Earlier this autumn we received the sad news that NJMT’s Editorial Contact in Poland, Professor Dr. Wita Szulc, had passed away on 11 October 2021, at the age of 80. We have lost a very warm, creative, and enthusiastic colleague.
Wita was a leading figure in the development of the arts therapies in Poland. In her engaged and personal way, she was also a true internationalist. NJMT was in no way the only international collaboration that she was involved in. For instance, she regularly presented at international conferences, and she was associated both with the European Consortium for Arts Therapies Education (ECArTE) and the European Music Therapy Confederation (EMTC) for many years.
I will make no attempt of describing her important contributions to the field(s). Obituaries giving an overview of such contributions are available digitally already, as for instance, the one published on the website of EMTC. I find it more relevant here to reflect upon the role Wita played in the development of NJMT, especially in the early years of the journal. It was an influential role, even though her limited responsibilities as an Editorial Contact did not imply direct involvement with the everyday efforts of running and improving the journal.
Wita the internationalist was a strong believer in the value of sharing and discussing, and she argued that this would make geographical boundaries much less relevant in the development of an emerging field such as music therapy. She acted upon this belief and actively contacted NJMT in the mid-nineties, suggesting that Polish music therapy should be involved in the Baltic-Nordic collaboration that supported NJMT’s efforts of becoming a solid peer-reviewed journal contributing to the international music therapy discourse.
Note the historical context: This was after the Wall and before the Web (at least before most people knew about it). The political boundaries between Eastern and Western Europe were no longer hindering exchange directly, but vehicles for exchange were still limited. Creatively and with great energy, Wita started to engage with international scholars in the arenas created by conferences, journals, and organizations.
At the same time, Wita the internationalist was solidly situated in her own local context. When she took interest in say David Aldridge’s work on music therapy as health promoting activity or my own elaborations on music therapy and the right to cultural participation, it was always with a strong connection to her work in Poland on people’s personal and cultural needs in a social situation.
Her deep respect for people in context was demonstrated when she, after some years as editorial contact in NJMT, invited herself and came visiting to the little town of Sandane in Western Norway, where the journal was edited at the time. She wanted to learn about the history of the journal. Given her broad interest in culture, she also wanted to learn about the conditions of culture-centered music therapy in a Norwegian context.
I will always remember the lesson she taught us by taking interest in these local, little things. Nordic dialogues, and then Baltic-Nordic dialogues, and later both European and broad international dialogues have enabled the development of NJMT. We cannot just zoom out, however. At times we also need to zoom in. Contexts matter, not just in a broad and general way. The fusion of horizons that Wita the internationalist dreamed about is only possible if we take into consideration the situated knowledges that constitute the conditions of any dialogue.
Wita’s warmth, creativity, and engagement will be missed very much. My deepest condolences to her family, to her Polish colleagues, and to the international community of arts therapists.