The scholarship will be offered from 2014. It enables the selected individuals to live in a large first floor room (basement) with a room or an apartment in the same building in the East Village free of charge from February 1 to July 30, 2014. The scholarship is endowed with CHF 18,000 towards travel and accommodation costs.

Applications are open to artists of all disciplines from Bern or with a sufficient connection to the city of Bern. Applications (length: 2 to 6 pages A4) must be submitted to the Department of Cultural Affairs, Gerechtigkeitsgasse 79, 3011 Bern, by May 31, 2013 (note: "Atelier New York"). The submissions will be reviewed by a jury made up of representatives of the Department of Cultural Affairs and the city's cultural promotion commissions in June 2013.
 

According to a statement from the German Cultural Information Center, the heart of the internet portal is an extensive database. To date, it contains over 1100 relevant players, sponsors, projects and competitions from the field of cultural education. Users can follow current events in the field of cultural education via the news on the website, which is updated several times a day.

As a further service, the calendar of events gives users an insight into upcoming events, congresses, application deadlines and public meetings. The job exchange offers a selection of vacancies in the field of cultural education. In addition, the relevant literature and legal provisions on cultural education are presented.

The website is a module of the Cultural Education Dialogue Platform of the German Cultural Council. It is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

More info: www.kultur-bildet.de
 

The Sinfonietta must manage to raise the sum of 6666 francs within just under five weeks. In return, donors will receive free tickets, CDs of a live radio recording, lessons with the soloists (euphonium, marimba), conducting lessons, autographs from the composer Oliver Waespi and much more.

The ensemble wants to make an unusual concert project possible with marimba and euphonium as solo instruments and the world premiere of Waespi's euphonium concerto.

If the set amount is not reached within the specified time, all donations are returned to the donors.

More info:
wemakeit.ch/projects/unerhoert-die-zuger-sinfonietta-auf-neuen-pfaden

In 2013, the Swiss Youth Music Competition (SJMW) welcomes over 1000 young musicians who have spent many weeks preparing intensively for this national event. From March 15 to 17, the entrada competitions will take place in Arbon, Basel, Geneva, Lugano, Neuchâtel, Unterägeri and Winterthur.

In addition to the chamber music disciplines, the piano and brass instruments are in the foreground. There will be performances in the following disciplines:
Solo: Piano, organ, harpsichord, trumpet and cornet, trombone, euphonium, tuba, horn and E-flat horn, guitar and mandolin, classical singing.
Duo: Chamber music free repertoire, early music (before 1750) and new music (after 1950).
Ensemble: Chamber music free repertoire, early music (before 1750), new music (after 1950), recorder ensembles, percussion ensembles.

As usual, all first prize winners qualify for the final. This will take place from May 3 to 5 at the Musikschule Konservatorium Bern.

The participants' presentations and the prizewinners' concerts are open to all visitors to the competition.
Information: www.sjmw.ch
 

One focus of the festival is on experimental silent films from the 1920s: shortly after the First World War, the first attempts were made to further develop painting through the medium of film. They go hand in hand with efforts in music to free sounds from their harmonic "shackles". In recent years, numerous new film soundtracks have been created, some of which will be played together with their historical predecessors.

Students of the Lucerne School of Art and Design use the rich visual language of Stockhausen's "Indianerlieder" as a starting point for an innovative realization of the work in film and live video.

Furthermore, the Danish composer Simon Steen-Andersen (*1976) uses his video works to complement and clarify his musical language, thus turning the conventional relationship between music and image on its head.

The festival also presents works from the Contemporary Music Studies and Jazz study areas: the Music and Art Performance, Interpretation in Contemporary Music and Jazz study programs have intensively explored the dialogue between the media of image and sound, partly on the basis of historical silent film and partly in collaboration with contemporary video artists.

Admission to the "Film & Music" festival is free (collection). The complete program is available at: www.hslu.ch/film-und-musik

According to the German Stage Association, the original plan was to include the corresponding tax regulation in the 2013 Annual Tax Act. However, the Bundestag failed to pass this law in mid-January.

The new proposals now do not provide for VAT exemption for self-employed directors and choreographers. The Bühnenverein calls on the Federal Government to stick to its original plan for tax exemption and to implement it without delay.

He also calls for self-employed stage and costume designers to be included in the VAT exemption, as they would otherwise be the only artists working on a theater production who would have to pay VAT.

The Frontiers of Knowledge Award has been presented by the Spanish financial group BBVA since 2008 in eight categories, including biomedical scientists, economists and management specialists.

The jury for the Contemporary Music category includes composer Cristobal Halffter, Winrich Hopp, artistic director of Musikfest Berlin, and composer and conductor Johannes Kalitzke.

Previous winners of the prize are Salvatore Sciarrino (2011), Helmut Lachenmann (2010) and Cristobal Halffter (2009).

In the MAS Music education in specific contexts pedagogical didactic knowledge, artistic expression and subject-specific teaching methods for teaching music at music schools with pupils of different ages can be expanded and deepened. Music teachers sharpen their professional profile. They learn to design innovative, versatile and variable music lessons that take into account the individual requirements of the learners, initiate creative processes, constantly question themselves and continuously renew themselves.

The continuing education program at Bern University of the Arts enables musicians with two masters in performance or teachers with extensive professional experience without an adequate degree to acquire an extra-occupational post-qualification. Current developments and trends in instrumental pedagogy are followed and transferred by the participants into their teaching activities, allowing them to remain flexible in their professional identity.
Detailed information can be found at:

www.hkb.bfh.ch

The award is presented by the German Federal Jazz Orchestra and goes to composers under the age of 30 who compose or arrange works for jazz orchestra.

