From Monday 13th to Friday 17th April our Chief Executive Thursa Sanderson attended a combined event in Riga, Latvia. Culture Action Europe’s Different Times: New Solutions 2-day conference – part of Culture Action Europe’s Satellite Beyond programme – was programmed to coincide with Baltic Music Days Festival of contemporary music featuring new composition and performances from around the Nordic and Baltic region. Scotland is now a firmly established member having hosted Nordic Music Days in Glasgow in 2026 and Scottish artists were strongly represented across the concert series.
This was an opportunity to reinforce existing connections and make new ones while contributing to wide-ranging discussions about the future of the performing arts in northern Europe with a particular focus on Access, the Challenges of Cross-Border Collaboration and Fair Practice in the sector: https://cultureactioneurope.org/events/different-times-new-solutions-cae-nordic-baltic-satellite-beyond/
Sharing our Approach
On Day 1 Ben Lunn, Drake Music Scotland’s Associate Composer, delivered a lecture at the Latvian Music Academy entitled Active Access: Opening Music Making on enhancing equality in contemporary music for disabled composers and musicians. A lively discussion ensued covering diverse areas such the use of technologies including brain-controlled music and flexible compositional processes.
Looking for New Solutions
Day 2 dived deep into current shifts and the shape of future cultural policy with a Keynote from Kristin Danielsen, Director of the Nordic Culture Fund reflecting on leadership, responsibility and structural change in a moment when cultural ecosystems face profound transformation, asking what ‘resilience’ means now, and what practical solutions are within reach.
In the afternoon Thursa Sanderson joined with Sophia Alexanderson of Share Music & Performing Arts from Sweden. The joint session set out our work on building a more inclusive cultural field which requires the willingness to question established norms alongside the development of practical methods that can support change, outlining how the disability arts movement across the UK, Ireland and Europe has increased professional opportunities for disabled, deaf and neurodivergent creatives. Information was shared about the next stage of our ongoing New Music ExChange Partnership with the Council of Nordic Composers and Baltic Contemporary Music Network:
https://nordiccomposers.com/2025/10/01/new-music-exchange-enhancing-equity-in-contemporary-music/
Finding new Nordic Partners
One of these emerging creatives is Scottish composer Joe Stollery, who also attended the conference as part of his current compositional practice development work funded by the Nordic Culture Fund’s Northern European Mobility Opportunity (NEMO) fund in which he is partnering with Share Music’s electrifying ensemble Elefantöra. Fresh from a collaborative process with the group, the conference gave Joe the opportunity to network with emerging composers from the Baltic and Nordic countries, and a chance to share his experience to date of being a NEMO grant recipient with Kristin Danielson, who is committed to making such opportunities accessible to a more diverse range of emerging creative talents.
For further information about any of the areas of activity outlined here, please contact Thursa Sanderson by email: thursasanderson@drakemusicscotland.org.
