This research project is an international cooperation between Sibelius Academy, University of Arts (Helsinki, Finland), Royal Holloway, University of London (London, UK), Guildhall School of Music & Drama (London, UK), University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Ghent (Ghent Belgium) and Fundación Universitaria Juan N Corpas, (Bogota, Colombia). Prof. dr. An De bisschop was the Chief Investigator for the Belgian part of the research, Dr. Anemone Van Zijl was the postdoctoral researcher on the project for Belgium.
The research thematizes the growing body of participatory music-making activities being offered to groups around the world defined by their social needs or deprivation, work which focuses on marginalised or excluded groups. As these participatory music-making activities generally employ professional musicians as facilitator-trainers, the outcomes therefore reflect what these practitioners do in their sessions, the skills, beliefs and motivations they bring to their work, and the conditions and constraints under which they operate.
Therefore, this big-scale international research focuses on this perspective of the involved musicians or music facilitators in these projects. This research provides an integrative cross-cultural analysis of the field as a whole from the perspective of the practitioners who deliver the work, undertaking a systematic in-depth analysis practitioner’s backgrounds, training, and beliefs and how these affect the way they carry out their work and assess and improve its effectiveness. The project consisted of different (internationally shared) research phases and different dissemination conferences.
