MERITA – where chamber music, cultural heritage and talent meet
The European project MERITA – where chamber Music, cultural hERItage and TAlent- is led by Le Dimore del Quartetto in collaboration with 16 cultural organisations from 12 European countries. The development of this Creative Europe project, that lasts 3 years starting from September 2022, focuses on three areas, training, production and research, and it is based on principles of innovation, training and development, promotion and sustainability. The purpose of the platform is to help young professional European string quartets gain more visibility and circulate more in Europe and worldwide. At the same time, it promotes European cultural heritage in a circular economy perspective.
European Historic Houses plays an important role in the project as the organisation is in charge of finding residences for the cultural events from September 2023 to April 2024.
You can check out which historic houses will be hosting the musicians here.
AIMS
MERITA acts in the three areas of training, production and research, and is founded on the principles of innovation, training and development, promotion and sustainability, so that:
- it innovates the chamber music industry and creates new employment opportunities for emerging artists by matching their skills with the demands of the music institutions;
- it strengthens the capabilities of young artists on how to effectively expand, internationalize and consolidate their careers;
- it promotes the production and diffusion of chamber music in Europe;
- it promotes a sustainable business model that unites emerging chamber music artists, audiences, and cultural heritage, fostering the exchange of best practices and competitiveness for artists, audience engagement and development, and environmental sustainability and awareness.
In order to do so MERITA will work through a digital platform, which is the main instrument where to share information about the artists, the cultural sites and historic houses, the educational and training materials, networking, online activities and on-site programs. These activities involve training, artist residencies, transnational and international circulation of young artists, studies and research.
TARGETS
- Professional string quartets
- Audience
- Music Institutions
- Europe’s historic houses and cultural sites
Kick-off meeting in Milan
The project was officially inaugurated on September 13 during the kick-off meeting held in Milan. Members of the 16 organisations co-creating the platform led by Le Dimore del Quartetto met in the Italian city to discuss its development.
Throughout the day, participants had the opportunity plan the project’s next steps and share ideas in person. The project’s main goal is to increase the visibility and circulation of emerging European string quartets online and offline through innovation and sustainability of the music industry, making it more accessible in cultural activities and, thus, strengthening the European cultural heritage scene.
The meeting in Italy laid a strong foundation for the project with some enlightening conversations on communication and financial strategies as well as the themes that the next events will revolve around.
Call for participants
The call aims to select some historic houses to become part of this European network wishing to enhance the circulation of young music talents and at the same time to promote the European cultural heritage.
Every house in order to be selected as hosting residency, had to respect some specific criteria:
- To be able to host the quartet and 1 trainer during the 5-day long artistic residency;
- To provide access to the kitchen;
- To provide the heating for the residencies that will take place in winter;
- To provide proper room for rehearsal and possibly a space where to host the test concert that closes the residency.
The owners of the selected houses will enjoy the following benefits:
- Dedicated page on the digital platform to showcase the venue with insights, curiosities, and history of the soul family of the House;
- High-quality concert to assist, and the end of each artistic residences;
- Participation in the international network of historic houses, string quartets, chamber music professionals, etc. for the development of the project;
- Invitations to public concerts of the network;
- Meetings with network owners (in person or online);
- Network project advisory;
- Involvement in an European research on the entrepreneurial management of historic houses.
- An allowance of 2000 per residency hosted to help cover the needed expenses.
You can learn more about the selected houses here: https://www.meritaplatform.eu/historic-houses/
Selected quartets
MERITA’s Artistic Committee has finally announced a list of 38 string quartets selected out of 61 applications received from 27 different countries!
These groups will have the opportunity to participate in MERITA’s innovative activities and training at the residences that will be selected later. Among other things, MERITA aims to give those quartets the opportunity to:
- Have three paid performances in Europe;
- Be part of an international circulation;
- Take part in artistic residencies in historic houses all over Europe;
- Gain a network of European cultural institutions and concert organisers;
- Have extra-EU concerts in the UK, Switzerland, China and the USA;
- Benefit from online trainings.
You can find more information about the selected string quartets here!
ORGANISATIONS
Le Dimore del Quartetto, Milan (Italy) – Leader
Comitato AMUR, Milan (Italy)
European Historic Houses, Brussels (Belgium)
EuAbout Lab ASBL – European Association for Research, Educational, Cultural and Social Innovation, Brussels (Belgium)
ProQuartet – Centre européen de musique de chambre, Paris (France)
Theocharakis Foundation, Athene (Greece)
Stichting Strijkkwartet Biennale Amsterdam, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
Europa Nostra, The Hague (The Netherlands)
Traces&Dreams, Stockholm (Sweden)
Lofoten Internasjonale Kammermusikkfest, Oslo (Norway)
University of Arts of Tirana (Albania)
QEndra Event, Tirana (Albania)
Julian Cochran Foundation, Warsaw (Poland)
Beogradska Umetnička Nova Teritorija – Belgrade Artistic New Territory, Belgrade (Serbia)
Kolarac – Zadužbina Ilije M. Kolarca, Belgrade (Serbia)
Cadenza Arts Management Ltd, Budapest (Hungary)
Experimenta – Associação para a Promoção do Design e Cultura de Projecto, Lisbon (Portugal)
