Popakademie professor closes European project

"Together with eight other European conservatoires and the AEC [Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et Musikhochschulen], we as the Popakademie have fundamentally shaped the discussion on power relations at conservatoires in Europe and have drawn up recommendations for the members of the European Association of Conservatoires (AEC). These were adopted by a very large majority at the AEC annual meeting - which of course makes me very happy!" says Prof. Dr. David-Emil Wickström.

The project was funded by Erasmus+ and ran from 2020 to 2023. As the main body, a 50-member PRIhME Stakeholder Assembly dealt with various topics relating to power relations at conservatoires in four meetings. As a grassroots democratic body, the Stakeholder Assembly consisted of students, teachers and administrative staff from nine European higher education institutions. The project was hosted by the Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et Musikhochschulen (AEC). The AEC is the European network of conservatoires. PRIhME posed the question of unequal power relations in higher music education and how these can affect our culture and learning and working environment. The aim was and is to develop a safe and sustainable space in which creative and socially engaged artists can be trained through recommendations for action.

PRIhME therefore addressed the following topics in four meetings: Power relations in music education, sexual orientation and gender, socio-economic background and disability, and artistic standards.
The PRIhME Stakeholder Assembly made the following recommendations to the AEC General Assembly: Addressing power relations strengthens higher music education institutions, tools should be developed to address such power relations. The existing structures and spaces at higher education institutions are inadequate and should be improved.
The recommendations can be found in detail here: https://aec-music.eu/project/translations/

Prof. Dr. David-Emil Wickström studied musicology, ethnomusicology and Scandinavian studies at the Humboldt University of Berlin and the University of Bergen (Norway). Following field research in St. Petersburg, he was employed at the University of Copenhagen. He completed his doctorate at the University of Copenhagen in 2009 with a thesis on popular music in St. Petersburg and the German-Austrian Russian disco scene. His current research interests include questions of music and conflict using the example of the current Russia-Ukraine war and power relations at music academies.

More information about PRIhME: https://aec-music.eu/project/prihme-2020-2023-erasmus-strategic-partnership/