Looking back on 2025

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2025 was a year full of ups and downs. Hard times for our region and city, as political tensions were high, and many crucial services stopped due to cuts in international aid. But mostly good times inside our school, where young musicians from both side of the divide connected, created, and invested in themselves and their future.

Our students travelled to Berlin and Skopje, together with Musicians Without Borders, Roma Rock School, Fontys Rockacademie, and Clash!. Our teachers and student-trainees received training and master classes at the Rockacademie in the Netherlands. And next year, we hope to attend Balkan Trafik! Festival in Brussels once more, to successfully end our Music Connects project, and start the next school year on a high note. 
 

Here’s what our project Music Connects achieved in 2025: 

  • 141 young musicians (98 from North and South Mitrovica, 43 from Skopje) participated in 3,009 music lessons, mixed band rehearsals and workshops.
  • 19 teachers and trainees from Mitrovica Rock School and Roma Rock School received teacher training from the Dutch Fontys Rockacademie.
  • 12 ethnically mixed bands with 58 members rehearsed, recorded, and performed their original songs.
  • Two supergroups with 8 members from Mitrovica Rock School and Roma Rock School performed their original songs in Berlin. 
  • We delivered two training weeks in Mitrovica, one training in Skopje, a summer school in Skopje, an exchange in Berlin, and teacher training in the Netherlands. 
  • We organized 8 concerts, 40 training sessions, and spent 29 days in the studio. 
  • We reached an audience of approximately 4.4m with 15 press reports in four languages.

Music as a Response to Division

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A blog by Filip Milovanović, professional session musician and drum teacher at Mitrovica Rock School. This blog was written as a contribution to the project “Cultural Canvas of Northern Kosovo,” and originally posted on the website of NGO ACDC.

Back in 2008, I heard that the Mitrovica Rock School was opening. Older musician friends from the city invited me to attend drum classes, and that’s how my life journey truly began.

Now, 16 years later, I teach at that very same school and work what is possibly the best job in the world.

I’m somewhat glad that music and the rock school taught me that differences in faith, religion, or skin color don’t really matter—because at the end of the day, we’re all here for the same reason: to create music.

Music has this unique power to overcome barriers that politics and history often place, simply because, on stage, you see musicians—not Serbs, Bosniaks, Albanians, and so on.

I had the chance to play and work with people from many different cultures, and now I realize how important that is in shaping a musician/human being, especially someone born in a “strange” place like this, where unfortunately there’s still a lot of hatred and perspectives that perhaps shouldn’t exist.

That’s why I believe we have to find ways to make the world a better place. I believe music does that every day. But if we, as people, don’t want to make that change, then I believe we face a serious problem.

Culture and music need no translation. Emotion is understood without words. That’s exactly why I believe the diversity we have should be seen as our greatest wealth—because by combining all these differences and cultures, we can create something truly valuable.

At the end of the day, multiethnic cooperation is not just an artistic act—it’s a social stance that shows something different is possible and achievable, if you truly want it.

Music Connects exchange in Berlin

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From July 4 to 9, young musicians from Mitrovica, Skopje and the Netherlands connected during an exchange in Berlin. Check out this photo blog by our communications trainee Erjona!

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What we achieved in 2022

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As we approach the end of 2022, we’re taking a moment to look back and reflect on our work and impact during the year. Despite the situation in which our city finds itself now, 2022 started with a promise of opening borders and expanding horizons.

We launched the next phase of Music Connects – a four-year Creative Europe project with Musicians Without Borders, Roma Rock School, and Fontys Rockacademie, and new partners Clash! Exchange and Learning and the Balkan Trafik! Festival – a project which promotes inter-ethnic cooperation through state-of-the-art rock music education and connects young musicians and cultural organizers throughout Europe. 

Also for the first time in three years, we were able to organize our traditional Skopje Summer School! 10 mixed bands wrote, rehearsed, recorded, and performed their songs in an exciting band camp in Skopje. 

We spent the second half of the year preparing for exchanges in the Netherlands, Brussels and Berlin that are planned for 2023. Meanwhile, the school’s daily activities continued: we organized music lessons, band rehearsals, workshops, and concerts. 

We end the year concerned for our city, but brightened by the talent and promise of our young musicians, and committed to continuing to make Mitrovica a better, more livable place for all.

Here’s what we achieved in 2022: 

  • 67 young musicians from North and South Mitrovica participated in 1,552 music lessons, mixed band rehearsals and workshops, led by 17 staff – 8 of whom are (former) students.
  • 6 ethnically mixed bands with 26 members rehearsed, recorded, and performed their original songs, and released a music video.
  • We created two supergroups with 13 students from Mitrovica Rock School, Roma Rock School, and Fontys Rockacademie. 
  • We organized 64 workshops, 9 concerts, and spent 12 days in the studio. 

The Mitrovica Rock School thanks you for our ongoing support.

Our year in 2021

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As the end of the year approaches, we like to look back and reflect on our impact during the year. And, despite the challenges that the pandemic poses for the entire cultural scene, 2021 was a highly active year for our school.

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