In August 2010, Musique & Santé (France) in partnership with the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) (UK), Music Network (Ireland) and Turku University of Applied Sciences (Finland) was awarded support from the Leonardo da Vinci Transfer of Innovation Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission to deliver a programme transferring Musique & Santé’s skills and expertise in training musicians to work in healthcare contexts to experienced practitioners in the UK, Ireland and Finland.

In France, Musique & Santé carries out projects with professional musicians specifically trained to work in healthcare settings. These projects are based on a philosophy of interaction and communication with patients, their families, and care staff through playing music for and with members of healthcare communities on a one-to-one basis, at the bedside, in workshops, ambulatory concerts etc. The projects are set up and delivered in close collaboration with healthcare staff.

The ‘music in healthcare settings’ approach aims to provide access to high-quality live musical interventions and to enhance the well-being of patients and clients through the humanization of the healthcare environment, creativity and shared pleasure, encounters and proximity, competences and professionalism, partnership and durability.
Musique & Santé has developed training sessions for musicians with the goals of understanding and imagining the place of music and of the musician in health settings, and of exploring the theoretical and practical competences necessary to carry out quality musical interventions in partnership with healthcare staff. Further to these introductory trainings, musicians who work for Musique & Santé are trained by more experienced practitioners to become trainers themselves.

Through diverse projects and exchanges with European partners, local and national needs have emerged in terms of training opportunities for musicians: there is a demand for specific training to work in healthcare environments for a cultural rather than a clinical purpose.

The Royal Northern College of Music (UK), Music Network (Ireland), and Turku University of Applied Sciences (Finland) wish to transfer, adapt and embed Musique & Santé's expertise in training musicians in their local contexts and situations in order to further develop this practice in their own countries.