2009 IMC Five Music Rights Awards
The IMC presented the inaugural IMC Five Music Rights Awards at a ceremony held October 18th 2009 on the occasion of the 3rd World Forum on Music in Tunis. In its report, the jury, which had been appointed by the Executive Board of the IMC to make recommendations, noted that "as a whole, the nominated projects/ programmes demonstrate how local and national authorities, institutions and organisations around the world work hard and creatively in order for people to celebrate music in accordance with the five rights defined by IMC. The jury has been impressed by the innovative character of most of the nominated projects/programmes, and indeed also by the diversity they represent with regard to objectives, strategies and target groups.
The overall winner of the first IMC Musical Rights Awards 2009 is Freemuse - The world forum on music & censorship (Denmark). This unique programme advocates freedom of expression for creators and performers of music. It documents and often publicises incidents of censorship and oppression, some of which may see musicians gaoled or even killed. It acts in a variety of ways to support musicians who experience limitations in their freedom to express themselves, in some cases by lobbying offending governments directly. It collaborates with other organisations working to implement the principles outlined in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, and with researchers and journalists to focus on issues of music censorship. Hence, the programme goes to the roots of the five musical rights defined by IMC. The nomination of Freemuse had been submitted by the Music Council of Australia.
The IMC Musical Rights Awards 2009 were furthermore presented to the Musical Programme of the Centro Andino para la Educación y la Cultura -CApEC (Argentina) and to the project Revival of Music Education in Afghanistan.
The CApEC programme targets groups of young people in Argentina who for various reasons do not easily have access to musical education and involvement, partly high-risk children. Over the more than 20 years of its existence, the programme has grown to encompass musical workshops, choral and instrumental ensembles, training of musical promoters, establishment of a music school, and organisation of competence building seminars for musical leaders, musicians and music educators. The programme thus builds, in a most systematic manner, the whole chain necessary to create an environment in which the five musical rights can be practiced in direct relation to an underprivileged group of young people. The programme had been nominated by the Argentinean Music Council.
The project Revival of Music Education in Afghanistan aims at bringing music education and involvement in music back into the Afghan society after the Taliban period and its virtual obliteration of music life in Afghanistan and continuous threat to all those who exposed themselves as musicians. In the aftermath of this period, and under political circumstances which are still highly fragile, an initiative has been taken by an expatriate Afghan musician to establish a music institute, as a first step towards a national programme for music education. It is remarkable as well as promising that, in this situation, the initiative has obtained support by the Afghan government and eventually from a number of other organisations. The institute will cater to the music-educational needs of gifted and motivated youth, especially supporting underprivileged children. The project is a spearhead in giving the Afghan people the right to again celebrate their own music without the risk of being punished. The project had been nominated by the Music Council of Australia.
In addition to the three Award winners, the following six projects received a Special Commendation:
Ø Buskers for Buchabela. South Africa / Belgium
- nominated by the International Association of Music Information Centres
Ø Library part of TRANSPOSITION. Norway / Vietnam
- nominated by the International Association of Music Libraries
Ø Recognising and improving the status of musicians and other performing artists in modern society through better laws. Hungary - nominated by the International Federation of Musicians
Ø SupportMusic.com/SupportMusic Coalition. USA
- nominated by the US National Music Council
Ø The Special Music Centre Resonaari. Finland
- nominated by the Finnish Music Council
Ø Wag the City. Sweden
- nominated by Musik y Syd
Disover the winners in more detail: Read the dossier about the MUSICAL RIGHTS AWARDS published in the "Sounds in Europe" magazine of the European Music Council. Click here
The jury was composed by IMC Honorary Member Einar Solbu as chair, with Claire Goddard (European Union of Music Competitions for Youth), Gary Ingle (US National Music Council), Beata Schanda (IMC Executive Vice-President), and Blasko Smilevski (Jeunesses Musicales International) as members.
IMC President Richard Letts at the awards ceremony: "I am pleased that IMC is able to offer strong recognition and reward to programs and projects that give exemplary support to one or more of the musical rights. The Awards offer an outstanding opportunity to promote the five musical rights and to demonstrate IMC's commitment to them. By presenting these exemplary programs and projects, we hope to encourage IMC members and other organisations to join in and give active support to the musical rights."