MCICM and SPARC hosted workshop ‘Collaborative Ecologies for Classical Music’

The afternoon workshop took place at the attic of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and focused on ‘good collaborations’ in classical music. Prof. dr. Peter Peters started the workshop by interviewing Dr. Stephanie Pitts from Sheffield University. Dr. Pitts spoke about her trajectory with audience research and introduced the project ‘Networked Innovation in Classical Music’ which was sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the UK. The aim of the network is to bring together classical music researchers, practitioners and audiences in seven cities across the UK, the Netherlands and Austria. 

Dr. Sarah Price from the University of Liverpool shared her experiences with collaborative audience research in the UK over a span of 11 years. Dr. Price stressed the importance of understanding the differences in research approach between the classical music sector and academics as well as stressing the importance of rapport with the people you will work with. 

Dr. Karolien Dons from the Hanze University of Applied Sciences shared her experience in collaborations with musicians in healthcare. In her research, Dr. Dons observed what ‘good’ interprofessional collaboration can bring and her reflection on when these collaboration work and when they don’t work. 

Dr. Floris Meens from Radboud Universiteit presented his reflections on ‘good’ collaboration as researcher and member of the management of the Nijmegen Foundation for Chamber Music (NSvK). He described a few collaborative projects the NSvK has been involved with together with other organizations in Nijmegen such as conservatories, universities, young talented musicians, radio and friends and sponsors.

The workshop closed with a presentation that was ‘closer to home.’ Dr. Veerle Spronck, researcher at MCICM and associate lector the Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU), shared her experiences as researcher during the project ‘Philstories: Music from Mariaberg.’ For this concert, the orchestra Philzuid wanted to introduce themselves to their new neighbors and involve them in a collaborative concert. MCICM and Philzuid joined forces with the Mariaberg Neighbourhood Network. The workshop concluded with informal discussions among the participants. 

We would like to thank all the speakers and participants for taking time to join us for this workshop.