the ensemble

Last week, El Sistema USA announced that Katie Wyatt would be leaving her role as ESUSA President and CEO in order to serve as Executive Director of the Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities, where she will continue to serve her community (and hometown!) of Southern Pines, NC.

Three conferences this fall promise to spark your creativity and passion. And, happily, none of them fall on the same day:

This past April, we told you about Boston Public Schools’ partnership with Boston Music Project, during which students worked alongside teaching artists to compose original music that shared their perspectives from the pandemic.

A new video series that blends music, film, interviews, spoken word, and dance offers young creatives a chance to examine how artists respond to the world around them.

Since 2016, unstable housing for young people in 5th grade or higher increased by 20-23%—a damning statistic with catastrophic ripple effects. A study from the Seattle Public Schools and Creative Advantage sought to address this crisis, focusing on high school students in their two-year arts program from 2018–20.

The Arts Education Partnership has launched a “Collaboration Corner” as part of their ArtsEd Digest newsletter, designed to connect arts and education leaders so they can share ideas and grow their work.

The National Guild hosts weekly calls on Fridays at 6:30 p.m. EDT for young artists ages 13–24 across the country. The calls encourage these young artists to “artistically explore different art forms, challenges, and opportunities to thrive together.”

Designed for changemakers in any field, the Moral Courage Project shares ways to cultivate moral courage as a non-negotiable quality.

In 1983, just a few years out of music conservatory, my husband Robert Bonfiglio and I embarked on a vacation to the American Southwest. We started our trip at the Grand Canyon, with our instruments in our backpacks, a rim-to-rim-to-rim four-day hike through the canyon. The first evening, with my aching feet soaking in the cold waters of the Colorado River, I took out my flute and played. The following morning, we packed up and headed up the floor of the canyon to Cottonwood campground, where I found a washed-out tree trunk to rest under and again played my flute. A park ranger followed the sound of the flute and, when he found us, invited us to the ranger’s hut that evening to play a concert.

In October of 2008, sitting alongside Maestro José Antonio Abreu, I experienced a moment of clarity. We were visiting the state of Trujillo in the far-northwest corner of Venezuela, where the state’s six major núcleos had formed a special orchestra to put on a command performance for the Maestro. A group 200 strong, all between 10–25 years old. A breathtaking interpretation of the first movement of Mahler’s First Symphony ensued, the type of concert I had experienced so many times with awe. But then Maestro Abreu addressed the orchestra. He set out his vision for each of their lives, full of contribution, artistry, and joy. At one point he asked, “Who of you wants to be a teacher?” Every hand shot up; every face was shining. My first thought was: “What a beautiful tribute to the community of educators nurturing these young people.” I came away with the profound understanding that teaching was at the core of it all.