Jeunesses Musicales International (JMI) is the largest youth music NGO in the world, created in Brussels, Belgium in 1945 with the mission to "enable young people to develop through music across all boundaries". JMI has established four priority activity fields: Young Musicians, Young Audiences, Youth Empowerment and Youth Orchestras & Ensembles. With member organisations currently in 45 countries and contact organisations in another 35, JMI is a “glocal” network with over 36,000 diverse musical events annually which embrace all styles of music, reaching almost 5 million young people up to the age of 30. The work of JMI is supported by the Federal Government of Belgium - BELSPO, ACTIRIS and the CREATIVE EUROPE Programme of the EU
The idea of creating a movement evolving around music and young people was born in the late 30s of the 20th Century by Marcel Cuvelier (Belgium). Following the occupation of Belgium, young people started to organise public concerts playing and singing for peace (1940). It was a form of protest against the war and the occupation of their country. This is the birth of Jeunesses Musicales of Belgium. Immediately after the end of the war, Rene Nicoly creates Jeunesses Musicales of France inspired by the youth music peace movement in the neighbouring Belgium. Jeunesses Musicales International was founded on 17 July 1945, by Marcel Cuvelier (Belgium) and René Nicoly (France) in the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium under the name of "Federation Internationales des Jeunesses Musicales". JMI initially focused on presenting "good music" (classical music) to young audiences through concerts in the main concert halls and later through school concerts. The focus changed over time to also encompass young musicians through music camps, competitions and youth orchestras. JMI was the pioneer organisation and paramount structure in the establishment of youth music activities in its member countries. Since the beginning it received substantial financial and political support from governments, influential personalities and head of states, giving birth to many common youth and music activities in the world today: youth orchestras and choirs, school concerts, the promotion of young musicians, young audiences development …
Originating as a peace movement, it quickly adopted a strategy that aimed at the overall development of the young generations through music, exploring the socio-cultural impact of music. In the late 60's, JMI also opened up to other styles of music such as contemporary classical music, ethnic and traditional music, jazz and pop/rock.
Official relations and affiliations
United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) (Ros C)
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)* (Consultative Status)
International Music Council
European Youth Forum
Culture Action Europe
ETHNO is a unique project for traditional/folk musicians aged 15–30. It includes a series of summer music camps held annually in Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Slovenia, Sweden, Norway, France, Portugal, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, India, Australia and Uganda, and additionally some touring projects for smaller ensembles. Each ETHNO draws participants from around the globe. At ETHNO, young folk musicians meet to teach each other, by ear, traditional folk songs from their cultures. Through a combination of workshops, jam sessions, seminars, and performances, musicians have the opportunity to learn a variety of musical styles. Bringing together participants from a variety of cultural backgrounds, ETHNO is a space for intercultural learning, friendship, and exchange. ETHNO has been recognised as good practice in non formal education for young people by the 2008 Sunshine Report on Non Formal Education by the European Youth Forum. The program is managed by the JMI ETHNO Committee.
BLACKBOARD Music Project. The main aim of the Blackboard Music Project (BbMP) is to increase the quantity as well as the quality of concerts for Young Audiences (YA, primarily school children) in the participating countries as well as improve the possibilities for the exchange of concerts between the European countries/regions. This will be done through creating and strengthening a relevant and well-functioning communication platform and network for YA producers, organisers and experts; through creating awareness of cultural differences as well as universal means in ways of reaching the target audience to promote and facilitate international exchange; through the exchange, education and capacity building of producers, organisers and experts in the field (the producer is a professional who typically has a professional musical background as well as experience from the educational world and as such he/she is able to help the artists shape and develop their production to better reach the target audience). The education and capacity building of producers/organisers will take place in 2 planned Producers’ Forums, one in Sweden in 2014 and one Croatia in 2015; in the exchange of producers and organisers at the 8 planned BbMP showcases as well as on the web-based communication platform PODIO, where discussions and presentations of new and innovative productions and the exchange of ideas will take place. In addition to this, an exchange of concert productions at the BbMP showcases will take place to initiate a tradition of exchange of YA tours across Europe. All of the experience and information gained during the project will be assembled in a “Best Practice” digital toolkit, which will be embedded in the project website and thus be accessible to all with interest in the field in and outside Europe. In this manner, the work with producers and organisers will function as a gateway to reaching thousands of YA artists as well as millions of school children all over Europe. The program is a partnership of JMI members and young audience producers from Denmark, Belgium, France, Macedonia, Croatia, Norway and Sweden, co-managed by the JMI Young Audiences Committee and co-funded by the EU CREATIVE EUROPE Program
IMAGINE Festivals. Imagine is the all-styles music competition for young artists. All events have an educational/social dimension including trainings, workshops and master-classes from industry professionals. Competitions are held annually on a national scale in Belgium, Croatia, France, Malawi, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden and Zimbabwe and culminate each year with the Imagine Festival and the International Imagine Final. New entries as of 2015 include Spain, Netherlands, Brazil, Australia and the Czech Republic. Past international winners include: 2013: Were (Zimbabwe), 2012: Gustaf (Sweden), 2011: Algot (Sweden). Supported by the CULTURE Programme of the EU. The programme is managed by the JMI IMAGINE Committee.
JM Jazz World. The JM Jazz program caters for the promotion of international summer jazz camps, international projects, jazz ensembles tours and international exchanges of jazz musicians between the JMI countries. Its main objective is to provide young jazz musicians with the possibility to gain experience working to high professional standards in major concert halls, theatres and festivals, and with outstanding jazz musicians, sharing musical ideas in the field of jazz music. Its flagship program is the JM JAZZ World, an international ensemble of selected young jazz musicians.
