Gather Together

Teaching artists in the U.S. and Canada can apply to join TATI’s (Teaching Artist Training Institute) Cohort VI.

Sistema Europe reports that their Erasmus+ KA153 project “Music and Social Action in Europe: Practices in Exchange” has officially been approved.

Congratulations to two students from Sistema Cyprus.

When we first designed the Dream Orchestra in 2010, we saw “isolation” as one of the most urgent conditions in children’s lives. At the time, the intensity of college entrance competition had already reached elementary school, and many children were being pushed into highly competitive, lonely environments.

Fifteen years later, children’s lives have not become easier. They remain caught in the competitive trap of the education system while social and economic inequality continues to deepen their vulnerability. Declining physical and mental wellbeing, weakened community ties, and the replacement of direct relationships with media-based activities have also left them increasingly disconnected.

For nine years, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens, Greece—in partnership with El Sistema Greece and New York’s Carnegie Hall—has presented works from The Lullaby Project, in which people with diverse experiences work with composers and songwriters to transform personal stories about relationships with children into original musical works.

Sistema Toronto’s students engaged in a term-long composition project with award-winning composer Aaron Manswell and the Nathaniel Dett Chorale (NDC).

Carnegie Hall has launched Rhythm Explorer, a free interactive music game where kids can play along with songs from diverse musical traditions.

“Spotlight attention vs. lantern attention.” I first encountered this distinction in the work of the U.S. psychologist Allison Gopnick.

Spotlight attention means bringing full focus to a specific task. We develop this capacity over time, and we must!—it’s hard to succeed in life without the ability to focus well. Schooling is dedicated to developing this capacity: all those hours sitting at a desk and “paying attention” to information that rarely feels relevant; all those tests to measure spotlight skills.

Participating in the arts adds years to your life—you may have heard that before, but now scientific data proves it.

The FIFA World Cup is the world’s most watched and celebrated sporting event, and Atlanta, Georgia, will host three of the tournament’s matches this year.