The C.C.R.S.M. Cyprus Centre for the Research and Study of Music, in collaboration with the CAPPE Cyprus Association of Private Preschool Education and with the support of the Department of Musical Studies of the European University of Cyprus, organized the International Conference of the Mediterranean Forum of Early Childhood Music Education and Musical Childhoods, 20-22 April 2018. The Conference programme also included educational and family concerts for schools, children and families.

The springboard for the establishment of the Forum has been the distinguished Erasmus+ Key Action 2 Strategic Partnership Project MusiChild Early Childhood Music Education in the Mediterranean; raising children’s musicality, evaluating music learning and enabling teachers’ preparation (2014-2016) designed and coordinated by C.C.R.S.M., with academics and professionals’ participation from around the Mediterranean region. The project has been selected as a best-practice Erasmus+ project for the school sector and was presented at the 30-Year Celebration Conference in Bonn, Germany in May 2017. The Mediterranean Forum for Early Childhood Music Education and Musical Childhoods constitutes an initiative of the non-profit independent academic organization C.C.R.S.M. Cyprus Centre for the Research and Study of Music (www.ccrsm.org.cy) with the collaboration of Mediterranean-based distinguished academics and practitioners and an International Circle of Advisors.

The Conference marked the establishment of this pioneering and much-needed music education initiative in the Mediterranean region, the Mediterranean Forum of Early Childhood Music Education and Musical Childhoods.

Attendance at the Mediterranean Forum of Early Childhood Music Education and Musical Childhoods Conference 2018 provided an attendee with a professional membership of the forum for the calendar years 2018-2020.

Therefore, a Special Certificate of forum membership was issued.

The Forum builds inclusivity, sustainability, value and excellence in the field of music and child learning and teaching, musical communication among different sections of the society and music education connected to children’s music-learning and development. It aims at supporting music education in different regions of the Mediterranean basin and beyond and creating wider access to more relevant, higher quality music education and musical enculturation. It stresses the importance of inclusive music education and teacher of music training around the region and invites international research and informed-practice dialogue, exchange, comparative thinking and collaboration.

The Forum aims to:

• share and promote current ideas in early childhood music education that are based on research and best pedagogical practices internationally;
• discuss comparatively the various ways in which children take part in their own musical cultures and practices;
• support music education in different regions/nations/communities of the Mediterranean and beyond;
• update Mediterranean musical traditions, heritage, worlds, styles and practices with a more relevant, effective, child-centered and human agency focused music education practices and research findings;
• reveal the multidimensional Mediterranean worlds of  young children and their musical enculturation; compare and discuss similarities and differences in music transmission across cultures;
• improve informed music education practices, music instruction and teacher training;
• expand the development of research in the fields of music, the young child and learning and teaching in the region by promoting discussion, reflection, project development and collaboration and comparative education;    
• create wider access to a better quality music education;  
• contribute to the musical well-being and development of the whole child;
• contribute to more joyful musical lives for the child, the teacher, the adult and all stakeholders involved.