On the 28th of March, 2019, the second transnational meeting of the Europe In C project kicked off. Coordinators from the participating structures flew to the beautiful city of Athens, Greece, to discuss, coordinate, and plan the next steps of the Europe in C project.

The meeting started with an opening speech from Nathalie Négro, artistic director of PIANOANDCO, Europe in C’s project leader. She thanked all the partners for their continued support of the project, and reminded everyone of the significance of an inter-European collaboration in this year of European elections.

The morning continued with a collective intelligence workshop on the creation of the coordination charter for the next phases in the project. This was led by Claire Demaison, PIANOANDCO’s European project coordinator. A discussion of the budget was then led by PIANOANDCO’s administrator, Perrine Verstraeten.

After a coffee break, Perrine Verstraeten led a discussion on the project’s intellectual outputs and time sheets, while Europe in C’s webmaster Renaud Vercey and Claire Demaison presented Europe in C’s platform, www.europeinc.eu .

A delicious lunch took place at a fish tavern near the university, before the whole team returned to the university.

In the first part of the afternoon, the team was split into two groups: Group 1 focused on the program for the Dunkirk workshop and on LoLa, while Group 2 focused on coordination and administration points for the Athens workshop. Later, the groups switched around, and Group 1 focused on the program for the Athens workshop and on LoLa, while Group 2 focused on coordination and administration points for the Dunkirk workshop.

At the end of the day, the project coordinators met with the young Greek musicians and tutor participating in the project. The organisation of the next day’s recording session was finalised before everyone went to the Plaka for dinner.

The second day, Friday March 29th, opened with a welcome coffee before starting the recording of traditional Greek instruments playing In C in the LabMat’s studio. Led by Nathalie Négro, ten young Greek musicians recorded audio and video for the musical database in partnerships with Italian musicians communicating through the LoLa system from Trieste. Meanwhile, some of the partners worked with Perrine Verstraeten and Claire Demaison on finalising the details of coordination and budget.

After lunch, recordings continued in the studio while another group worked on the digital platform and communication around the project. Renaud Vercey, the webmaster of the digital platform, presented the website www.europeinc.eu and its blog, the presentation of the project, the resources page, and the space for members where participants of the Europe in C project can create their profiles and chat with each other. Each partner set up their profile in order to be able to post on the project’s blog.

Once the recordings and discussions were done, the partners went on a soundwalk with Anastasia Georgaki, director of the LabMat. After the soundwalk activity and a walk through the city of Athens, everyone met for the final dinner at the Akropolis.

On the Saturday, there was a final breakfast before everyone returned to their respective countries, ready to tackle the next phase of the project.

Next on the agenda: the first workshop in Dunkirk, April 16-20, with a final concert-performance at the LAAC in Dunkirk on April 21st!