Exploring music

- Supporting talent

The self-governing organisation Swinging Europe is a non-profit institution located in Herning Municipality. DSI SE has worked internationally with art and culture since 1998.

Exploring music

- Supporting talent

The self-governing organisation Swinging Europe is a non-profit institution located in Herning Municipality. DSI SE has worked internationally with art and culture since 1998.

What do we do?

Through talent development projects, international collaborations, and sustainable touring activities, we help young musicians and artists realize their creative dreams. We collaborate across cultures, cities, and countries — locally, nationally, and internationally — to strengthen musical communities.

Talent Development

We focus on supporting young talents who have the potential to take their musical skills to the next level. Our projects offer social networking and development, preparing young people for a future life as musicians.


Social Inclusion

We work with social inclusion through music by promoting diversity, tolerance, and collaboration in communities. Bridging cultures and societies contributes to a positive community, with art as the guiding star.

Sustainable Touring Activities

We think innovatively about sustainability in our projects by minimizing our carbon footprint, using environmentally friendly materials, and exploring new ways of hosting concerts and events that are gentle on the environment.

Interdisciplinary Projects

Innovation arises at the intersection of different art forms. We facilitate collaborations between young musicians, visual artists, dancers, and other creative professionals to create innovative, interdisciplinary results that explore the unifying properties of creativity.

International Collaborations

In meeting the world, we enrich each other: International collaboration is the backbone of our work, where musicians connect across borders, share traditions, and create new works together. Well-being, learning, and community are strengthened from a global perspective through our efforts.

Young Local Change & Engagement

We work to empower young people as driving forces for local change and engagement in Herning through art and music. By involving young people in creative projects, we create opportunities for personal development, networking, and active participation in their communities.

Join Our Projects

At Swinging Europe, we continuously run projects and initiatives where musicians, cultural mediators, artists, and music lovers can participate and contribute to the development of the European music and arts scene. Whether you are an experienced musician, a visual artist, a dancer, or new to the industry, we offer a platform for you to explore new musical and interdisciplinary horizons and create connections across genres and borders.

Who, What and Why?

We create opportunities for artistic development and collaboration, supporting both established and emerging talents. Our goal is to make music accessible to everyone and to build bridges between people through creative interaction.

Listen to what our former board members have said about our work, projects, and results—at local, regional, and international European levels:

Results & Impact

How our projects make a difference — explore the numbers and see the impact of our work!

International Work

Countries marked in green represent places where Swinging Europe has had its own activities or activities in collaboration with partners since 1996 until now. The following countries are marked in green:
    Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Brussels, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, Åland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Poland, Germany, France, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Slovenia, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, Brazil, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Canada, Wales, England, Scotland, China, Norway, Ukraine, Iceland, Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Cyprus, Greenland, Italy, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
 

No of Concerts Locally

Local Roots: Number of Concerts/Events Locally, 1990-2025:
    As shown in the charts, there was a significant decline in activities from 2020-2022 due to Covid-19.

Focus on Gender Balance

Focus on Gender Balance
Number of musicians, nationally and internationally, 1996-2025: 2,275 individuals distributed with 66.9% men and 31.1% women.
Swinging Europe actively works with gender balance and social inclusion in the music sector. As a partner in the Music Industry Partnership for Sustainable Development, we are committed to supporting the Code of Equal Access and Well-being and submit annual data to strengthen inclusion and diversity within the industry. We have also maintained a strong focus on achieving a 50:50 gender balance in our talent development project PLAY!GROUND LIVE, to ensure equal representation of young male and female musicians. This effort is part of our ambition to promote gender equality, cultural representation, and sustainable artistic communities.
International Work Since Inception

Since its early beginnings, Swinging Europe has had an outward-looking and internationally oriented perspective. Over nearly three decades, the organization has been involved in projects and collaborations across borders and cultures, with activities in over 50 countries across Europe, North America, South America, and Asia. Through our numerous international productions, tours, and partnerships, we have focused on cultural exchange, network building, and, not least, bridging the gap between artists, institutions, and audiences globally. Our international experience has strengthened our ability to work interculturally and innovatively, and it remains a core part of our DNA, which we will continue to nurture and develop.

Local Roots and Talent Development

Alongside our global engagement, Swinging Europe has always had a strong local presence in Herning and the Central Jutland region. Based on regional collaborations and local anchoring, we have over the years organized a large number of concerts, workshops, and cultural projects for and with local audiences and young talents. Particular focus has been placed on the development of young musicians and artists through mentorship programs, co-creation processes, and collaborations with schools, music schools, and cultural actors. Despite a significant decline in activities during the period 2020-2022 due to Covid-19, we have since re-established and further expanded our local engagement with a particular focus on strengthening sustainable artistic networks and ensuring artistic growth in the surrounding area.

Gender Balance and Social Inclusion as Current Focus Areas

Since the founding of Swinging Europe in 1998, more than 2,275 musicians have been involved in our national and international activities. Of these, 66.9% have been men and 31.1% women. This distribution reflects a broader trend in the music industry, but also an issue we, as an organization, actively address.

In recent years, we have worked strategically to integrate gender equality and diversity as core elements of our artistic programming and project development. A key step in this direction is our participation in the Music Industry Partnership for Sustainable Development, where we actively follow the principles of the Code of Equal Access and Well-being. This includes submitting our own data annually as part of a collective effort to improve inclusion and diversity in the music scene. The partnership commits us to a transparent and systematic approach to working with equality and social sustainability in our practice.

At the same time, we have placed particular emphasis on achieving equal gender representation in our talent development project PLAY!GROUND LIVE, where in recent years we have worked towards a 50:50 distribution of male and female musicians under the age of 30. This initiative supports fairer representation among young artists and helps ensure that both female and male musicians can see themselves as a natural part of the music industry.

Going forward, we will continue to strengthen this focus – not only for the sake of gender equality, but also to ensure broader social inclusion, cultural representation, and sustainability within the artistic communities we are part of and help facilitate.