IMC - INTERNATIONAL MUSIC COUNCIL
The Regional and National Music Councils represent the associative basis of the IMC - International Music Council. By analyzing the international and European context, in fact, it is possible to comprehend not only the importance of the activity of the individual councils at national level, but also the raison d’être and purpose of the National Music Councils, as can easily be inferred from the opening articles of the Statutes of the two international associations.
The IMC was founded in 1949 upon request of the Director General of UNESCO as a non-governmental advisory body to the agency on music matters with headquarters at Paris. Over the last sixty years, the IMC has expanded into a worldwide organization promoting an ample exchange of ideas and deliberations in the field of music. Thanks to the contribution of its members, the IMC operates in answer to the exigencies of its associates and thus encourages the increase and promotion of diverse forms of music at international level and supports the role of musicians in the context of social, cultural and economic development.
The IMC is responsible for supporting the diverse forms of music via its own programmes, elaborated so as to contribute to the consolidation of friendly relations between the various cultures of the world on the basis of total equality and reciprocal respect.
The IMC considers the experience of music and of “making music” a fundamental part of everyone’s daily life and gives great importance to the right of individuals to express themselves and to communicate in and through music; it therefore concentrates on the creation of music, on music education, performance and dissemination, on promotion, copyright, research and documentation as well as on the social problems of musicians and on all other aspects of musical life.
The principal objective of the IMC is to advocate the enjoyment of the following rights:
- the right for all children and adults to express themselves musically in all freedom, to learn musical languages and develop musical skills, and to have access to musical involvement through participation, listening, creation and information;
- the right for musical artists to develop their artistry and to communicate through all media, with proper facilities at their disposal, and to obtain just recognition and remuneration for their work.
The IMC has established a vast operational network which includes the National Music Councils of 65 nations, some 60 European and international music organizations as well as associations specializing in art and culture. Through its members, the IMC has direct access to over a thousand organizations in every continent and consequently has at its disposal a network of knowledge and expertise which touches every aspect of music. Honorary Members of the IMC are chosen internationally and include top-level professionals, music teachers, musicologists, musicians and composers.
The Regional Music Councils, like the EMC - European Music Council, are subgroups of the IMC established at continental level which contribute to the definition of a regional agenda that meets the necessities, the opportunities and aspirations of the members and partners of the IMC in their region.
The organizational structure of the IMC is as follows:
a) General Assembly
b) Standing Commissions
c) Executive Board
d) President
e) Secretary General
f) Paris Secretariat
g) Regional Councils
Since 1982, the year in which it was recognized as Italian National Music Council, CIDIM has played an active part in numerous international initiatives in collaboration with IMC and with several of its members. In particular the conferences of MIDEM Classique (The World’s Music Community) at Cannes in 1984, dedicated respectively to La part de la musique dans les systèmes éducatifs and to Esperienze europee per il decentramento musicale nelle Regioni, and collaboration in organizing world assemblies with IAML - International Association of Music Libraries and IASA - International Association of Sound Archives at Como in the same year.
More recently, CIDIM organized in Rome the XXVII IMC General Assembly at Palazzo della Cancelleria (September 1997) and the Annual IAMIC Conference at the Olivetti Foundation (June 2007), participated in the international Dutch project, Dutch Chamber Music Meeting , at Amsterdam in October 2007 and was responsible for the operational secretariat of the IMC Executive Board meeting (President, Richard Letts) held at CIDIM headquarters in Rome, Largo di Torre Argentina, 11 in April of that year. n october 2009 he participated in Tunisia in the 3th world Forum of Music organised by the IMC in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture Heritage of Tunisia.
