The music therapy field in Greece has undergone important changes and advancements since 2016 . Among others, these changes include the establishment of music therapy education programs, the development of new service provision models, as well as the emergence of new professional networks and of spaces for interdisciplinary dialogue (Tsiris & Kalliodi, 2020). These advancements have multifaceted implications for the way that the discipline and the profession of music therapy evolves within the country as well as for the developing relation between the Greek music therapy community and the international one (Ridder & Tsiris, 2015). The changing ecology of the field includes emerging changes regarding the professional identity of music therapists, the awareness of the general public about the profession, as well as the possibilities for collaboration with other disciplines. However, the discourse regarding these changes and their repercussions is restricted within narrow intra-professional circles and it rarely features in public disciplinary reflections. Acknowledging the necessity and the benefits of such an open reflective discourse (Stige, 2014), this symposium attempts to outline contemporary developments in the field while raising questions and concerns in terms of three key dimensions: (a) music therapy practice and service development, (b) the importance and the role of professional networks, and (c) music therapists' education in terms of qualification as well as continued professional education and lifelong learning. These dimensions are explored multidimensionally drawing on the extensive experience of the speakers within different professional, educational and research contexts in Greece and internationally. With ramifications for issues pertaining to ideologies and sociopolitical values, this symposium aspires to promote a constructive dialogue with other professionals from the wider field of music, health and wellbeing, while taking into consideration the broader social context (Moss, 2021, Whitehead-Pleaux & Tan, 2019).  

• Μουσικές εμπειρίες στο σχολείο, στο ωδείο και στην κοινότητα
• Μουσικές εμπειρίες, δια βίου μουσική μάθηση και ευζωία
• Ιδεολογίες και κοινωνικές-πολιτικές αξίες στα προγράμματα σπουδών μουσικής
• Μουσική αγωγή, κοινωνική δικαιοσύνη και ανθρώπινα δικαιώματα

Christiana Adamopoulou, PhD, MA, is a music therapist and adjunct lecturer at the Department of Music of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She has twenty years’ experience in teaching music both in mainstream and special needs schools. Since 2019, she works as a music therapist at the “Lilian Voudouri” Creative Arts Therapies Institute. She is also trained in group psychoanalytic psychotherapy. 

Mitsi Akoyunoglou, PhD, RMT, is senior lecturer (under appointment) in music therapy at Ionian University. She is the representative of the Hellenic Association of Professional Music Therapists to the European Music Therapy Confederation and the representative of EEME to the Music Teacher Associations in Europe. She is a member of the scientific committee of Mousikopaidagogika journal and a language consultant of Approaches: An Interdisciplinary journal of music therapy. 

Maria Froudaki, MMT N-R, is the Scientific Director of Lilian Voudouri Arts Therapy Institute, a charity which provides art therapies to the community. Her experience includes clinical and educational work in special needs centers, charities, hospitals and universities. She is the founder of the Music Therapy Centre 'Musicing' which provides music therapy to children and adults, seminars and community events.  

Christina Kalliodi, MA, NICU, is a music therapist and psychotherapist. She is the founder of "Echo" Music Psychotherapy Center, where she works with children and adults and a collaborator of the nonprofit "Angels of Joy", responsible for the music therapy program at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the General Hospital "Panagiotis and Aglaia Kyriakou". She has served as president of the Greek Association of Professional Certified Music Therapists and its representative in the European Confederation of Music Therapy.

Giorgos Tsiris, PhD, is senior lecturer in music therapy at Queen Margaret University and arts lead at St Columba’s Hospice Care in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is the founding editor-in-chief of Approaches: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Music Therapy and serves as co-chair of the 2022 European Music Therapy Conference.