Despite decades of humanitarian discourses advocating for the ethical education of exceptional achievers, children gifted for music remain largely underprotected and exploited for the sake of sustaining the prestige of educational institutions and nations. This project explores how the politics of care in elite higher music institutions and certain educational “cults” could better support the education of gifted children. The transdisciplinary, multimethods research uses data from children, parents, teachers, adults earlier identified as gifted for music, and international representatives of elite institutions and the music industry. Systems Thinking will be used as an overarching approach to explore fundamental change in professional music education. Based at the Sibelius Academy, the project seeks to support children gifted for music internationally, so that they can live as agentic and healthy individuals while pursuing desirable educational outcomes in caring ecosystems.

2022

2027