Project PerformArt - roads to musical proficiency ended in December after 8 months of activities held during the atypical year 2020. This project focused on artistic educational paths, or more precisely, the proficiency, perfection and career guidance for young musicians. Regardless, the project premiered successfully in the year 2019, assisted by the financial backing of the Ministry of Education and Research via the Institutional Development Fund. It was conceived and carried out by a group of teachers from the The National University of Music Bucharest, coordinated by composer Cătălin Crețu - project director and Cristina Popescu-Stănești - pianist and dean of the Faculty of Musical Performance. The project continued to receive financial backing throughout 2020 as well.The idea was born out of the need to remedy an error in the Romanian musical educational system - the quasi-disappearance of some instrument specialisations: trumpet, horn, tuba, bassoon and double bass. There is great labour demand for these specialisations, but there is an insufficient number of students that can occupy the vacancies in the orchestras. The problem can be traced back to music schools and high schools where students either have no access to these instruments, are taught by teachers from other specialisations or are obligated to study with old, sometimes deteriorated musical instruments.In order to fix these situations numerous awareness campaigns, career counselling and guidance, concerts and interactive educational activitieshave been organized in order to revive the interest of students from disadvantaged backgrounds and especially to revive interest for the aforementioned instruments.(for the project from 2019 see: https://www.unmb.ro/performart/)

The National University of Music Bucharest believes that the tie between the pre-university and university learning environments is essential for the foundation of young artists in the future. The present endeavour (PerformArt 2.0) sought to further develop previously initiated strategies and the collaboration extended towards other music schools and high schools in Muntenia, Oltenia, Dobrogea and south of Banat, Transilvania and Moldova. As such, 530 students from 17 high schools in Romania specialised in music have benefitted this year from the careful guidance of over 30 teachers from the Faculty of Musical Performance. Furthermore, master classes and workshops have been made for all specialisations: wind instruments, string instruments, percussion, piano, pipe organ and canto.

The teachers involved in the PerformArt 2.0 project have also carried out repairs, maintenance and tuning adjustments of worn or deteriorated instruments belonging to the partnered high schools.

Last but not least, in 2020 the development of tools that would allow the perfection of school and high school teachers has been made. With this goal in mind, a pedagogical guide was constructed. Spanning over 400 pages it features a series of articles, studies and essays containing opinions and tips in order to learn and master the art of instrumental and vocal performance, routines for the teaching of every instrument, musical recontextualizations, stories that question the reader regarding various issues and letters or detailed explanations about the tie between sound, instrument, the instrumental artist and the public. The authors- skilled teachers from the National University of Music Bucharest - have sought the same big goal: to open the path towards musical proficiency grounded in honesty, professionalism and passion.