International Connections

The AEC – Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et Musikhochschulen – is today the leading international network for Higher Music Education. Founded in 1953, the AEC has grown to include more than 300 distinguished music institutions across over 50 countries worldwide. Based in Brussels, the AEC serves as a key platform for conservatoires, academies, Musikhochschulen, and university music departments, acting as a true engine of artistic cooperation, pedagogical innovation, and internationalization.

Its role goes far beyond sector representation or consultation: the AEC develops shared visions, strategies, standards, and projects that influence cultural and educational policies at both European and global levels. It works closely with the European Commission, the Council of Europe, UNESCO, and numerous institutional partners in the fields of higher education and the cultural and creative industries.

At the heart of its mission lies a deep and dynamic understanding of music as a universal language—a vehicle of identity and a tool for social transformation. For the AEC, Higher Music Education is not simply an academic path, but a forge of creativity, responsibility, and citizenship. Its activities aim to unite artistic and technical excellence with student-centered approaches, pedagogical freedom, cultural pluralism, and sustainability.

Over the years, the AEC has launched key initiatives to reform curricula, define European standards for teaching quality, and adopt shared tools for mobility, such as the diploma supplement, ECTS, and evaluation models. Noteworthy projects include Polifonia, the most extensive Erasmus initiative in the music sector, and forward-looking programs such as FULL SCORE, ARTEMIS, EPARM, and PJP, which connect hundreds of teachers, students, and administrators to rethink 21st-century music education.

In addition to its educational scope, the AEC actively fosters artistic collaboration among its members by encouraging exchanges, creative residencies, co-productions, and international gatherings that generate both immediate and lasting cultural impact. Each year, congresses and themed conferences energize the network with hundreds of participants from across the globe—from Northern European universities to Mediterranean academies, from Baltic conservatoires to Southeast Asian institutions.

For Italian conservatoires—and especially for those in the South—active participation in the AEC has served as a powerful driver of openness, visibility, and growth. This goes far beyond Erasmus exchanges, offering the concrete possibility to help shape Europe’s vision for musical art through the contribution of their history, creativity, and educational identity.

The MUSIC4D Project fully aligns with this trajectory. The alliance of six Sicilian conservatoires (Palermo, Catania, Messina, Trapani, Caltanissetta, Ribera) and two Sardinian ones (Cagliari and Sassari), together with the collaboration of the University of Palermo’s Department of Engineering and the University of Calabria, is a concrete example of how the AEC network can stimulate new organizational models, interdisciplinary synergies, and integrated policies linking music education, technological research, and artistic creation.

Participation in this network also enables structured dialogue with international partners, opening up new chapters of the MUSIC4D project in cities such as Paris, Vienna, Oslo, Riga, Vilnius, Helsinki, Osaka, Buenos Aires, and New York. Each conservatoire that joins the AEC enters a vibrant and multifaceted system—not just responding to educational needs, but actively imagining and building the future of music education.

In this sense, the AEC is not merely a “container” or representative forum. It is a real space for connection, exchange, and design. It is Europe’s shared environment for the arts and education—open to cross-pollination and capable of embracing the diversity of musical languages and pedagogical traditions. For the regions of Southern Italy, being part of this network means projecting themselves beyond borders, giving sustainability to their artistic mission, and helping build, with many others, a shared and innovative musical ecosystem.