Mitrovica Rock School

Rock’n’roll in a divided city
Before the Kosovo war, Mitrovica was a center for rock music in the region. The conflict has left the city’s Serb and Albanian communities divided by the river Ibar, and has destroyed the city’s rich cultural life. 

Two locations, one school
At the Mitrovica Rock School, experienced local musicians train young rock stars on both sides of the river, bringing them together for annual Summer Schools and connecting them online. Teachers from the two sides work together the year round to establish the Rock School as one of the city’s first shared institutes and to restore Mitrovica’s rock music tradition.

Joint initiative
The Mitrovica Rock School is a joint initiative of Musicians without Borders, Community Building Mitrovica, the Fontys Rock Academy and IKV Pax Christi. Started as a project, the Mitrovica Rock School is being developed as a long-term, independent, self-sustaining institution.

History
The original Rock School concept was born from an encounter between MwB trainers, CBM staff and Mitrovica musicians, after which MwB collected and shipped pop-rock music instruments from the Netherlands to equip the Mitrovica Rock School. As the lead organization in the Mitrovica Rock School project, Musicians without Borders coordinates the roles of all partners and builds local management and organizational capacity .