MUSA - European young MUsicians soft Skills Alliance is a strategic partnership to support innovation in the vocational training sector, which has its overall objective in the development of key competences, with a specific focus in entrepreneurship for young musicians, in order to support their professional path and career. The project partnership is composed by: Le Dimore del Quartetto as Leading Organisation, IED – Istituto Europeo di Design and ASK - Centre for Research on Management and Economics of Arts and Culture Institutions of University Bocconi in Milan (Italy), ProQuartet - Centre européen de musique de chambre from Paris and La Ferme de Villefavard en Limousin di Villefavard (France), by Experimenta from Lisbon (Portugal). The project also includes the following associated partners, organizations that have expressed their interest and support for the initiative: ADSI, Europa Nostra, European Historic Houses, Historic Houses, FAI, Accademia Chigiana, Fondazione Cini, Centro di Musicologia Walter Stauffer, Fondazione Monzino, Si-Yo Music Society Foundation, Borletti-Buitoni Trust, Fondazione Cariplo. The project concerns a particular context, only apparently niche. In fact, it is aimed at young professional string quartets composed by musicians between 20 and 35 years old, who work together and focus on the classical chamber music repertoire. The project is aimed at providing them with a series of knowledge, skills and competences of entrepreneurship, which, although fundamental for their professional career, are almost completely absent in their general curriculum. These young people are in fact excellent musicians, but they lack of those elements - from image strategy to the relationship with market and distribution, from copyright law to communication - that are necessary for their career development. This analysis of training needs stems from the experience of Le Dimore del Quartetto, an Italian organization that supports young string quartets in the start of their careers and enhances the heritage of historic houses in a system of circular economy. Since 2015, the year of its foundation, Le Dimore del Quartetto has developed a network that to date counts 258 historic houses in 16 countries, 78 quartets and emerging trios (average age of musicians, 28 years), 15 residencies per month (559 days of residence in 2019), about 200 concerts per year, over 24,000 spectators. This rich and profound experience has made Le Dimore del Quartetto increasingly aware of the lack or scarce presence of specific entrepreneurial competences amongst young musicians. On the basis of these considerations, the MUSA project aims to develop new knowledge, skills and competences in young musicians, offering them lessons, methods and tools in three fundamental areas: communication and definition of their image strategy; marketing, with particular reference to the registration and distribution phases on the market, National and European legislation on copyright, administrative and financial aspects; contamination between music and other cultural fields, such as art, architecture, design, to enhance their profile and career opportunities. These specific objectives will be achieved through the following activities: – A Short Term Joint Staff Training Event for trainers, teachers, experts from partner organizations in order to define a methodological framework in terms of designing common guidelines for training pathways, learning outcomes and evaluation (C1); – The systematization of the above mentioned methodological framework in Guidelines transferable at European level (IO1); – The above mentioned pilot experimentation through: a) a panel of innovative high-level training pathways in the music sector in Italy, Portugal, France (IO2, IO3, IO4); b) a panel of transnational training activities, which will take place in strict relation with the pathways as non-formal learning in the form of artistic residence (C2, C3, C4); – The final evaluation of the experimentation implemented above through a Manual for High-Level Training Programs in Cultural Entrepreneurship for Young Musicians (IO5) and a Research on the Educational and Social Value of Cultural Heritage as Economic and Employment Growth: the MUSA case study (IO6). The impact and transferability of the project is ensured by the success of the results achieved, which will enable young musicians to improve their professional prospects; they will provide the organizations involved in this sector a new training offer; they will strengthen the relationship between music and cultural heritage sectors with a perspective of enhancing European culture in terms of employment, economic and social development.
Through a vocational higher training programme, the MUSA project aimed at favoring the development of entrepreneurial knowledge, skills, and competencies that are fundamental for the competitiveness, modernisation, and internationalisation of young string quartets’ careers, as well as of institutions in which the musicians study. Thanks to the outputs realised the MUSA approach will be able to inspire academies, universities, and teachers, in offering training programmes about transversal topics that are complementary to traditional music education topics. In this way, it will be possible to guarantee a more solid development of professional paths that are consistent with the contemporary market requests and tastes and, as a consequence, to pursue an improvement of the musicians’ career prospects. Moreover, the vocational training programme is connected to the enhancement of cultural heritage in the involved countries: Italy, Portugal, France, and Belgium. Historic houses and other places of cultural interest hosted the project activities, becoming active players in the training path and highlighting the value that cultural heritage can have for social, educational, and economic development.
The identification of specific needs for European young musicians who choose to pursue a career in string quartet lays the foundation for the application of the project MUSA - European young MUsicians soft Skills Alliance to the Erasmus+ vocational training programme. Le Dimore del Quartetto is a social enterprise that since 2016 has sustained over 100 string quartets in the early phase of their career: its experience highlighted how the traditional music education offer focuses on technique and interpretation, without training the musicians adequately to undertake a professional path that is consistent to contemporary needs and to develop a distinctive and unique identity on the market. MUSA was born from the awareness that playing well is not enough: it is fundamental to develop entrepreneurial knowledge, skills, and competencies through innovative training paths, developed by organisations that are not necessarily used to work with musicians. The aim is to expand the horizons and enrich the knowledge of musicians, for an improvement of their career prospects.