Every year, Music Export Ukraine has the official partnership with one of the most influential showcase events for European Music - Eurosonic Noordeslag. This year, the event celebrated its 40th anniversary, and we’re proud that Ukrainian artists, voices, and topics had a strong and visible place in this milestone edition. Huge congratulations to Ukrainian act Carpetman, who won an award from the Music Moves Europe Awards 2026 and received €10,000 to support the development of his career. This year’s winners were officially announced during the award ceremony. Alongside Carpetman (Ukraine), the MME Awards laureates include Camille Yembe (Belgium), Della (Cyprus), Sarah Julia (Netherlands), and Sofie Royer (Austria). The Jury Prize and Public Choice Award both went to Lia Kali (Spain).

As EU Commissioner Glenn Micallef noted: “European music continues to thrive through its diversity, creativity, and bold artistic voices. The Music Moves Europe Awards celebrate artists who are shaping the sound of the future.”

Big up to the Ukrainian artists who showcased in front of international professionals and music fans from all over the world! Monokate, Hyphen Dash, GANNA for full houses and huge applause.

Music Export Ukraine was proud to contribute to the ESNS conference with panels on international networking, global events, and artist storytelling for niche genres. Full rooms, sharp questions, and real engagement — thank you to everyone who joined. Also, it was great to see colleagues from 30+ countries during our annual general assembly of European Music Exporters Exchange (EMEE) and strengthen our network even more. Along with that, we would like to thank the Ukrainian Institute for the receptions this year, a great place to chat with Ukrainian talents and management for a long-lasting collaboration.

Lastly, this year, we had a special mission at ESNS: we brought 32 alumni and project members of our flagship programme, the Eastern European Music Academy. After an intensive three-month online study programme, 60 students from 15 countries across Central and Eastern Europe worked on practical assignments, developed their own projects, strengthened their communication skills, and built new collaborations. The top participants were given the opportunity to join a fully covered trip to this important event for international career development. They were joined by project alumni from previous years, forming an incredibly vibrant community from across the region. Together, they participated in discussion panels, networked with colleagues from around the world, and even had a private excursion to the legendary club VERA, led by our Academy expert Koen ter Heegde from Yugofuturism.