What national support for the gifted?
The concept for the promotion of talented students through a music talent card was submitted for consultation at the end of 2021. The plan is to award the first talent cards in spring 2023.
Heinrich Baumgartner -In 2008, almost 15 years ago, the popular initiative jugend + musik to strengthen music education in Switzerland was submitted to the federal government with over 150,000 valid signatures. Mainly to prevent a dispute over competencies between the federal government and the cantons, the federal government drew up a counter-proposal, which was approved by a large majority in a referendum in September 2012. The first result of this referendum was Article 67a of the Federal Constitution, which culminates in the sentence: "The Confederation, with the cooperation of the cantons, shall lay down principles for young people's access to music-making and the promotion of musically talented individuals" (paragraph 3).
Since 2016, the Federal Office of Culture's Youth and Music program has defined more than just principles for the topic of "Youth access to music-making" - from 2016 to 2018, 710 Y+M leaders were certified and 593 Y+M courses and camps were held. A total of around 20,000 children and young people were reached through this program. Now the constitutional mandate to "promote musically gifted children" is also to be promoted through the Talent Card Music program.
Over the past ten years, there has been no lack of action when it comes to promoting talented young people: As early as 2013, the Federal Office of Culture published the comprehensive report of a working group on the implementation of Article 67a of the Federal Constitution. In 2017, the Swiss Association of Music Schools drew up a concise and intelligent mission statement on the promotion of talented students, and in 2018 it conducted a broad-based survey on the topic. These are two important foundations for the working group that developed the concept for the talent card in 2021. Since December 1, 2021, music schools, universities, music institutions and other interested parties have been able to give their opinion on this concept until February 1, 2022. If the timetable is adhered to, the first talent cards can be issued in spring 2023.
The concept's functional model is clear and straightforward:
The Federal Office of Culture transfers an annual contribution to the cantons and concludes a performance agreement with them.
The canton appoints a cantonal coordination office and sets up an expert commission.
The cantonal coordination office awards the talent cards to the talents recognized by the expert commission and pays out the corresponding contributions. In addition, it recognizes and coordinates the offers of talent promotion.
The specialist commission recognizes the talents according to their level and reports the names and levels of the talents to the coordination office.
The providers of support services ensure a high-quality offering at the various support levels and in the various styles and network with other cantonal and regional providers.
Finally, the talents attend the gifted and talented programs and use the Talent Card contribution for this purpose.
Experience in sport with similar talent cards has been positive. The Federal Office of Culture's 2021-2024 cultural message initially assumes that around 1,000 talented musicians could be supported in this way each year.
Institutions such as the youth symphony orchestra or the youth music competition are among the few institutions that have many years of experience at national level in promoting talented young musicians. Even if they are only mentioned in passing in the talent card concept, it is to be hoped that this wealth of experience will be incorporated into the new form of support.
