INET-md Hosts Its First Colloquium on Artistic Practices in the Community

The Research Group Education, Music and Theatre in the Community (GI EMTC) held its first Colloquium on Artistic Practices in the Community on 17 October 2026. The event provided a forum for exchanging experiences and reflecting on different concepts of community, research aims and approaches, as well as activities exploring music and other arts in community settings. Discussions addressed artistic practices in a wide range of contexts, involving participants from different regions and countries and initiatives led by various institutions.

The programme featured presentations by colleagues involved in community arts research and intervention projects within the GI EMTC, as well as members of other INET-md Research Groups and representatives of non-academic institutions: Ágata Ricca, Alix Sarrouy, Ana Luísa Veloso, António Vasconcelos, Graça Boal-Palheiros, Hugo Pequeno, Inês Lamela, Klénio Barros and Matilde Caldas. The colloquium was organised into panels, allowing more time for collective reflection and discussion with participants. The diversity of topics offered valuable insights into learning to play the piano in a women’s prison; expanded listening and collective creation; music and affect in educational communities; collective singing across different countries; interculturality among music teachers; music and the (re)construction of a sense of home; group music-making with people experiencing homelessness; artistic practices that deepen democratic experiences; and municipal culture as a space for participation, creation and belonging.