Co-Connecting Early Childhood Music Education

CC-ECME is an Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnership project in Higher Education (2025–2028, EUR 400,000) that promotes Early Childhood Music Education (ECME) as a key driver of equitable access to music education and cultural participation. It is rooted in the conviction that every child — regardless of socioeconomic or cultural background or geographic location — should have access to high-quality ECME. Music and art education fosters cultural understanding, and social cohesion, laying the foundation for lifelong artistic and personal development.

Music and art schools, deeply embedded in local communities, are uniquely positioned to act as transformative agents. Operating across diverse regional contexts, they often offer ECME directly and/or engage in partnerships with pre-primary and primary schools or community centers to provide ECME. These collaborations offer a valuable foundation to expand access, yet they remain fragmented and often lack the systematic support and scale needed for long-term impact. The project aims to systematize, strengthen, and scale these efforts—empowering music and art schools to become engines of systemic and sustainable change.

The project responds to current challenges such as the unequal distribution of ECME offerings in Europe, the shortage of qualified teachers, and systemic barriers to cross-sector collaboration. The aim is to promote equitable conditions and inclusive pedagogy in early childhood, professionalize teacher training, and build strong partnerships between music and art schools and early childhood education institutions. Key outcomes include a European ECME report, a modular capacity building seminar, evidence-based recommendations, and an advocacy kit that supports sustainable and inclusive ECME in practice and policy.