Music Crossroads is a non-profit organisation founded by JMI. Music Crossroads was initiated in 1995 by Jeunesses Musicales International (JMI), the world’s largest youth-music network, organising annual festivals, international band tours, and training many young talents in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, with established independent Music Crossroads entities. The project is supported by the Norwegian Foreign Affairs Ministry,
Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra (JMWO)is an international youth orchestra that provides young musicians with professional musical opportunities at the highest artistic level, touring twice annually as ambassadors for world peace and intercultural understanding. Launched in 1949, by Maestro Igor Markievitch, as an international youth orchestra, it was not until 1969 that it was institutionalised by Gilles Lefebvre (Canada) as the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra and it was as such, the first international youth orchestra. Around 10,000 young musicians have passed through the orchestra over the last 50 years, under the batons of prestigious and renowned maestros such as Zubin Mehta, Leonard Bernstein, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Serge Baudo, Lawrence Foster, Walter Weller, Hiroyuki Iwaki, Eduardo Mata, Jeffrey Tate, Vernon Handley, Charles Dutoit, Michel Tabachnik, Antonio Pappano, En Shao, Bobby McFerrin, Daniel Harding, Yuri Temirkanov, Kent Nagano, Yakov Kreizberg, Michael Tilkin, Kurt Masur, Franz-Paul Decker and Josep Vicent. In 1996 the orchestra was appointed UNESCO Artist For Peace in recognition of its humanitarian message. As program of the Jeunesses Musicales International network, the orchestra draws young musicians from all corners of the globe to play for two sessions annually and has to date toured over 30 countries. Over the years the orchestra has enjoyed the patronage of the cities of: Montreal, Canada (1968-1985), Berlin, Germany (1986-2004) and Valencia, Spain (2005-2009).
World Youth Choir (WYC). Existing since 1989. Made of up to 100 young singers between the ages of 17 and 26. Managed by the Foundation World Youth Choir (The Hague, the Netherlands) founded by the three patron organisations: International Federation for Choral Music, Jeunesses Musicales International and the European Choral Association - Europa Cantat.
Fair Play: Anti Corruption Youth Voices is a global competition for original songs by young musicians under the age of 35 on the theme of anti-corruption and good governance. The competition is an 2010 initiative of the Global Anti-Corruption Youth Network, a worldwide network of civil society organisations with the specific agenda of fighting corruption. The Competition is an awareness-raising program and network building effort to connect socially conscious artists and citizens worldwide, a call for young musicians to join the global anti-corruption youth movement, and ensure that the global community hears their messages. Four editions of the competition have been completed since 2010 (Brussels, Nairobi, Brasilia, and upcoming in Tunisia). The Project won the 2012 European Youth Award and the World Summit Youth Award for outstanding digital content for social good in the "Create your culture!" Category. Organised in partnership with the JMI Foundation, the Global Youth Anti-Corruption Network, the World Bank Institute and Transparency International.
Music against Child Labour Campaign. The global Music Against Child Labour Initiative was launched in 2013. It links the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and its International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) with famous conductors, musicians, musicians’ organisations and music education bodies. This Initiative is supported by the following founders: Claudio Abbado; José-Antonio Abreu; Alessio Allegrini, Founder, Musicians for Human Rights; Daniel Barenboim; Pilar Jurado; Benoît Machuel, General Secretary of the International Federation of Musicians; Diego Matheuz; Rodolfo Mederos; Eduardo Mendez, Executive Director of the Simon Bolivar Music Foundation “El Sistema”; Antonio Mosca, Director of the Suzuki Orchestra, Turin; Guy Ryder, Director General, ILO; and Blasko Smilevski, General Secretary of Jeunesses Musicales International.
Euro-Arab Youth Music Center. Based on the belief that access to music is a fundamental human right and a factor contributing to the sustainable development of young people and our communities, Jeunesses Musicales International (JMI), the Cultural Movement EPILOGI of Limassol and the Arab Academy of Music (League of Arab States) have undertaken a joint venture to establish a Euro-Arab Youth Music Centre, in Limassol, Cyprus. The EAYMC is the result in fruitful cooperation between the above mention partners, that started in 2005 with ETHNO Cyprus a youth music camp bringing together young traditional/folk musicians from the two regions. The project continued with ETHNO Cyprus in 2006 and 2008 (funded by Youth EuroMed and Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture); Cyprus in Action in 2010 that brought together not only young musicians but also young cultural operators (funded by European Cultural Foundation) and finally, the Euro-Mediterranean Youth Music Dialogues from 2011-2012 (funded by EU “Culture 2007-2013” Programme). During the last project, the partners have organised the Euro-Arab Youth Music Forum in Amman, Capacity Building Training Courses in Amman and Barcelona and the Euro-Med Youth Choral Fair: Choral Crossroads 2011 in Limassol with a total of over 500 participants and attendance of over 5000 people, mostly young audiences.
Jeunesses Musicales World Meeting Centers. JMI proudly recognises two international arts centres as World Meeting Centres of JMI - The International Cultural Centre of Jeunesses Musicales Croatia in Groznjan (Croatia) and the Musikakademie Schloss Weikersheim (Germany). These cultural centres, established by JM Croatia and JM Germany, are open to young people from all over the world. They provide a special musical environment for development, education, and exchange of ideas; and offer various musical and artistic workshops and seminars with lecturers & professors.
