Building a shared future: inside the IN.TUNE Summit 2026 in Vienna

In May 2026, Vienna became, for several days, a meeting place for ideas, people, and visions shaping the future of arts education in Europe. Hosted by the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw), the IN.TUNE Summit 2026 brought together representatives of all eight partner institutions of the alliance – members of the Governing Board, Student Council, work packages, working groups, and associated partners (Superar, Musethica, Mad Head Games, CEBEF, AEC, Ukrainian National Tchaikovsky Academy of Music, FisMe, Institut del Teatre, and the Union of Composers of Romania).

Almost two and a half years after the alliance was founded, this summit was far more than a working meeting. It became a space where collaboration, trust, and shared responsibility for the future of European higher arts education intertwined.

Arrival and First Encounters

From the very first day, Monday, 11 May, the mdw campus was filled with the vibrant energy of encounter. Following registration and the first conversations over morning coffee, parallel meetings of the Governing Board, work package committees, and working groups began. Ongoing processes, future plans, and next steps for the alliance were discussed, yet equally significant was the simple fact that people who had collaborated remotely for months were finally able to sit around the same table.

Opening Plenary

The afternoon brought one of the summit’s most significant moments – the Opening Plenary at the Imperial Riding School. This shared team-building session gathered nearly 250 participants and represented much more than a formal opening ceremony. It was an opportunity to hear the diverse voices of the alliance, for members from different work packages and organisational units to meet, converse, and experience a sense of belonging to a wider community. Such encounters – between people who usually meet only within their thematic groups – created space for deeper mutual connection and more active collaboration across work packages.

In the spirit of the IN.TUNE vision, the plenary sessions were designed as participatory spaces for collectively reflecting on the alliance’s future. With the support of experienced facilitators, discussions focused not only on structures and activities, but also on how we aspire to collaborate – with respect, openness, and awareness of the shared values that unite us. The space was also filled with the sounds of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 and the music of Antonio Draghi, performed by mdw’s Department of Early Music, reminding participants that art is not only the subject of our work but also the language through which we understand one another most deeply.

Across Themes and Spaces

Tuesday, 12 May, continued the summit’s intensive working programme alongside further interaction and exchange. Beginning with meetings and the symbolic “Tune your body” gathering, parallel sessions of the Executive Committee, work package committees, and all working groups continued throughout the day. Across various spaces at mdw, discussions addressed mobility, e-learning, research, new approaches to teaching and learning, sustainability, inclusion, artistic citizenship, and many other themes forming the living network of IN.TUNE collaboration.

National Dissemination Event

A special place within the summit programme was held by the National Dissemination Event, organised at mdw. Intended for local stakeholders and the broader academic and artistic community, the event presented IN.TUNE as a space for European cooperation grounded in openness, democracy, and cultural ambition. At a time when European democratic and academic values face diverse challenges, the event served as a powerful reminder that the alliance connects institutions not only administratively or through projects, but also through shared values.

Student Voices

Throughout the summit, particular attention was devoted to student voices. Guided by a commitment to their development and future growth, the IN.TUNE alliance placed the student perspective at the very centre of discussion. Members of the Student Council actively participated in debates, shared their perspectives, and contributed to shaping sustainable strategies for the alliance’s future work. Their presence was not symbolic – it was essential.

An Evening of Shared Voices

During the evening, mdw became a space where music and friendship met. The IN.TUNE Dinner brought participants together through a rich artistic programme featuring the ContraStrings Quartet and Sophia Aitzetmüller, the Tanzhausgeiger ensemble, the mdw Salsa Ensemble, and performances carrying particular emotional significance.
Among them were guests from Ukraine – the vocal ensemble Lybid and DUO Accord Classic, artists from the Ukrainian National Tchaikovsky Academy of Music. Their presence was more than a concert performance; it represented a powerful sign of European solidarity and support. On this occasion as well, IN.TUNE reaffirmed its commitment to Ukraine and its conviction that cultural and academic cooperation must remain alive even in times of crisis and war. The applause that followed their performances was at once artistic recognition and a gesture of shared humanity.

Shaping the Next Phase

Although encounters, exchanges, and moments of shared experience gave the summit its distinctive atmosphere, the days in Vienna were equally a space for intensive strategic work. Throughout numerous meetings of committees, work packages, and working groups, decisions were made that will guide the next phase of the IN.TUNE alliance and further concretise plans initiated during its first two years.

Thus, alongside shared conversations and new encounters, the summit in Vienna became a place where numerous ideas gained clearer form, concrete timelines, and institutional support.

Governing Board Statement

One of the significant moments of the summit was the Governing Board meeting, during which a statement of support for the students, academic staff, artists, and leadership of the University of Arts in Belgrade was adopted. At a moment of profound concern regarding academic freedoms, institutional autonomy, and the rule of law in Serbia, IN.TUNE once again reaffirmed its solidarity with the academic community in Belgrade and recognised the perseverance, courage, and professionalism of colleagues and students, emphasising that academic freedom and artistic creation are not merely national concerns but fundamental values of the European cultural and academic community.

Closing Plenary

The summit concluded on Wednesday, 13 May, with the Closing Plenary session – a second major team-building gathering. After days of intensive work, this meeting created space for collective reflection, the sharing of impressions, and a forward-looking perspective. In an atmosphere of open dialogue and accompanied by an artistic intervention by clarinettist Elena Arbonies Jauregui, participants reflected not only on achievements, but also on the experience of community that the summit had fostered.

Where the Journey Continues

When participants’ paths diverged once more after the farewell lunch, it was clear that they carried away far more than meeting notes and plans for the next steps. They carried with them an awareness that IN.TUNE is not merely a European project or a network of institutions, but a community of people who, despite different languages, traditions, and disciplines, believe in the same idea: that the future of music and arts education is built through collaboration, trust, and careful listening to one another.

This was only another step along that path – a step that once again demonstrated that the future of arts education in Europe is built through cooperation, dialogue, and mutual trust, within a community united by shared values and a common vision.

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Building a Shared Future: IN.TUNE Summit 2026 - YouTube

Text by: Tijana Ilišević