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How do youth-focused music projects differ in urban and rural areas, and where are their connecting points? The Lewis Prize for Music sought out five organizations serving rural communities across the U.S. to answer this question.

Regressive lawmaking in the U.S. has led some music educators to feel unsafe talking about race, gender, or history in the classroom. In response, the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) a published a must-read report earlier this year on Divisive Concepts Laws (DCL) – legislative and executive orders that restrict teaching and learning activities related to race, gender, sexuality, and U.S. history—and their impact on music educators across the U.S.

What’s the backbone of healthy musical practice? As it turns out, our backbones; when our bodies feel at odds with our music–making, we risk injury, fatigue, and poor development.

As communities grow increasingly diverse in places like British Columbia, where 29% of the population identify as immigrants, programs like VYC Kindred, from the Vancouver Youth Choir, are offering music as a meeting place for the region’s past and future.

Michael Bonshor’s recent article in The Conversation examines the many reasons why certain music makes us feel good. Surprise: it’s all tied to individual preferences. 

During our several months working with Streetwise Opera, we learned that the organization has already initiated projects that take performances out of the concert hall and into the streets. Our concert proposal sought to continue those projects with a logical next step: “Streetwise Street Party: A Community Celebration.” An afternoon tea-themed street party for all ages, the community concert is designed to share Streetwise’s work on a city street temporarily closed to traffic in London, one of the cities Streetwise serves.

In 2014, arts education in the Netherlands was in a dire state. In particular, music education had suffered from years of budget cuts in primary schools. There was an increased focus on the “case subjects,” such as language and math, as well as changes in the teacher training colleges, where only one or two modules of music education remained in the curriculum. 

In the second week of March 2023, El Sistema USA, an organizational network of Sistema-inspired programs in the United States, held their first in-person national symposium since the pandemic began. Attendees converged to attend workshops, rekindle friendships, and share perspectives and questions about the field. They also encountered something unprecedented: a lively cohort of Youth Ambassadors, students from programs across the country, who often took the lead in key activities.  

Growing up, I was taught to suck it up, because your pain isn’t serious until you become an adult. Feelings weren’t a thing, and neither were options. So when I joined a place that preached opposite ideas, I thought I had fallen into a parallel universe.

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.