Classical guitar keeps involving more people every year. It is heard in many places from concert halls to churches, bars and public spaces. Guitar for All project brings guitar music to new locations and for people who are not able to enjoy culture so easily.
Some examples: Tampere Guitar Festival in Finland will provide classical guitar concerts for the elderly. Collaboration with Koukkuniemi retirement home brings the music to the people not being able to leave their homes or beds. COVID-19 pandemic forced to find new ways – since visits are not allowed at the moment, the musical greetings will be done online. This way the music can be distributed to all 35 units of the retirement home and hundreds of seniors may enjoy the music together.
Another example is Sofiakylä, a care home for disabled people. Live concerts would be a perfect way for the artists to meet the residents face-to-face, but again, due to restrictions, online concerts will be used as a method. Music has been proved to have a relaxing and therapeutic influence.
All this is part of a 4-year project called EuroStrings, which is co-funded by European Union. At the moment it has 17 member festivals from all over Europe. Each member will organise various outreach activities, from which the actions of Tampere Guitar Festival were examples. The musicians of the project are the winners of the competitions organised by each member festival. Each year these EuroStrings Artists perform at those festivals. They will also teach local guitar students and give public concerts while visiting the festivals.
The year 2020 was very different from the previous one for everyone. Hopefully in 2021 everything will go back to normal and from online concerts to live occasions, but the best new practices could stay and keep evolving.
