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On the occasion of the 30th ISME World Conference on Music Education, Thessaloniki, Greece (July 15-20, 2012), the International Society for Music Educationand Gibson Foundation presented two International Awards.

These prestigious awards were open to educators and institutions that have particularly distinguished themselves in the field of music education within Greece. The awards recognize outstanding achievement and service in the discipline, thereby providing acknowledgement for exemplary music educators and or institutions whose work enriches music education in Greece and serves as an exemplar for the ideals of music education internationally.

One award was given to the Greek Society for Music Education (G.S.M.E., founded 1997) and the other award was given to The Music Library of Greece ‘Lilian Boudouri’ (founded 1995).

The Gibson Awards were presented on Thursday’s 19th July Plenary session. ISME President Prof. Graham Welch, and Nina Miller, Executive Director of
Gibson Foundation presented the two awards and gave the Gibson Guitars to the G.S.M.E. President May Kokkidou, and the representative of the Music Library, Vasiliki Koutsobina.

The G.S.M.E. and the Music Library of Greece will collaborate on a new, special project to reach out through, and in, music to people who are at the margins of society, at risk of social exclusion and for whom involvement in music will make a positive and enriching difference to their lives. G.S.M.E. will lead the fieldwork development aspects of the project.

The Music Library of Greece in Athens will use its on-line expertise to provide project resource support and data dissemination within Greece and globally.

The project outcomes will be reported in 31stISME World Conference in Brazil, 2014.