Founded by Beat Furrer and Ernst Kovacic impuls, the International Ensemble and Composers Academy for Contemporary Music and Association for the Communication of Contemporary Music has developed into one of the internationally leading institutions in this field within shortly. Instrumental classes and ensemble work, composition classes and special programs such as Ensemble meets Composers, reading sessions with Klangforum Wien, open Composers´ Pool, electronic- and improvisation-workshops …: Every second year the impuls Academy offers young musicians and composers – from Austria, but also from all over the world – an intense training and holistic approach to contemporary music, both in a theoretical and practical way. For about 14 days impuls hereby builds an important platform for joint working, mutual learning and international exchange in Graz, Styria. An international team of renowned musicians and composers as lecturers guarantees highest quality and builds the basis for excellently educated, highly motivated and internationally interlinked young musicians and composers as competent and authentic messengers of music as a language without borders. In addition to the impuls Academy the impuls Festival with public concerts, presentations, lectures and various music communication programs, impuls MinuteConcerts in galleries and public workshops (also for kids) … offer various possibilities – also to a broader audience with open ears – to experience new and contemporary music and turn Graz into a center of contemporary music and festival-city for two weeks in February. Through the impuls Composition Competition, the impuls Composition Workshop and impuls Commissions with first performances of these works with world-class-ensembles such as Klangforum Wien impuls gains additional relevance and attractivity for interpreters and composers as well as the audiences. In addition to its academy, festivals, and composition competitions, impuls ensures continuity in the development of contemporary music in many other ways. Our many projects include “Text in Sound,” additional composition commissions, musical interventions at various performances from partner organizations, smaller annual workshops, day-long "MinuteConcerts" in art galleries in Graz, cooperations to provide composition commissions to young composers, and contracting out impuls musicians to other presenters, as well as through lobbying efforts and continuous support work.