The project
SONIC is a contemporary transnational project aiming at unveiling the historical value of the Organ culture, promoting collaboration amongst young artists and establishing a sustainable model of participation of mainly remote communities at the EU level. The initiative is financed by the Erasmus+ Youth Programme and targets youth creativity, artistic excellence, audience development and social awareness. It forms a melting pot of cultural heritage and artistic practices with innovative methodologies and digital tools for networking and educating.
Through the implementation of both the artistic and the administrative components, the two collaborating organisations prioritise artistic evolution and audience development at the local, national and EU levels.
The European dimension of the project is supported by the Digital Artistic Space Platform developed for young European organists, pianists and representatives of other forms of art, with the aim of attracting ideas, proposals, artistic work and involving them in the activities of the organ festivals in Greece and Croatia.
The concerts and educational activities are a strategic tool to promote public awareness as regards the organ and the cultural heritage connected with it, while the inclusive nature of the digital platform targets the social impact and the creative evolution also in combination with several other forms of arts and cultures.
ANO
With a view to showcasing the pipe organ housed in St. George’s Cathedral in Ano Syros and, at the same time, revive the Ano Syros medieval settlement, the Catholic Bishopry of Syros and the Syros’ Association of Greek Catholics have been organizing the “ANO” International Organ Festival since 2017. The Festival’s programMe of events includes concerts, lectures, exhibitions, viewings of the pipe organ, and tours of the Ano Syros medieval settlement.
Zadar
The Zadar Organ Festival forms a comprehensive and wide-ranging approach, which aspires to find its place among major world festivals, and, at the same time, assist in raising the artistic reputation of the ancient city of Zadar. It includes innovative research and educational approaches, interdisciplinary performances and aims at eliminating organ-related stereotypes while reviewing the traditional frameworks in the approach and experience of the art.
The last SONIC Organ Concert was organised in Syros, as a novelty of the ANO Christmas event organised annually by the ANO International Organ Festival and in partnership with the Little Organists of Syros project.
Concert
SONIC Digital Artistic Space Platform
The SONIC Digital Artistic Space is the networking and education component of the project. It is being served on an annual basis via an open call for expression of interest addressed to young professionals on participating in the artistic and cultural activities of the ANO International Organ Festival (Greece) and the Zadar Organ Festival (Croatia). The platform is open to all European artists and also welcomes the ideas and proposals of artists of other artistic domains (i.e. dance, theatre, etc.). One of the main targets is to evolve a digital mechanism of introducing oneself to the two festivals, accessing its educational module and becoming a vivid member of a professional cultural lobby related with -but not just limited to- the organ instrument. The educational activities are provided for free following a two-step-access registration procedure.