Siena Jazz planning and networks (AEC, IASY, etc.)
Siena Jazz has always encouraged socio-cultural initiatives that promote civic engagement and active citizenship on the part of its students and teachers. Particularly noteworthy among the cultural projects of great civic impact in which we are engaged is the music in prison initiative carried out in and around the city of Siena by a number of our teachers. On an international level, working together since 2018 with five other renowned cultural institutions (the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, the Van Amsterdam Conservatory, the Jazz department of the Conservatoire National de Paris, International Panama Jazz Festival, Fundación Danilo Pérez and the New York School), Siena Jazz has worked as a founding member of the GAIA project, the “Global Association for the Interconnective Arts”. GAIA represents an opportunity for young artists to refine their human and professional skills, combining the themes of cultural education and the promotion of jazz music in the world, the values of solidarity and respect for human dignity, becoming themselves ambassadors of collaboration among peoples.
Initiatives to promote active citizenship are emphasized. In the context of the Erasmus+ Programme, this priority is expressed in activities including the following:
- Prior to Mobility. Promote participatory processes within the institute by experimenting with models and practices of democracy among citizens, through the involvement of the students in constructing the project initiatives for example, and through the participation of their representatives in decision-making bodies (academic council). Before the start of individual Mobility, students are invited to deepen their understanding of the socio-cultural characteristics of the country that will host them, and gather information, suggestions and advice on the host country through an interview with the staff of the Erasmus Office.
- During Mobility. Students are invited to make contact with local ESN groups, to participate as much as possible in the academic life of the host institution and to take an active part in the social and relational life of the receiving country.
- After Mobility: beneficiaries are invited to share and recount their experience to colleagues during the appointments dedicated to the promotion of the Erasmus+ programme within the institution (Erasmus+ Info Day), when the public is made up of other students and teachers, and on the occasion of artistic events open to the public free of charge (in the presence of spectators, local citizens, colleagues and young university and non-university students, musicians and enthusiasts).
Siena Jazz always focuses on promoting positive paradigms within its educational programmes, retelling and witnessing to the experiences of women and men who have put their energies at the disposal of a project geared toward change—individuals who have led the public and cultural debate, set up services to support those with fewer means, people who have expressed their commitment and acted within and on behalf of their community. Most of the teaching and performance techniques are dedicated to broadening the horizons of young musicians, enhancing their creativity and individual expressive capabilities, to fostering, through the development of young people’s original artistic ideas and projects, a new way of understanding public action, with a daily rediscovery of the common good. Furthermore, Siena Jazz promotes, as a model, the prudent and sustainable management of services, the commitment to neighborhood life through the advancement of its members in the socio-cultural initiatives of the territory, the responsibility of working to the best of one’s abilities, looking around and building moments of sociability, help, solidarity. The approaches implemented to date all point toward growth and development, not only of skilled professionals, but also of attentive and aware citizens who are able to contribute to building a better future. In our opinion, this is the goal that every cultural training institute should set itself.
Other collaborative projects:
In 2015 Siena Jazz led the Giosi Jazz project co-financed by MIBACT as part of the promotion of jazz music and the enhancement of young musicians; the project saw the participation of students from 4 Italian and 4 European conservatories, as well as the circuitation of young jazz bands in Europe and in the main national jazz music festivals. The experience was repeated in 2016 with the Jazz Young Lion’s project, supported by MIBAC.
From 2008 to 2010 Siena Jazz conceived and organized a two-year international master’s degree on improvisation techniques and the hands-on experience of ensemble music. The master’s programme saw the involvement of sixty international and national musicians as teachers, and 52 students from all over the world.
Siena Jazz has developed a network of international relations and specific programmes of its own to foster the advancement of its students abroad, including periods ranging from 3 to 15 days, with the possibility of being repeated on more than one occasion during the year.
During the 2017-18 academic year, Siena Jazz was the creator and promoter of the European cooperation project EuJAMM, supported by MIBAC, which saw the participation of 8 European academies and 8 Italian conservatories, as well as Siena Jazz, engaged for a year in an intense exchange programme involving young jazz ensembles, all benefiting from joint teaching and performance activities.
On the occasion of the Panama Jazz Festival (Jan. 2018) Siena Jazz was officially presented with the signature that sanctioned the constitution of the international association with the name of G.A.I.A. (Global Association for the Interconnective Arts). The idea was first conceived in Siena in July 2017 during the International IASJ Jazz Meeting, to promote the training of young musicians who would then go on to put themselves forward as ambassadors of collaboration between peoples. The project involves the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, the Jazz Department of the Amsterdam Conservatory, the Jazz Department of the Paris Conservatory, the Danilo Perez Foundation of Panama and the NY School. G.A.I.A. therefore grows out of the need to offer young artists the opportunity to finalize their musical art and to take a social position on the issues of solidarity and respect for human dignity, promoting friendship and dialogue between peoples.
In 2017 Siena Jazz launched the project called InJaM (Interplay Jazz Master), an annual first-level master’s programme, which has been made possible thanks to the support of the Sillumina Fund promoted by SIAE.