Asia

In 2016, Jigyasa Labroo was teaching in the conflict area of Kashmir, India. She brought a poetry exercise to her class of 60 girls that called for them to express their emotions. Jigyasa expected the regular childhood emotions of joy, wonder, and friendship to emerge; what came out instead was mostly pain, anger, isolation, and sadness. The room that day held a great deal of tension and hurt—but also some catharsis. At the end of class, she realized how important it was to create spaces for children to express themselves safely through the arts.

There are not many music programs in the world with the word “Mystics” in their name. But it serves us well. Like many Ensemble readers, we are a passionate group of musicians working toward creating social inclusion and happy childhoods through music. And we find inspiration in the all-inclusive and peaceful messages of mystic poets like Kabir Das and Mahatma Gandhi.

Score one for arts advocates: recent research from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology shows that music is indeed instinctive to humans.

It was not a promising time to be learning or teaching music in Lebanon. The Lebanese pound had depreciated by over 90%, making music lessons a luxury that few could afford. The National Conservatory of Music was mostly non-operational; schools had stopped music classes for lack of funding, and our country’s youth had no means to advance their musical education. In this challenging environment, Father Maatouk turned to the El Sistema model.

Adults are living longer, but support systems for older adults are not keeping up with this growing demographic. Luckily, arts workers at the intersection of aging and wellbeing are uniquely qualified to step in.

Drawing inspiration from a Sufi poem about a flock of birds searching for the meaning of life, Teach for India has dreamed up a beautifully unique artistic vision of modern India. Promoting liberty, equality, fraternity, and justice, “The Conference of the Birds” is a Sufi– and Hamilton-inspired hop hop production co-created by Teach for India students and alumni and other performing artists.

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.

In my first Ensemble editorial, I wrote about how opportunities within classical music allowed me to bypass barriers caused by economic inequality in the Philippines. But this unequal distribution of resources still bothers me today, which is why I’m studying political science and hoping to go into policy research after graduation.

With just one year to go at college, I’ve been reflecting on the ways my musical training has influenced how I approach the social sciences. 

EU4Culture has announced a call for proposals of projects that promote intercultural cooperation and dialogue among non-capital cities across the EU4Culture Cities Network in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine.

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.