Community Building

The Musical Care International Network invites grant applications for projects and events that provide “everyday musical care” to others.

The Lewis Prize for Music just released three new short films on their website, in partnership with Hip Hop Into Learning, Memphis Music Initiative, and Mana Maoli.

The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music has had a big year thanks in part to a $250,000 gift from The Joel Foundation.

Sistema Scotland’s Big Noise ensembles had the honor of performing for the 25th anniversary celebration of the Scottish Parliament in September.

El Sistema USA is now accepting applications for their 2025 Youth Ambassador Program.

There are many ensembles made up of family members. But have you ever encountered an entire orchestra where every musician feels like a sibling? The Accra Youth Sinfonietta, a youth music program in a small town near Accra, Ghana, is one such orchestra. What makes this ensemble especially familial is that the children not only make music together—they also live together at a children’s home called Kinder Paradise. Many of the children in residence have suffered abuse or neglect and have spent time in unhoused circumstances.

Something genuinely new in Bolivia’s classical music scene is happening here. The last decade has seen a new generation of enthusiastic Bolivian music students and teachers who are notably increasing the size of Bolivian audiences for classical music. As a result, self-managed orchestras have become commonplace not only in Cochabamba but across Bolivia.

A good conference asks an important question; a great conference launches an answering process that reaches beyond its few days. In September, ITAC7, the Seventh International Teaching Artist Conference, brought hundreds of teaching artists from around the world to Auckland, New Zealand, to address the question of what the global field can learn from Indigenous wisdom about art and community.