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Raising Refugee Voices at the Tumaini Festival

Thandi Dyani, Network Organizer, BMW Foundation Africa Region, and Trésor Mpauni, Founder, The Tumaini Festival

01-04-2023

At first, the participation of the refugee community was meager, because the idea of a festival in a refugee camp was almost inconceivable. After the first one, however, the community got a sense of what a festival is like and what possibilities and opportunities might come from it. News of the festival started spreading all over Malawi and abroad.

Teaching Mutual Understanding and Peace: The United World Colleges

Graciela Briceno, Education Officer, U.S. Agency for International Development; Founder, Boston Music Project

01-04-2023

What if there were an option for students—even those who could not afford additional years of school—to continue their “social development through music” journey? As it happens, there is one: United World Colleges (UWC), a consortium of higher education institutions that prioritizes—as does our field—peace, collaboration, and mutual understanding.

Scotland Choir Removes Barriers to Build Community

Cathy Phillips Brady, Music Development Officer, University of Glasgow; Global Leaders Project alumna

01-04-2023

In Edinburgh’s iconic Usher Hall, the Love Music Community Choir is knocking down walls. Cofounded in 2006 by professional composer and educator Stephen Deazley, Scotland’s ambitious community singing program is now some 330 members strong—the nation’s largest community choir.

Seeds of a Music Program Sprout in Congo

Irismer Kasamira, violinist; Founder, El Sistema Congo

12-07-2022

In 2021, I started doing online research about great violinists, recorder players, and orchestras. On Facebook, I came across a gentleman named Roberto Zambrano, a great musician and educator and a good person. I said to myself: “I have just found someone with whom to share my ideas.”

Building Continual Improvement into Our Teaching

José Ángel Salazar Marín, conductor; Artistic Director, El Sistema Greece; AIM FAR Lab Leader, and Eric Booth, Cofounder, The Ensemble; leadership team, AIM (Academy for Impact through Music)

12-07-2022

Action research is widely used in professional research, but unlike most academic research methodology, action research doesn’t stand back and wait for non-practitioners to deliver findings. Action research is led by the people inside the work, with ongoing hypotheses, experiments, and discoveries leading to improved practice along the way.

Because They Can: A Youth Orchestra in Canada Takes on Mahler

Katie McDermitt, Indianapolis flutist and educator; President, Board for El Sistema Indianapolis; GLP alumna

12-07-2022

Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony “Titan” is a famously formidable work. This four-movement composition by one of Austria’s greatest composers lasts almost an hour, requiring performers to have endurance as well as musical skill. Performances of Mahler 1 are generally done by professional and university-level musicians—until now. In June 2025, the musicians of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra (NBYO), the youth orchestra of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, will embark on a summer-long tour of Canada during which they will perform Mahler’s Symphony No. 1.

Finding Common Ground through Curriculum Design

Brian Bersh, Music Department Head, Germantown Friends School, Philadelphia, PA; Cohort Member, Global Leaders Program 2022

11-02-2022

Too often, curriculum design is reserved for a few administrators or lead teachers, even though it is integral to understanding and supporting musicianship development. But this process has the potential to unlock incredible opportunities for collaboration in our field, unifying stakeholders by giving everyone an equal voice in the conversation.

Ang Misyon’s Orchestra of the Filipino Youth

Jennifer Rivera, Partnerships and Communications Manager, Orchestra of the Filipino Youth

11-02-2022

When the world stopped in 2020, Ang Misyon’s Orchestra of the Filipino Youth (OFY) had to adapt its programming to a hybrid format. Under the guidance of Gerard Salonga, OFY’s Music Director since 2021, the curriculum was reprioritized to ensure that each scholar receives hands-on mentorship while continuing to develop a sense of community with their peers.

Conserving the Past, Composing the Future at Kakuma Sound

Treynor Tumwa and Mark LeVine, Cofounders, Kakuma Sound

11-02-2022

Africa’s Great Lakes Region has long been a crossroads for migrations of people, from the Indian Ocean in the east to the tropical forests to the west to the headwaters of the Nile up north. It’s precisely these factors that made Kakuma an ideal location for a refugee camp to shelter peoples from the numerous conflicts along these routes. Almost nowhere else on the planet do musicians from so many different African cultures and countries live in such proximity.

Power in the Pride: Providing Ensemble Experiences for SEND Youth

Hannah Carpenter, singing teacher and choral director, Surrey, England; Cohort Member, Global Leaders Program 2022

11-02-2022

The residential element of the program is designed with the recognition that feelings of isolation and loneliness are common among those with additional needs. Participants make the Leiston Abbey their home, and the course leaders and support staff eat, play, and create alongside them, forming a special, trusting atmosphere.

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