History
The development of a Europe-wide music therapy umbrella organisation began in 1989 when the idea of a forum for exchange between music therapists in Europe emerged. On July 7th, 1990, Patxi del Campo, Helen Odell-Miller, Tony Wigram and Gianluigi di Franco signed the founding document of the European Music Therapy Association (EMTA).
In November 1991, Stichting Muziektherapie — a Dutch foundation promoting music therapy research and international collaboration — organised the first conference in Groesbeek, Netherlands.
Since 1992, regular professional conferences have been held:
• 1992 – Cambridge, United Kingdom
• 1995 – Aalborg, Denmark
• 1998 – Leuven, Belgium
• 2001 – Naples, Italy
• 2004 – Jyväskylä, Finland
• 2007 – Eindhoven, Netherlands
• 2010 – Cádiz, Spain
• 2013 – Oslo, Norway
• 2016 – Vienna, Austria
• 2019 – Aalborg, Denmark
• 2022 – Edinburgh, United Kingdom
• 2025 – Hamburg, Germany
The next conference will take place in Slovenia from 5–9 July 2028.
The further back we go, the harder it is to find conference documents and photographs. Some of these links simlpy show a photograph of the book of abstracts, while more recent ones share detailed information and reflections. Please send your conference memories, photos and documents to publicrelations@emtc-eu.com.
Thirty Years of EMTC Memories
Nöcker-Ribaupierre, M. (2015). The European Music Therapy Confederation: History and development. Approaches: Music Therapy & Special Music Education, Special Issue 7(1), 23-29.
Screenshot from the Programme Book of the 10th EMTC conference in Vienaa, Austria, 2016:
TOGETHER WE GROW
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