In the Autumn of 2015 (5-6-7 October) SIMM organizes a first international symposium in Ghent and Brussels on practice and research developed around music projects in social work contexts. The ambition is to have such yearly international meetings in order to constitute and develop an international network of practitioners and researchers.

Distinguished researchers and practitioners give presentations at this first SIMM-posium: John Sloboda (UK), François Matarasso (UK), Geoffrey Baker (UK), Nabeel Abboud Ashkar (IL), Samuel Araujo (BR), Gloria Patricia Zapata Restrepo (Colombia), Rachel Beckles Willson (UK), André De Quadros (India) and Gilles Delebarre (Fr).

Their presentations include: a critical study of Sistema Venezuela, the practices of Polyphony in Nazareth (Israël) and D.EM.O.S in Paris, a study of West-Eastern Divan Orchestra of Barenboim-Said Foundation, music and incarceration in the violent settings of American prisons, effects of sustained music instruction on children and families displaced by conflict in Colombia, and what characteristics should music interventions have for effective social justice outcomes.