Europavox Campus 2024: 8 young people explore the future of music and Europe
A multi-faceted, innovative and ambitious project, placing music at the heart of the young Europeans in a holistic way. This is Europavox Campus. For its second edition, a team of eight young people unlocked their creativity and joined the adventure in Norway.
Europavox Campus was created by Europavox and the University of Clermont Auvergne, in partnership with European Universities and the social organization Makesense. The project is structured around a European student music springboard and brings together over 130 individuals throughout the year, including students, university staff, young citizens, and various partners.
Open to all young people of Europe, aged 18 to 30, whether students or not, the “Explorers” share their ideas about music, creativity and their life in the continent. The aim is to build an open cultural identity; besides, Europe is the result of cross-fertilisation and migration, which are part of our history. Our continent has always been a receptacle for sources from all over the world. It has also been the originator of the magnificent idea of universality, which is one of the project’s cornerstones. And this is the reason the Explorers come from different countries, different backgrounds and different launchpads, gathering for meetups, immersing themselves in dynamic concerts and artistic workshops, making connections, and working closely to imagine and create the Europe of tomorrow.
From exploring sustainability and renewable energy issues to themes of identity, music and democracy, they highlighted their ideas and visions of a more equal and creative world, acting as intermediaries to disseminate the voice of their peers. “I am Sofiane, and I am Franco-Maghrebian and I finding it hard to feel entirely French because of the complexity of my identity… Thinking about Europe I feel even more distant as I try to figure out where I belong in France… Identities are very complex and fluid. They are constantly evolving, influenced by the world around us”, Sofiane Kerkour comments in the podcast episode “Music and Democracy: Shaping Identity”. The Europavox Campus hosts -known as the “Explorers” team- spoke out about their concerns in a podcast series recorded during the springboard finale week in Norway. And this was just one aspect of the variable content the Explorers produced.
Starting in March 2024, they participated in online workshops led by journalists and audiovisual professionals to structure and design their articles and content.
In April, they travelled to Stord, “Norway in miniature” as it is well known, for the week of activities during the European final concerts and the selection of the winner student band – in this year’s case, the rock outfit Inmanis went home with the win! Working in pairs or individually, they interviewed the participants, met with student musicians who represented their university, and gathered their experiences. “It is always good to see how different organizations operate and it was definitely a learning experience for me”, Lena Pierskalla, a young journalist from Orange Magazine who finds herself between Dresden and Prague, talks about her part in the project, and even has some tips for those applying for Explorers in the 2025 Europavox Campus: “Be open minded to new ways of working, do not take yourself too seriously and be prepared to adjust your ways of thinking and operating to be able to function cohesively in a group setting with different backgrounds and levels of experience”.
The beauty of music is that it is intangible heritage par excellence, and, at the same time, it is the most tangible kind. It represents hybridity and interlacing, and it embraces opposites. “I always thought, and I still think that music is the thing that unites us. The great thing was the fact that we were all together, people from different countries. The fact that we learnt from each other so much and so fast was incredible. In a very short time, we felt like a family! Europavox Campus, for me, was a life changing experience”, says Reindy Sinang, a young writer/songwriter from Lyon, France. “I especially enjoyed the interviews, the journalistic part of our work. You know, I’m a writer, but I write songs. So, now I have learnt how to ask questions to people, to artists, to search for different angles, to know their vision and the way they see things. Interviews and writing articles. That was very interesting!” Although a one-time experience as an Explorer, Reindy can’t help but smile at the memory. “And to anyone who wants to join Europavox Campus I’d say prepare for many memories. It’s great, it’s perfect!”.
By Maro Angelopoulou
Pictures by Jonas Onarheim
