Save EMS Stockholm!

 

EMS – Elektronmusikstudion – the Swedish centre for electronic music and sound art, is in trouble. Since 1964 EMS has been an important hub in this field, in Sweden and internationally, making its professional studios available for the production of these kinds of art. EMS runs a well-known residency program for artists from around the world, and is also essential when it comes to knowledge-production and education. EMS is a highly artistic organization, run as an independent part of Musikverket (Swedish Performing Arts Agency, a government agency), which is now making plans to merge EMS with one of its other departments: Musikplattformen, a non-artistic, strictly bureaucratic instance that handles e.g. funding applications from Swedish musicians of all genres. Musikplattformen has no similarities at all with EMS, and there is an imminent risk that this change would damage this unique centre. But despite internal protests and informed criticism from without, Musikverket appears to want to make this very bad idea a reality quite quickly. 

 

We would therefore like to express our deep concern in this public manner, and entourage everyone to share this and to sign this petition – or to write a personal email directly to the general director of Musikverket, Gerhard Kunosson (name.name@musikverket.se)