Second teacher study visit: experiences at “Linkmenų fabrikas”
This visit became an important part of the project activities aimed at strengthening teachers’ understanding of the links between today’s creative industries, technologies, and entrepreneurship, as well as their significance for contemporary music education. “LinkMenų fabrikas” is a space where students, researchers, and business representatives come together to create, experiment, and collaborate. It is a place where creativity, technology, and innovation become not merely theoretical concepts, but an integral part of everyday activity and real-life solutions.
During the visit, the teachers of Kaunas 1st Music School had the opportunity to gain practical insight into the operating principles of today’s creative and innovation industries.
It was important to observe how ideas are born and developed, how they move from an initial concept to a concrete result, why cooperation between different fields is of particular importance today, and how technology, creativity, and entrepreneurship come together within a shared process.
This experience revealed that in today’s professional and creative environment, narrow subject-specific knowledge alone is no longer sufficient. Increasingly important are the abilities to create, take initiative, work in a team, present one’s ideas clearly, apply technological solutions, and confidently seek new directions. For this reason, the visit was significant not only as an introduction to an innovative environment, but also as a broader reflection on what competencies are needed by a young person today, and, at the same time, which educational directions schools need to strengthen.
For the teachers, this study visit became a valuable professional development experience, allowing them to look more broadly at the possibilities of music education in the context of today’s technologies and creative industries. Such visits help in seeking new ways to educate a modern, creative, proactive, and independent young person at school — one who is able not only to perform, but also to create, collaborate, and adapt to a changing world.
Study visits organised within the framework of the ERASMUS+ project activities make it possible to connect music education even more closely with today’s professional reality, the creative industries, and technological advancement.
Music education, the creative industries and technology are increasingly operating as interconnected fields, and therefore the teacher’s task is becoming not only to transmit artistic skills, but also to help the student orient themselves within a broader field of culture, creativity and professional opportunities. Such an approach is particularly important when educating a young musician who is independent, contemporary and responsible.
In summary, it can be stated that the first teachers’ study visit to the recording studio of music producer Karolis Šliažas became a valuable professional development experience. It not only broadened the teachers’ horizons, but also provided new impulses for reflecting on how artistic education, technology and the practices of the creative industries can be linked even more closely in a music school. Such activities strengthen teachers’ preparedness to educate the younger generation, capable of creating, collaborating and acting in the contemporary and constantly changing world of music.
Photos: Janė Macevičienė, expert accordion teacher
Prepared by: Dr. Domantas Milius, expert piano teacher
ERASMUS+ KA210-SCH project „Social Vibes & Biz: music, technologies and social entrepreneurship“.
WP2 Teachers’ training.
A2.1.2 Teacher visits to creative business representatives in Lithuania and Latvia.
