„It has to be mutual.“

Maria Westvall is a Swedish professor of Music Education currently working at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, Denmark. As a field researcher, she has observed and interviewed people about their music-making with others – in many different countries and from many stages of life. She has been doing research on the concept of “artistic citizenship“ for several years. In 2021, she has established CreArC, the Centre for Research in Artistic Citizenship. So she also observed how artists take on the role of artistic citizens leading music groups, how they create meaningful interactions with participants and offer opportunities for co-creation. Two of these artistic citizens are Karolin Broosch and Tiago Cosmo, who have started the Camerata Laranjeiras, a participatory youth orchestra in Rio de Janeiro. In the beginning of this episode, they tell their story and share their views about artistic citizenship. Later on, Maria tells the story of Swedish citizens in their 80s who started making music as young men in the military, and who became artistic citizens in their communities after having finshed their military service. Apart from these examples, we talk about these questions: How do people interact in musical communities? How can artists consciously shape these interactions? What could be the role of artists in society in general? For more information about CreArC and the Camerata Laranjeiras, go to: https://rmc.dk/en/crearc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QeOF_M1AXs&t=1s