EJC - About




Registration is now open for the 3rd European Jazz Conference, taking place 22 to 25 September 2016 in Wrocław, Poland, European Capital of Culture for 2016. 


The European Jazz Conference 2016 is co-organised by Europe Jazz Network (EJN), the National Forum of Musicand Jazztopad Festival, takes place in the framework of the European Capital of Culture 2016 programme and it is supported by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland and by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.

The Conference will take place at the newly-inaugurated spectacular venue of the National Forum of Music,where participants will have the opportunity to connect with hundreds between the main professionals of the creative music sector in Europe and to and get involved in different keynote speechesdebatesworking groups and networking sessions. Moreover, every evening at the venue there will be a showcase programme of the most interesting and innovative jazz from Poland. The Conference is open to all EJN members free of charge and to external participants upon payment of a registration fee (200€ for international and 100€ for Polish participants).

The theme of 2016 is "LISTEN UP!". The concept of listening will be approached on different angles, from listening to your community/audience when you are an artist or a presenter, to the issues of social inclusion in cultural work within our rapidly-changing societies and to the way in which listening as a personal experience has changed in modern concert halls and with new streaming technologies.

The 2016 Conference will start with a keynote speech by Danilo Perez (Panama), world-renowned musician and UNESCO Artist for Peace. Danilo will bring his experience of working with the communities in Panama and more broadly will talk about the way an artist “listen to his community” in his creations and work.

Following to this there will be a panel debate “listening to our changing times” with Danilo Perez, Francois Matarasso (writer and researcher, UK), Stéphanie Touré (responsable des actions culturales - Banlieues Bleues, FR) moderated by An De Bisschop (academic, expert in community arts, BE). This broad topic will be further analysed in parallel working groups, each one focussing on a different aspect of the issue, with the speakers of the debate andPatricia Zarate Perez (Chile), musician, Executive Director of the Panama Jazz Festival with a strong expertise in music therapy.

Ben Ratliff, New York Times long-time pop and jazz critic, author and New York University’s professor, will talk about his latest book “Every song ever - listening in the age of musical plenty” that presents an original approach to listening to music at a time where online streaming services and more and more influential, especially for young people.

Participants to the Conference will also share their experiences and learn from their peers on new ideas for audience development and for engaging children in creative music, on how to develop positive collaborations between promoters, artists’ managers and agents, on collaborations and co-commissioning of work among promoters in Europe and on new approaches to strategic communications for cultural organisations.

The missing names in the Conference programme and the showcase programme will be announced shortly.

We look forward to meeting you all in Wrocław!!!

You can check the full programme of the European Jazz Conference 2016 here: www.europejazz.net/sites/default/files/EJC2016_programme.pdf

To register to the European Jazz Conference 2016 through the Eventbrite systemhttps://ejc2016.eventbrite.co.uk

About the European Jazz Conference

The European Jazz Conference is the most important annual meeting of professionals from the creative music sector in Europe, in particular of promoters, presenters and support organisations. What has been the General Assembly of the Europe Jazz Network, from 2014 is open as well to other professionals and became the European Jazz Conference.

The European Jazz Conference is a unique event, the only one of its kind in Europe, centered on building relationships, developing new projects and artistic collaborationssharing expertise and getting up to datewith the newest management and programming trends. Moreover, the Conference is about learning about music scenes and best practises from all around the world, including countries beyond Europe.