step further and help promote youth employability, especially among people with obstacles, using the results of the different youth mobility projects carried out in the past. The project "THE MUSIC IS THE KEY: IMPROVING YOUTH EMPLOYABILITY" has created a strategic network between five musical entities across Europe (The Musical Instruction Center of Benimaclet - Spain, Banda Musicale Città di Staffolo - Italy, Sociedade Musical e Recreativa Obidense - Portugal , Hochschule Bremen – IntoNation- Germany, and APSAM -Belgium) and several collaborating entities (many of them working in the field of disabilities), to develop high-quality adapted materials aimed at enhancing youth employability through music, especially of young people with greater difficulty when accessing the labor market. All of this will be done through a participative, self-learning, and non-formal metodology. This partnership has worked for 18 months through three transnational meetings held in Valencia (Spain) on October 27th to 29th 2016; Staffolo (Italy) on April 13th to 17th 2017; Óbidos (Portugal) on August 24th to 28th August 2017. An exchange of experiences was carried out in these meetings, and its results have been developed; these have served to coordinate the work of the musical societies and young European musicians (both associated and non-associated), and of the collaborating entities in the field of disabilities. Each meeting was coupled with a concert that served as a diffusion event for the project, and the last one also as a multiplier event to display the results. The material results of this project have been: - MUSICJOB: A very innovative mobile application that generates annual itineraries aimed towards hiring young European musicians, along with adapted materials, audiovisuals, and guides that show these young people with obstacles how to be trained to opt for these temporary jobs with the help of the "Music inclusion specialist" (created in the project "Youth leaders by integration through music" of the Erasmus Plus Program KA1 line). The application creates a user-friendly and accessible environment to exchange experiences and to check the schedule of places and festivities of the participating countries and entities that have offered employment on previous occasions, so that young musicians, especially those with slight disabilities, know these offers adapted to their special needs. - GUIDE "The music is the key: improving youth employability". This guide compiles a series of tips on how to get a first job collaborating with a local band. It includes useful tips on legal aspects related to contracting methods and musical learning. This guide also includes a series of proposals to promote temporary employment among young people with learning difficulties and encourages their inclusion in formal school education or in specific entities. The impact of this project has been high, thanks to the three concerts performed in the three participating countries and the high quality results created. This is why the desired impact level has been achieved both for the young people with obstacles and their families, for the musical entities, and the European society itself, that is becoming aware of the difficulties of its youth, especially of those who have to overcome the greatest barriers.