Six compositions were chosen from a total of 56 entries, three in the big band category and three in the big band with vocal ensemble category. A total of 3000 euros in prize money was distributed.

The complete list of winners can be viewed at:
http://projekte.musikrat.de/index.php?id=871
 

The 58-year-old Jean-Frédéric Jauslin will represent Switzerland at UNESCO and in the OIF (Organization of the Francophonie). His post as Director of the FOC, which he has headed since April 1, 2005, will be advertised and will probably be filled until August 2013.

Jauslin will continue to head the office until this date. According to NZZ it is not the FDFA but Berset's Department of Home Affairs that will pay for the ambassador's post.

According to the NZZ, this indicates that "a special solution for the BAK director" has been found in order to open up new perspectives for the office following "tensions both within the BAK and between the head of office and the responsible head of department, Culture Minister Alain Berset".

According to the NZZ, Jauslin himself denies that there were any conflicts with Berset. The mood at the BAK is good, even if "cuts in the personnel budget have not made life any easier recently".

Hans Ulrich Glarner currently works as Head of the Culture Department of the Canton of Aargau. He is a member of the management of the Department of Education, Culture and Sport. In 2002, he realigned the promotion and dissemination of culture in Aargau. He expanded the Aarau Museum from two to six locations. He also led the revision of the canton's cultural legislation.

Glarner was previously director of the Stapferhaus Lenzburg, managing director of Aktion Begegnung 91 and cultural editor of the Aargauer Tagblatt. He has taught fundraising, cultural policy and cultural mediation at the PH Nordwestschweiz and the University of Basel.
 

Sebastian Küchler-Blessing, who was born in Fribourg in 1987 and has already won prestigious prizes, studied at the music academies in Trossingen and Karlsruhe and is currently studying at the Freiburg University of Music.

According to a press release from the LSO, equal weighting was given to originality in interpretation, instrumental excellence and a strong artistic personality when selecting the prizewinner.

The Arthur Waser Prize is endowed with prize money of CHF 25,000. The winner also receives a performance with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra at the KKL Lucerne. The concert will be recorded live and released on CD.

The Arthur Waser Foundation was established in 1999 as a non-profit charitable foundation as part of Arthur Waser's succession plan. It supports social projects in the third world, particularly Africa, as well as art and cultural projects in Central Switzerland. The foundation and the LSO have worked closely together for many years. In 2008, Arthur Waser became involved with the LSO as one of the foundation's founders. In 2011, a joint concept for lunch concerts at the KKL Lucerne was developed.

The Jazz CLub Chur has had its annual deficit guarantee, which has remained largely unchanged since the mid-1990s, practically halved from CHF 18,000 to just over CHF 9,000 without any prior notice or justification, writes Club President Andrea Engi.

He is now "quite stunned" with a program that is too large and whose financing is in no way secured. He had to cancel plans for a major concert with an international concert agency, which had not yet been fully completed, without being able to offer a replacement. He has suspended further planning.

According to a report by the Southeastern Switzerland the decision is a consequence of the reorganization of the cantonal awarding practice, which has been in force since January 1, 2013. This means that applications from smaller event organizers no longer fall under the jurisdiction of the cantonal cultural promotion commission, but are dealt with directly by the Office for Culture.

Government councillor Martin Jäger does not see the reorganization as "an abrupt turnaround in cultural policy", writes the newspaper.

What does aggressive mean in relation to hard rock, punk, hip-hop, industrial, dubstep and other genres? As often as the attribute appears in the discourse, it often remains unclear on the basis of which musical, intermedial, socio-cultural or other criteria it is assigned, writes the HMTMH.

At the same time, it can be observed how the discourse is characterized by the stereotypical dualism "aggressive man - peaceful woman". In reality, however, both genders have aggressive potential in principle and therefore have access to corresponding sounds.

In addition to Anna-Katharina Höpflinger, speakers at the conference in Hanover will include Susanne Binas-Preisendörfer (University of Oldenburg), Michael Herschelmann (Oldenburg Child Protection Center), musicologist Marion Gerards (Hamburg University of Applied Sciences) and music historian Nina Noeske (University of Salzburg).

The event will take place on February 16, 2013. It is open to the public and free of charge. Please register in good time.

Program flyer: www.fmg.hmtm-hannover.de

The event was opened by the PMS Kreuzlingen chamber choir and short speeches by the Mayor of Kreuzlingen, Andreas Netzle, and the principals of the participating schools on the Kreuzlingen campus. The major event will attract around 3000 to 5000 visitors to the campus grounds in Kreuzlingen. The IMTA gives Thurgau schools an exclusive opportunity to present their creative work internationally.

"Inspirare", the motto of the IMTA in Kreuzlingen, is intended to promote creative ideas, according to Christine Forster, Head of the Performances Department. With her team of experts, she offers teachers support in the implementation of their projects and performances.

All schools from the canton of Thurgau are invited to register with performances. The performances will take place on Wednesday, May 14, 2014, in Kreuzlingen.

The IMTA has been held at a different location around Lake Constance every year since 1957. The first event took place in Kressbronn on June 1, 1957. Since then, a different school board in the region has hosted the event every year. The aim is to promote and deepen musical work in the schools. Exchanges and encounters are intended to promote cross-border understanding.

More info: http://beta.imta-bodensee.com