I recently had the opportunity to visit two leading Music Production programmes in the Netherlands, ArtEZ University of the Arts and HKU University of the Arts Utrecht. It was a valuable opportunity to exchange ideas with colleagues about what music production education is today and what it could become in the 21st century.

I am particularly grateful to Tjerk de Groot and Jeroen van Iterson for their openness, insights, and thoughtful conversations.

One of the strongest impressions was the everyday interdisciplinary environment. Musicians, producers, visual artists, and students from other creative disciplines work alongside one another, sharing spaces and developing projects together. Rather than being an occasional collaboration, interdisciplinarity becomes part of the normal rhythm of studying and creating.

Students experience the creative process from initial idea and planning through production and presentation, while remaining in direct contact with people working across different artistic fields. In an increasingly digital creative world, such a physical and collaborative environment feels particularly valuable.

Both institutions also offer excellent technical infrastructure and professional studio facilities. Yet our conversations quickly moved beyond equipment towards pedagogy and towards the question of how European universities can collaborate by connecting their different strengths.

At a time of global uncertainty, academic and artistic exchange has an important role to play. It creates connections between institutions and people, strengthens shared values, and contributes to a European academic and cultural community.

My sincere thanks to the International Cooperation Department at Vytautas Magnus University and to our partners in the Netherlands for making this visit possible through the Erasmus+ programme.