The path from the music studies to the career is an interesting and amazing journey but, so often, it's also very tough. We know that every journey needs a map and we want to propose a new map that has a fundamental step: the self-leadership for a new employability. With NEWS in MAP project we are implementing the music academic curricula. The context for this project lies in the discrepancy between the skill sets required by the greater music career and the traditional education available at music departments of European Conservatories and Music departments of European Universities. The traditional education of these Institutions does not offer basic skill sets such as psychology, leadership, motivational strategies to increase performing, team building, business establishment, marketing, tournée/event design which are amongst the most important facets of new music careers. It is precisely these elements that are most often pre-requisite to the enhancement of employability in the greater music career. The objectives of the NEWS in MAP project are therefore directly derived from this present circumstance and are the following: 1) To impart to students of set fields the basic skill sets mentioned above, 2) The transformation of this knowledge into real world applications, 3) The consciousness of women students potential in the music careers, 3) The employment of students in small apprenticeships within the frame work of the project, 4) The placement of students in real work situation through post project termination placement in existing music event (festivals, museums, small business, summer schools) internships, 5) The development of practical abilities to allow the students to become, through self -leadership, self employed and to travel the path of entrepreneurship. Our methodology consists of the creation and implementation of a 14 week course and curricula that addresses all the above mentioned skill sets. Besides this, the theoretical portion of the course, the small apprenticeships in various subjects will supplement as the applied portion of the course. The synthesis of these two facets, the theoretical and the applied, will result in the real world experience of the internship. The expected results and impact of NEWS in MAP are multiple. We envision the following: 1) A higher rate of employment of musicians in the work force, 2) A higher rate of self employment in the fields of music, 3) The development of women's participation at the top of the music careers, 4) The creation of a novel course and curricula, 5) An increase of desirability for the Conservatories and Universities that adopt this project course, 6) The expansion and development of teachers careers, 7) The collection and publication of project course materials and its free dissemination, 8) The involvement of industry as an influence on and benefactor of this project, 9) The involvement of a media complex ( internet, newspapers, magazines, visual and audio) in the implementation and dissemination of the project. The aforementioned expectations, in addition to representing realistic objectives, also act as long-term benefits.
To connect leadership with Self and entrepreneurship, we have improved and renewed the academic programs of higher musical education that do not address transversal skills such as: leadership, motivational strategies, team building, marketing, which are among the most important areas for new musical careers. NEWS in MAP, in pursuing the 7 intellectual outputs, has allowed students to become self-employed along the path of entrepreneurship, helping to overcome the gender gap in the artistic-musical sector, starting from the awareness of the potential of female students in musical careers. The objective of NEWS in MAP as a gender-sensitive project, in the analysis has emphasized three criteria: availability of statistical data disaggregated by gender; analysis of the barriers to employment of musicians; implementation of specific strategies for the careers of musicians, including "gender mainstreaming" strategies. With NEWS in MAP, we wanted to achieve the improvement of the metacognitive faculties of all the participants (students / trainers) who, in this way, were able to carry out the results of this project in all other aspects of their knowledge.
During the NEWS in MAP course, we constantly kept in mind why we applied and the answer became more and more visible and concrete: the project was born from the awareness of the discrepancy between the skills required for musical careers and the education of the institutions of higher education with the commitment to fill this discrepancy: to draw a map in the journey between studies and musical careers, improving employment with the development of self-leadership. The partnership required cultural sensitivity and deep awareness of what makes us different and the same by focusing on collaborative cohesion to share meeting content and timing. The project manager made sure everyone was there, avoiding that important deadlines became secondary in respect of the national holidays of the five countries of the team: Italy, Ireland, Cyprus, Turkey, Belgium and the internal calendars of each partner institution and, since the project took place during the pandemic, it adopted fruitful communication with web meetings that allowed synchronous communication and by sending e-mails to share agendas and detailed documents asynchronously.