Perspectives & Collective Action

 
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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Pandemic, Interrupted

Tricia Tunstall, Cofounder and Contributing Editor, The Ensemble

01-05-2022

On the first Thursday of December 2021, I did something I hadn’t done for the previous 20 months: I taught six piano students in a row in person, in my home studio. After 16 months of virtual teaching, I had been gradually reintroducing in-person lessons during the fall, one kid at a time, as they became vaccinated. This was the first day that every student on my roster was actually on my piano bench.

From Musicambia: Lessons from Teaching Music in Prisons

Nathan Schram, Founder and Artistic Director, Musicambia

01-05-2022

Teaching music in prisons is about doing the most with the resources you have. And everywhere we teach, we learn something new from our collaborating musicians; in many ways, we learn as much from our experiences as our students do. In the spirit of reflection and new beginnings, I want to share a few of the lessons that have shaped our work over the past seven years.

Putting Music at the Center of Global Development Conversations

Shain Shapiro, Founder and Group CEO, Sound Diplomacy; Executive Director, Center for Music Ecosystems

12-01-2021

Why is music almost entirely absent from global development conversations, outside of staging benefit concerts?

This is one of the questions that led me to launch two organizations in recent years, Sound Diplomacy and the Center for Music Ecosystems. I realized that in the key conversations that drive development decisions across the world, there is little understanding of the value of the music ecosystem and what it can bring to human development.

Collaborators in the Key of Change

Ken MacLeod, CEO/Founder, Sistema New Brunswick (Canada)

10-05-2021

Society’s highest goal for children in foster care seems to be keeping them out of trouble. But their social workers ache for more. In our conversations, they were drawn to the idea of offering children a path to rare and significant personal success, including new skills and disciplines that would change their future.

A September 2021 Resource Bulletin

09-21-2021

Venezuela’s El Sistema will hold a World Congress of El Sistema on September 28th, 29th, and 30th. The virtual event is designed to foster an exchange of ideas on topics of global relevance for like-spirited programs and projects around the world. The Congress will include discussions, presentations, workshops, and screenings, all with Spanish-English translation. Focal topics will include organizational and pedagogical issues, artistic vision, social impact, research in the field, child and youth protection policies, and fundraising.

Conductors Stepping up as Community Advocates

09-15-2021

How are young conductors breaking the traditional mold and learning to reach out to their communities in new ways? According to this article by Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times, it has a lot to do with Gustavo Dudamel. The Dudamel Fellowship Program, which he started at the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2009, has produced a number of rising conductors—many of them women—who think about “what is needed to serve diverse audiences…and what it means for an orchestra to belong to a community.”

ESUSA Shares Updated Child Protection Policy

08-03-2021

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EU Shares Report on Gender Inequality in the Cultural Sector

07-21-2021

In June, the European Commission released a report on practices to help close the gender gap in the cultural and creative sector. The report, which includes many concrete policy recommendations, was written by the OMC (Open Method of Coordination) Working Group of Member States’ Experts; it emphasizes the role that culture and the arts play in promoting gender equity.

Connect with Other Arts Organizations Working with Vulnerable Populations

07-21-2021

If you work with asylum-seekers, refugees, or other vulnerable populations, you will want to subscribe to art27. Founded on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 27), the organization serves as a platform for “artists, arts educators, and arts organizations” who work with vulnerable populations. Specifically, art27 is a network where like-minded organizations can collaborate and share expertise.

Canadian Program Produces Short Documentary on Pandemic Music-Making

07-21-2021

Enjoy this short documentary from Ottawa-based program OrKidstra about the highs and lows of musical growth and achievement. Produced entirely virtually, You Are Your Own Best Teacher: OrKidstra’s Masterclass Story is a 20-minute video that shares how OrKidstra members kept the music going during distance learning.

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