We are proud to introduce New Music ExChange – a three-year international collaboration (2025–2027) dedicated to advancing equity in contemporary music for disabled composers and musicians.

Born from connections made at Nordic Music Days 2024, this partnership brings together organisations from the Nordics, Scotland and the Baltics to create new opportunities, share knowledge and challenge barriers in music education, festivals and professional practice.

 

Who is involved?

Nordics: ShareMusic & Performing Arts, Danish Composers’ Society (on behalf of the Council of Nordic Composers, NKR), and Nordic Music Days – an initiative of NKR and its member societies in Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

Baltics: The Baltic Contemporary Music Network, representing the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Composers’ Unions.

Scotland: Drake Music Scotland.

 

What’s happening?

Over the next three years, New Music ExChange will deliver a series of activities including panel discussions, seminars, masterclasses, workshops and knowledge labs, leading up to the presentation of new inclusive repertoire at Nordic Music Days 2027.

 

Highlights include:

● 2025: Inclusive Contemporary Music Practice Seminar (November 14, Helsingør, Denmark), panel discussion at Baltic Music Days (October 17, Vilnius, Lithuania), and a mapping survey.

● 2026: Accessible composition masterclass in Latvia, workshops in Denmark, and a knowledge lab in Sweden for disabled and non-disabled composers and musicians.

● 2027: Presentation and performance of newly created works at Nordic Music Days.

 

Why does it matter?

New Music ExChange is about building a more inclusive future for contemporary music. By connecting composers and musicians across borders, the project aims to remove barriers, develop accessible practices and ensure that disabled composers have equal opportunities to thrive on the international stage.

 

Supported by:

This project is made possible with support from Erasmus+, the Nordic Culture Point Culture and Art Programme financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers, the Swedish–Danish Fund, the Swedish–Lithuanian Fund, Kulturværftet, Helsingør and Helsingborgs Konserthus.

 

Fact Box

Council of Nordic Composers The Council of Nordic Composers (NKR) is an organization working for the interests of more than 1500 composers of classical music, art music, electroacoustic music and sound art in the Nordic countries. The members are the societies of composers in Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and the Faroe Islands. A key initiative of NKR, Nordic Music Days is a festival of contemporary Nordic music and sound art.

 

ShareMusic & Performing Arts

ShareMusic & Performing Arts, Swedish knowledge centre for artistic development and inclusion, is a non-profit organisation independent of party policy, religion and trade unions. ShareMusic is a development platform and resource collaborating with the arts and cultural sector, the social and education sector, and academia. One of the centre’s main areas is to explore how innovative technologies and digitisation can enable wider participation and creativity in the arts for disabled persons.

 

Drake Music Scotland

Led by the ambitions of disabled artists, Drake Music Scotland works with composers, music creators, ensembles and performers to change music for good. Drake Music Scotland are supported by Creative Scotland and the PRS Music Foundation Talent Development Network.

 

Baltic Contemporary Music Network

Baltic Contemporary Music Network seeks to formalise and boost cooperation between central institutions and actors in the field of contemporary art music of the Baltic States and develop a strong international cooperation and events on diverse levels and contexts. The Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian composers unions are key members and hosts of Baltic Music Days, a festival dedicated to contemporary Baltic music.