MOTIVE Launches December 28. Hybrid, from Neringa

On December 28 at 11:00 CET, MOTIVE Project officially launches — Merging Original Traditions Into New Voices of Europe — an international project under the Creative Europe programme, with CRAVE Music Agency as a partner.

The launch event takes place in Neringa, Lithuania, with parallel streaming online via Zoom. Participation is open, free, and requires no registration. We’re especially inviting emerging musicians who want to see what international artistic collaboration looks like from the inside — and are wondering whether it’s something for them.

What is the MOTIVE project?

MOTIVE is an acronym: Merging Original Traditions Into new Voices of Europe. The project is funded under the Creative Europe programme (action number 101128429) and run by a consortium of European partners. CRAVE Music Agency represents the Polish side.

The premise has two strands. On one side — Europe’s traditional musics as raw material. On the other — emerging musicians searching for their own voice, who put those traditions to work. This isn’t preservation folklore, nor festival ethno-pop, of which the Polish and European scenes already have plenty. It’s about what happens when artists from different countries actually start working together on a single track — and what skills it takes to push that beyond a work in progress.

In that sense, MOTIVE is an educational and creative project, not just a promotional one. It has three elements: an open call for emerging musicians (the Open Call launches shortly after the inauguration), workshops and training on working in the music industry, and the MOTIVE Collective — a group of artists selected through the call, who work together on new material.

What happens on December 28

The MOTIVE launch event takes a hybrid format. You can join us in person in Neringa, Lithuania — at the city council chamber on Taikos Street 2 — or participate online via Zoom. Participation is free and requires no registration; the broadcast link is available on the project’s official website.

During the meeting we’ll talk through the project’s premise, schedule, and key milestones awaiting participants over the coming months. We’ll also introduce the consortium partners, the project team, and planned activities — including the Open Call for emerging musicians, workshops, and creative work within the MOTIVE Collective.

There will also be a Q&A session, where you can ask questions about the project and the upcoming call. It’s the best chance to get a feel for the project, see how the partners work, and find out what we’re actually looking for in future participants — things you often can’t read off the project description or application documents alone.

How to join

The meeting starts on December 28 at 11:00 CET — in person at Neringa Council Chamber in Lithuania or online via Zoom. No registration, no entrance fee, no selection — just show up and listen.

For those who can’t make December 28 — we’ll keep writing about the project here on Backstage. The opening of the Open Call, artist profiles, behind-the-scenes from the workshops, the moments when something falls apart or works better than we’d planned. This is the first post in a series.