Student Voice & Leadership

 
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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Transforming Young Lives Through Music: Lessons from Five Years of Impact in Creative Youth Development

Alexis Jackson, Data Analysis Officer, The Lewis Prize for Music

03-05-2025

Music has the power to transform lives, strengthen communities, and challenge the systems that shape them—but what does that transformative process actually look like? For the past five years, The Lewis Prize for Music (TLPM) has been addressing this question by supporting organizations that harness music’s power to uplift and empower young people. 

At Sirkhane Social Circus, Cultural Cooperation Is No High-Wire Act

Sahba Aminikia, San Francisco-based Iranian American composer; Founder, Flying Carpet Festival

03-05-2025

Sirkhane Social Circus is more than just a place to learn circus skills—it is a sanctuary of joy, healing, and creative expression for children who have endured the trauma of war, displacement, and social instability. Based in Mardin, Turkey, near the Syrian border, Sirkhane provides a safe and nurturing environment where children from diverse backgrounds—Syrian, Turkish, Iraqi, and Kurdish—come together to learn, perform, and play.

ESUSA Introduces Student Opportunities Board

02-05-2025

Our partners at El Sistema USA recently launched an invaluable resource for students.

At a Canadian Military Base, a Núcleo Answers an Overlooked Need

Tricia Tunstall, Contributing Editor, The Ensemble; Ken MacLeod, Founder, Sistema New Brunswick; and Kenn Mainville, CEO, Sistema New Brunswick

02-05-2025

“Where can we have the most impact?”

This question will resonate with many Ensemble readers, especially those who’ve thought about starting a new program or adding more sites to their program.

For the leaders of the Canadian network Sistema New Brunswick (Sistema NB), it sparked an unusual answer: “A military base!”

AIM Performance Videos Challenge the Status Quo

02-05-2025

The Academy for Impact through Music‘s performance videos invite teaching artists to challenge the status quo in rehearsal and concert formats.

Two weeks, 13 concerts, 22 musicians: The Ghetto Classics All-Stars Tour Kenya

Joanna Priwieziencew, Head of Ghetto Classics Dance, Nairobi, Kenya

02-05-2025

Nairobi, Kenya, November 2024.

A small room bordering East Africa’s largest dumpsite. Heat scorches through tin roofs as dust rises from the cement floor. Inside, 20 Kenyan musicians focus on Belgian saxophonist Toine Thys: they take in his every gesture and expression, eager not to miss a note. In the drum section, Canadian drummer and pedagogue Karl Jannuska passes his drumsticks to a Kenyan musician and picks up the shakers. Together, they are about to carve the thick air with an Afro jazz beat.

They’re also about to embark on their first national tour.

Harmony Program Introduces Teaching Artist Fellowship

02-05-2025

The Harmony Program is inviting applications from New York-based music education and performance graduate students to join their inaugural Teaching Artist Fellowship.

EDITORIAL
Accelerating Our Actions

Camille Delaney-McNeil, Director, the YOLA/Beckmen YOLA Center at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, California, USA

12-11-2024

As I pen this, I find myself looking through some of the session schedules of prominent convenings in our field over the course of the next several months. Many of these gatherings have their anchored purpose clarified and grounded—and, on paper, this is truly inspiring! However, it’s unfortunate to see that many of the topics are the same as those we discussed two, three, or four seasons ago. We continue to address the same problems, instead of new, compounded issues that we all must rally around, to course-correct.

Applications Open for Side by Side

12-11-2024

Side by Side is now accepting applications for their international music camp in Gothenburg, Sweden through January 28.

Daniel Barenboim Speaks About the Power of Music against Conflict

12-11-2024

Conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim shared some powerful words in a recent interview with the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, sharing how musicians can pave the way toward cultural understanding during times of conflict.

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