SWAN (2023 - 2026)

The project takes a holistic approach, recognising the complexity and intersectionality of people’s additional needs and the diversity of skills and approaches needed for everyone to be able to enjoy the physical, psychological, social and educational benefits of singing.

The project’s objectives are: to collect, scale and promote data and best practices in collective singing for people with additional needs; to facilitate transnational opportunities for collective singing professionals to engage with the best practices of other countries; to develop and make use of digital tools to support people with additional needs in participating in collective singing and to make knowledge internationally accessible.

The project includes such activities as the development of digital tools and a best practices database, sharing research, experimentation with and evaluation of certain best practices, networking and knowledge-sharing (hybrid and physical workshops, round-tables, conferences).

Project Actions

• Concrete outputs include computer scripts and an e-book for singers with visual impairments; reports on research, experimentation and outcomes; a guide for conductors leading a choir for cancer patients; recordings of project events; and a database of best practices.
• The project expects to benefit hundreds of amateur and professional singers with additional needs, choral conductors/vocal leaders, (potential) organisers of initiatives, with an ongoing benefit to thousands more with the resources and outputs created in the frame of the project.
• Additionally, the project foresees an increase in the quality of inclusion of people with additional needs in collective singing as well as in the quantity of opportunities.

SWAN Project Activities

• SWAN ATELIERS at the TURKISH CHOIR CULTURE ASSOCIATION GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 6th February 2023: Within the scope of the SWAN Project, the (Turkish) Choir Culture Association (CCA) held two ateliers for music educators on 9 March 2024, during its General Assembly weekend. With the partnership of Sing Ireland, CCA aimed to provide psycho-social support for the music educators working in the earthquake zone utilising the healing power of collective singing. The first atelier aimed to present the project to the target audience and invite people to join the project as collaborators, atelier leaders, or participants. A psychodramatist led the second atelier and invited participants to express their emotions through their voices.
• SINGING FOR LIFE CHOIRS | Harleem (NL), 19th October 2024. Kanker in Beeld is organising its first event in the SWAN project for Singing for Life choirs in the host city Haarlem on 19 October 2024.Singing for Life choirs support people with cancer and their families, a model that Kanker in Beeld wants to share beyond borders. The theme of the day is “Connection” and along with dance and improvisational theatre, collective singing is at the heart of the event. More than 120 members from 11 choirs are expected to participate on the day.
• WALTER STRAUSS CHORAL CONDUCTING MASTERCLASS | Ankara (TR), 19-25 January 2025. The International Choral Conducting Masterclass Project has been organised by the Turkish State Choir since 2016. This special programme brings together six active conductor candidates and observer participants interested in choral music with internationally renowned guest choral conductors invited to our country each year, offering an intensive and rich training experience for a week. Some activities will be organised in the framework of the SWAN project.

Irish Partner

Cumann Naisiunta Na GCor / Sing Ireland, Irish World Academy of Music & Dance, University of Limerick: Sing Ireland is the national organisation that supports all forms of group singing in Ireland. They engage with and inspire our singers, the wider group singing community and the general public to experience the life-enhancing impact of singing.

Further Information

• SWAN (Singing With Additional Needs)