One of the project’s key outcomes is a database aimed at collecting, scaling, and sharing these best practices internationally.

If you’re running an exemplary project or initiative using collective singing for individuals with additional needs, please fill out the SWAN Project questionnaire. Your input will help make this valuable knowledge accessible and create new opportunities for professionals in the field.

Fill in the questionnaire here by July 15

• Opportunity: One-on-One Online Exchange with a Singing for your Life Conductor
• Interested in a Rehearsal with a Singing for Your Life Choir in the Netherlands ?
• Join the Kanker in Beeld Regional Choirs Gathering in Ede, Netherlands on 22 November
• CHORAL TIES & SWAN Newsletter May 2025
• SWAN newsletter March 2025
• Call for Presentations: Share Your Work on Inclusive Singing at Leading Voices 2025!
• Questionnarie for SWAN database – fill it out!
• Project meeting in Amsterdam with the SWAN partners
• Feniarco joins the SWAN project! Read the full press release
• Work in progress: the Dutch contribution to the SWAN project
• Launch of the SWAN project! Read the full press release

• Digital tools for visually impaired singers implemented and related webinar by Norsk Sangerforum
• Guideline for professionals who want to start a choir specifically intended for people confronted with cancer by Kanker in Beeld
• Research findings on Inclusion and Accessibility in French and Italian choral context by Feniarco
• Sing for Life: a singing and wellbeing programme for adults with intellectual and physical disabilities by Sing Ireland. 
• Song Seeking: a singing and wellbeing programme in direct provision by Sing Ireland
• Project presentations at Leading Voices: Presentation1 / Presentation2

NEXT EVENTS

• KANKER IN BEELD REGIONAL CHOIRS GATHERING | Ede (NL), November 22nd 2025 | Website
  In the framework of the SWAN project Kanker in Beeld will organize a Regional Choirs Gathering on November 22^nd 2025 in Ede, in the middle of the Netherlands. It will be on a special venue: the World Food Center in old military barracks. It is located opposite the railway station, so easily to reach. The programme runs from 10.30 – 15.30 hrs. At the moment 15 Singing for your Life choirs have registered. We expect over 200 participants, cancer patients and their relatives. All choirs will participate in the programme, singing for and with all the choirs.The theme of this gathering: DREAMING. Conductors, voice expression  specialists and musical accompanists from all over Europe are welcome to join us on that gathering. During lunch you will have to opportunity to talk with some of the conductors of our choirs. When you are interested to come over to the Netherlands for this choirs gathering, please contact Manon van den Berg info@kankerinbeeld.nl and we will discuss arrangements to be made for your visit.

PAST EVENTS

• PROJECT CONFERENCE | Parma (IT), October 4th-5th 2025 hosted by Feniarco | Website
  The city of Parma hosted the international conference of the European project SWAN. Two days of meetings, testimonials and in-depth discussions with experts, teachers, choir conductors and representatives from the world of associations and education, to share experiences, best practices and future prospects. The conference, hosted in the Aula Magna of the University of Parma, represented a unique opportunity for international exchange and mutual growth, with the aim of promoting singing as a tool for participation, well-being and social inclusion. Full programm here: https://www.feniarco.it/en/projects/swan-project/conference 
  Speakers included: Kjetil Aamann (Norsk Sangerforum), Sonja Greiner(European Choral Association), Vladimiro Vagnetti (Feniarco Music Commission), Jenny O’Connor-Madsen (Sing Ireland), Pelin Küçükerdoğan(Koro Kültürü Derneği), Cora Honing (Kanker in Beeld), Emilio Piffaretti (G. Verdi Conservatory in Milan), Gabriella Corsaro, Loredana Boito, Eleonora Briatore, Donatella Moioli, Maurizio Scarpa, Costanza Di Leo, Pierluigi Festa
• WEBINAR “What’s special about conducting a choir for people with cancer? Focus: voice expression as an essential element of the rehearsal” | Online (zoom), 27 March 2025 at 3pm | Recording
  Are you a choir conductor looking to make a difference? Whether you already lead a choir for cancer patients or are curious about the impact of singing in this context, this webinar offers valuable insights, practical techniques and inspiration. Listen to experienced choir conductor, Heleen van der Heul, and president of Kanker in Beeld, Cora Honing, as they introduce the Singing for Life choir network in the Netherlands and get a glimpse into the power of these choirs. The webinar includes Heleen sharing key elements of voice expression that she practices with her choir in Almere as well as Cora sharing opportunities to join a conductors exchange in the Netherlands in 2025 and attend Kanker in Beeld’s Regional Choir Gathering in October 2025.
• WALTER STRAUSS CHORAL CONDUCTING MASTERCLASS | Ankara (TR), 19-25 January 2025 | Website
  The International Choral Conducting Masterclass Project has been organized by the Turkish State Choir since 2016. This special program brings together six active conductor candidates and observer participants interested in choral music with internationally renowned guest choral conductors invited to our country each year, offering an intensive and rich training experience for a week. Some activities will be organised in the framework of the SWAN project.
• WEBINAR “DIGITAL TOOLS FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED SINGERS” | Online (zoom), 26 November 2024 | Recording
  Sheet music can be difficult to read for those who are visually impaired. Get an introduction to Digital tools for visually impaired singers. The webinar is in English. All the software and tools we present are freeware/open source. Read more and watch the recording at www.sangerforum.no/SWAN
• SINGING FOR LIFE CHOIRS REGIONAL GATHERING | Harleem (NL), 19 October 2024 | Website
  Kanker in Beeld organised its first event in the SWAN project for Singing for Life choirs in the host city Haarlem on 19 October 2024.
  Singing for Life choirs support people with cancer and their families, a model that Kanker in Beeld wants to share beyond borders. The theme of the day was “Connection” and along with dance and improvisational theatre, collective singing was at the heart of the event. Read about the event here
• SWAN ATELIERS at the TURKISH CHOIR CULTURE ASSOCIATION GENERAL ASSEMBLY |  Ankara (TY), 9 March 2024 Website
  Within the scope of the SWAN Project,  the (Turkish) Choir Culture Association (CCA) held two ateliers for music educators on 9 March 2024, during its General Assembly weekend. With the partnership of Sing Ireland, CCA aimed to provide psycho-social support for the music educators working in the earthquake zone (6 Feb 2023) utilizing the healing power of collective singing. The first atelier aimed to present the project to the target audience and invite people to join the project as collaborators, atelier leaders, or participants. A psychodramatist led the second atelier and invited participants to express their emotions through their voices.