The strategic partnership under the title "Making music across borders - strengthening cooperation!" was created on the basis of existing contacts and partnerships. The experiences from the Corona year 2020 have shown the partner organizations involved the need to adapt to the circumstances by expanding the network on the one hand and to increase the quality and introduce new innovative approaches on the other hand, and motivated them to participate in this strategic partnership. The discontinuation of cultural projects and events has in many cases put existing collaborations in the cultural sector at risk. Getting to know and experiencing common cultural values, initialising civic engagement and enabling participatory co-creation across national borders is the central guiding principle of the cooperation between the partner organizations involved. The main objective of the application is therefore the maintenance and further development of existing network structures between organizations from the artistic and creative field on the one hand and the youth sector on the other. The maintenance and further development of the cooperation should also lead to new, cross-border youth activities in the cultural sector. Furthermore, new concepts and activities are to be developed and implemented, which are to underline the importance of cross-border youth work with a thematic focus on the cultural sector. Five partner organizations (music schools) from the cultural sector and three partner organizations from the social, voluntary youth sector took part in the project. The representatives of the partner organizations and participants in the planned activities have a connection and an interest in cross-border youth projects in the musical field. On the basis of joint, cross-border project meetings and training activities, new music and orchestral collaborations between the partners are to be created and consolidated. The special form of cooperation requires a combination of more formal approaches to professional training and further education for young musicians and non-formal approaches to youth work, which will be enriching for all participants. The jointly sought results (joint work, orchestral projects, concerts, sustainable development of cooperation structures) will have lasting effects and benefits for all participating participants and all partner organizations.
The jointly developed project goals are based on the chosen priorities. The core goal was to get to know each other better between the partner structures involved with a view to improved future cooperation with the following priorities: - Motivating young people to develop a stronger awareness of belonging to a common cultural area and at the same time promoting their voluntary commitment with the aim of assuming long-term responsibility in existing structures - Developing approaches in the field of digitization and media competence - Creating motivation for initiating, organizing and carrying out jointly planned interregional youth meetings - Developing new, cross-border projects, concepts and offers - Identifying and using possible synergy effects of the partner organizations in the digital space - Training and further education of volunteers with the aim of improving quality - Promoting quality, innovation and recognition of youth work to strengthen the creative potential of young people - Promoting an innovative, participatory and intercultural dialogue between organizations in the cultural sector
Experiences with various cross-border music projects were the reason for carrying out this project. Some of the partners involved in the project were already involved in EVEA's cross-border cultural cooperation projects. The inclusion of new partner organizations was intended to further develop the existing network and create additional cooperations. The positive experiences so far with cooperation in the cultural sector have prompted the organizations involved to secure, maintain, realign and further develop existing cooperations even in difficult times during and after the Corona pandemic. This strategic partnership is intended to strengthen the cross-border cooperation of the organizations involved in the north of the Greater Region and to raise young people's awareness of belonging to this socio-culturally and economically disadvantaged rural area. The target group of the project were young people who, with the support of organizations active in the youth sector, were to be motivated to actively participate in social and cultural life. The experiences can be transferred to other border regions and should show by way of example how young people can make an active contribution to cross-border European cooperation.