Bine ai venit la Vox Mundi

VOX MUNDI este festivalul care aduce la Timișoara concerte „altfel” și coruri europene „de top”. Care face ca oamenii să fie împreună. Care, din 2016, a devenit vocea orașului. Și, pentru că, de un an încoace, nu mai putem aduce 400 de coriști pe aceeași scenă, în 2020 am descoperit Erasmus+ – proiectul care îi aduce pe tineri împreună și în vremuri stranii.

Project Nr: 2020-2-RO01-KA205-080887 - VOX MUNDI- Raising youth multicultural awareness through choral music

The research undertaken by our consortium in the 5 partner countries (Romania, Serbia, Poland, France and Slovenia)-Asociatia Culturala Kratima, Les Choristes,The Aurin and Miraculum Foundation, The Stars, Friends of Skowronki- through different choral music activities (training courses, camps, music lessons, concerts, integrating choral music in other educational activities) has proven that there is no cultural activity with a greater social impact than choral music. A choir means the unity of dozens of young people who breathe, sing and live together, and choral singing, as a group activity, helps - say sociologists, psychologists and even psychiatrists - to reduce social differences, juvenile delinquency, increase intellectual performance and school results, to maintain a good physical and mental health and - very importantly - to create a social identity without distinction of race, social affiliation, economic condition.

Complementary, by singing together, young people from different social backgrounds and cultures manage to build bridges of communication and relationships, to know each other and to accept each other. Encouraging participation in joint activities helps communities to develop culturally, achieving a unity beneficial to the European society of tomorrow. Thus, harmonious development, communication and social inclusion can be achieved through musical language, choral singing, and the creation of a socio-cultural model of unity, mutual understanding and harmony through music - regardless of social condition or language.

Last but not least a study from 2010, issued by the University of Goteborg equally as the medical practice in Nordic health care institutions show that choral music is used to treat minor neurological disorders, contributing to a general mental wellbeing.

The aim of our project is to promote choral music among young people, as an instrument to acquire new skills. The objectives of our project are:

• Developing non-formal educational activities aimed at testing the relevance of choral music nowadays, through elaboration of 3 intellectual outputs, organization of one youth exchange and 5 dissemination activities.
• Cultivating choral music practices among a group of 50 young people through an intensive 10 days youth exchange and through 5 multiplier events.
• Equipping 10 youth workers with skills and competences necessary to use choral music in non-formal education activities, through constant participation in the elaboration of 3 intellectual outputs
• Reviving the choral tradition by developing a choral movement through activities organized by 5 partners active in the field of choral music and reputed at international level.

The qualitative expected results are the following

• Increased diversity, dialogue and cultural mobility, by organizing a multicultural project with participants from several European countries;
• Increased participation in joint activities and networking between young people interested in choral music living in different places in the European Union
• Development of access to culture and new categories of public- young people become acquainted to choral music but also to broader contents related to choral music (history, musicology)
• Development of competences that are related to music, such as vocalization and choreography and of transversal competences such as cooperation, coordination, discipline, etc.
• Concrete changes in perception and socio-cultural dynamics, by recognizing the ability to integrate choral music in everyday life and in other educational activities
• Generating a socio-cultural transformation for young people participating in the project
• Presence in the online environment, through the digital products of the project: educational exhibition, tutorials, but also promotional elements (teaser, film), available online.
• Revival of the choral tradition; developing a choral movement at a good and very good amateur level. Promotion of contemporary European composition and highlighting quality choral music as an element of intangible European cultural heritage.
• Fruitful interdisciplinary partnership (with public institutions, schools, etc.); cultivating solid, strategic and long-lasting partnerships (with the Union of Composers, the National Choral Association, the Cantus Mundi National Program, carried out by the MADRIGAL Choir, etc.).

The quantitative results are: 3 intellectual outputs- each of them comprising different components or modules that will be detailed in the IOs section 5 dissemination activities and 150 participants in the activities 1 youth exchange- with 50 young people 6 testing activities of the IOs with around 200 young people 60 website posts and 60 social media posts