Asia/Oceania

It’s been a decade since we launched the first El Sistema–inspired program in Japan, in the city of Soma, Fukushima Province. Our goal was to offer support, community, and dignity to the children affected by the 2011 tsunami and nuclear accident. Our vision statement at that time was: “Community regenerated by children with life skills through music.”

Since then, we’ve learned a great deal about the needs of the children we serve and the primary outcomes we want to be aiming at. Accordingly, we’ve reshaped the vision statement as follows: “Collaborative society where everyone can be free and creative.”

Arts programs are often the first to be affected by government cutbacks, and proposed cuts are putting the future of the Melbourne Youth Orchestras at risk.

The Queen of Paradise program was originally the brainchild of Father Miguel de la Calle, a priest at the IVE (Instituto del Verbo Encarnado) mission in Papua New Guinea. Father Miguel, says Maestro Briceño, “had full confidence, from day one, in the power of music to positively change lives.”

A 16–year–old’s song is letting young men in Australia know it’s okay to express their emotions. “Because Boys” was written by Rory Phillips as part of the Boys’ Vocal Program in New South Wales.

What is community music’s role in addressing social inequality? The Creative Change project is hoping to answer this question through a series of research-informed projects with Aboriginal communities across Australia.

To complement the “Ambassador (Re)Introductions” published in April, the cohort recorded video introductions for the month of June. Listen to the Ambassadors as they say hello in their native languages, from every corner of the globe.

The Jameel Arts & Health Lab—the brainchild of the World Health Organization (WHO), New York University’s Steinhardt School, the non-profit organization Culturunners, and philanthropic foundation Community Jameel—was launched earlier this year with an ambitious mission: to research how the arts can improve the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities in some of the most challenging places around the world.

This month, the Ambassadors were asked to explore their daily lives in their programs. Our most recent entry explores ideas such as: 1) their daily routines outside of rehearsal; 2) what their rehearsal settings look and feel like; and 3) their relationships with their colleagues/instructors. We hope to share different slices of life from different corners of the world.

When the world stopped in 2020, Ang Misyon’s Orchestra of the Filipino Youth (OFY) had to adapt its programming to a hybrid format. Under the guidance of Gerard Salonga, OFY’s Music Director since 2021, the curriculum was reprioritized to ensure that each scholar receives hands-on mentorship while continuing to develop a sense of community with their peers.

In the Shonai district, an inner-city commercial area in the southern part of the city, population is half what it was in 1970; as families with small children moved out of the area, the number of children has decreased. A survey conducted by the Toyonaka City Council (TCC) showed that only about 40 percent of the younger generation (ages 18–39) in the Shonai area say they want to keep living in their community, while among all city residents in general, that number is 60 percent.