EURO+ARAB YOUTH
MUSIC SUMMIT 2025
Presenting the Findings & Recommendations
In January 2025, JM International, the Arab Academy of Music, and the Euro-Arab Youth Music Centre held an inaugural Euro+Arab Youth Music Summit in Brussels (Belgium), which brought together 30 leading cultural stakeholders from across Europe and the Arab World. The summit served as a space to reflect on the current realities facing youth and music across both world regions and collectively imagine future initiatives and solutions to the issues currently faced. The summit focused on three core thematic areas: formal music education, the non-formal music ecosystem, and music industry development and support. Across these interconnected fields, participants shared their lived experiences, challenges, and perspectives shaped by very different local, political, and economic contexts, putting together a set of recommendations to support the development of the sector.
WHERE ARE WE NOW?
The summit aimed to better understand the obstacles currently limiting youth development through music in the Euro+Arab context. Discussions revealed a range of structural and systemic challenges affecting both regions, including limited access to funding, insufficient infrastructure, and weak long-term sustainability for music practitioners and institutions.
Participants highlighted that the lack of a comprehensive mapping of music actors across the Euro+Arab region makes cooperation difficult and often dependent on informal networks and personal relationships. Language and cultural barriers remain perhaps obvious issues, and in many contexts, many cultural organisations are operating at capacity with extremely limited administrative resources, leaving little room for international cooperation.
Mobility emerged as one of the most pressing issues facing young musicians and cultural practitioners. Visa restrictions, inadequate funding, and bureaucratic delays continue to restrict the exchange of artists, educators, and cultural professionals. These challenges are particularly acute for Arab musicians seeking access to European opportunities.
Geopolitical realities also currently weigh heavily on cultural cooperation. Political instability, funding restrictions, and broken trust — intensified since October 2023 — directly affect the ability of organisations and individuals to engage in meaningful cross-border exchange, acknowledging the impact of the ongoing Palestinian struggle on cultural cooperation.
WHERE ARE WE GOING?
Looking ahead, summit participants emphasised the urgent need for regular spaces for dialogue, capacity-building and information-sharing between Europe and the Arab World. As obvious as it may seem, time, trust, and consistent involvement are necessary for stronger cooperation rather than one-off initiatives.
The urgency of growing intercultural exchange programs, strengthening collaboration in the field of education, enhancing financial accessibility, and making investments in institutional capacity and infrastructure were all emphasised. Participants also stressed the need for better advocacy, particularly around mobility, visas, and public recognition of the value of music and culture.
As long as it is employed critically and inclusively, technology — including digital platforms and artificial intelligence — has been recognised as an effective means for enhancing accessibility, mapping the industry, and promoting collaboration.
FROM DISCUSSION TO ACTION
A list of seven key suggestions aimed at enhancing Euro+Arab collaboration in the music industry was developed as a summit outcome. These suggestions address dialogue, funding, mapping, exchange, education, mobility, and the role of funders.
Those discussions are presented in detail in the exhaustive Euro+Arab Youth Music Summit 2025 – Findings & Recommendations Report, which aims to serve as a strategic tool for cultural organisations, funders, legislators, and educators who are dedicated to sustainable, just collaboration between Europe and the Arab World.