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The Ensemble seeks to connect and inform all people who are committed to ensemble music education for youth empowerment and social change.
 
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News & Resources

Advice on Hiring a First Fundraiser

05-06-2026

If you are going to hire a staff member as your first dedicated fundraiser, Patrick Slevin (Executive Director of Austin Soundwaves) offers advice based on his personal experience.

Suggested Reading: Music Reshapes Young Lives in Africa

05-06-2026

The Art of Positive Fatalism – Lessons from Kinshasa is a new book by Lukas Pairon, the founder of the international research organization SIMM (Social Impact of Making Music).

NEOJIBA on Tour

05-06-2026

The youth orchestra of the Brazilian program NEOJIBA has just returned from its 10th international tour, having visited Frankfurt, Germany, and four cities in China.

Welcome, El Sistema Oman

05-06-2026

El Sistema Oman, a new youth orchestra program based in the Gulf area of Muscat, Oman, is completing its pilot year.

Learn about Artistic Intelligence

05-06-2026

“Arts Plural: A Reader on Artistic Intelligence” is available free from the ELIA (European League of Institutes of the Arts) Biennial Conference 2024.

The NBYO Had Never Sent a Student to the Royal College of Music. Now They’re Sending Two.

Patrick Scafidi, Executive Editor, The Ensemble

04-01-2026

In its 60 years of existence, the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra (NBYO)—Canada’s first provincial orchestra—has celebrated many a milestone. This year, there’s a new kind of success to celebrate: two of its graduating seniors have been accepted into London’s Royal College of Music. 

The Royal College has never accepted an NBYO player before, let alone two. This is relatively rare for programs that value social-emotional outcomes as much or more than musical ones. But for the students involved, those social-emotional outcomes played a critical role in their matriculation, clarifying the value of a movement that builds arts-and-community pipelines traced back to a player’s earliest years.

Join the Skoll World Forum for Free

 

 

04-01-2026

The Skoll World Forum (April 21–24) is one of the world’s most distinguished gatherings of thought leaders, focusing on finding solutions to global problems.

EDITORIAL
The Stories We’re Speaking Into

Dr. Tasha Golden, singer-songwriter and behavioral scientist

04-01-2026

Across the field of music for social impact, a lot of energy goes toward communication: Tell your story. Build your evidence base. Find the right combination of data and narrative, and you’ll finally get the support or decisions you’re seeking.

I work across sectors on exactly these goals: helping organizations design research studies that reflect their unique approaches and articulate their impact in ways that actually land. So I get it: refining communication is valuable work.

But it’s not the full picture. And our failure to see that full picture keeps us from igniting the changes we value. 

In Rhode Island, a Music Center Becomes a Community Haven

Sebastian Ruth, Founder and Artistic Director, Community MusicWorks

04-01-2026

Last weekend, in the U.S. city of Providence, Rhode Island, the renowned pianist Emanuel Ax visited Community MusicWorks for a pair of concerts in collaboration with our students and our professional ensemble in residence. Manny’s visit helped to celebrate our CMW Center, which was only a dream when he first came in 2017.

During Manny’s first visit, one concert took place in a neighborhood taqueria, and another on the basketball court of a nearby community center. In many ways, the concerts last weekend marked the new chapter we find ourselves in, welcoming children, families, musicians, and special guest artists into our purpose-built center.

New Grant Program from El Sistema USA

 

 

04-01-2026

El Sistema USA is launching Summer Now!, a new grant initiative for accelerated learning in summer programming.

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