The European Music & Art School Symposium (EMSS)

mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna
Department for Music Education Research and Practice (IMP)

Collaboration partners:
European Music School Union (EMU)
Conference of Austrian Music School Associations (KOMU)
 
The European Music School Symposium, initiated in 2017 by mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, is the leading international meeting place for music school researchers, teachers, leaders, former and current students, university and conservatoire teachers and professors, representatives from music school organisations and municipalities, and others who are committed to the development of strong, inspiring, and resilient music schools. 

Since the beginning, the symposium has been arranged in collaboration with the European Music School Union (EMU) and the Conference of Austrian Music School Associations (KOMU), emphasising the importance of a continuous dialogue between researchers, practitioners and stakeholder organisations.

The 4th European Music & Art School Symposium
The Ethical Horizons of Music and Art Schools
25-26.09.2026

will be organised at mdw in Vienna with both in-person and online participation options. We maintain the tradition of the international music school symposium – and have expanded the title in order to reflect the growing aspirations across Europe to include a wider range of art forms in the institutional framework (as in kulturskoler, taiteen perusopetus, základní umělecké školy, and many more).

We welcome submissions of both research and practitioner papers.
Selected papers will be eligible for inclusion in a peer-reviewed anthology planned for publication with mdwPress. 

The symposium will also include a five-day summer school for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers.
In line with the overall theme, the summer school will focus on ethical issues in music and art school research. 

Call for papers: 15 January 2026
Submission deadline: 15 March 2026
Notifications: 15 April 2026
Registrations: 15 April–31 August 2026
Symposium: 25–26 September 2026
Summer school for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers: 21–25 September 2026

Further information about the programme as well as about submissions and reviewing procedures will be available on this website closer to the event. 

Previous symposia:

6-7 October 2023

Music Schools and Their Ecosystems: Building Sustainable Futures

15-16 October 2022    

Music Schools and Their Ecosystems: Building Sustainable Futures (Pre-symposium)

10-11 October 2019  

Music schools – Masters of Collaboration? Creating Interfaces in Music Education Systems

6-7 October 2017  

The Future of Music Schools. Today’s Challenges and Tomorrow’s Solutions

Full programmes and books of abstracts from all symposia can be found in the website menu. 

Each of the symposia has been followed by an international publication (please see below).

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Finnish Journal of Music Education, Vol. 27 no 1

Special issue on sustainability in music education (Open access)

Guest editor: Cecilia Björk, mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna

Music Schools in Changing Societies
How Collaborative Professionalism Can Transform Music Education

Michaela Hahn, Cecilia Björk, Heidi Westerlund (Eds.)

Routledge, 2024

234 Seiten

Hardback ISBN 9781032431338

e-book ISBN 9781003365808

https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003365808