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Pondering Inclusion in Times of COVID-19

Dr. Susanne Burns, Development Consultant and Senior Arts Leader in England

05-04-2020

On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a Global Public Health Emergency. We are living in unprecedented times and facing one of the most widespread public health emergencies we have ever faced as a worldwide community.

Early Years Music in Sistema Scotland

Jen Nicholson, Curriculum Leader Early Years, Sistema Scotland

04-02-2020

Winnicott’s famous quote captures the importance of relationship to every individual. He expands to describe the dependency of children on their caregivers not only for basic needs, but also for emotional “holding.”

Radical Inclusion and Friendship in Arohanui Strings

Alison Eldredge, Director, Arohanui Strings, (Sistema Hutt Valley/ Wellington, New Zealand)

04-02-2020

I moved to New Zealand in 2010, when my husband began a job with the NZ Symphony Orchestra. After years of playing violin professionally, Suzuki and Waldorf/Steiner teaching, and raising our two daughters, I found myself for the first time in decades with time and space to contemplate going in a new direction.

U.S. Sistema Programs Respond to Pandemic

Eric Booth, co-founder of The Ensemble Newsletters

04-02-2020

In the U.S., Sistema programs shut down in early March—first one, then a few, and within a week, all of them. As safety issues were clear, there was little energy wasted on resisting the hard choice. All the predictable, wonderful energy that had been building toward culminating projects and special fundraising events was immediately redistributed into three basic concerns: money questions (Can we keep paying staff? Can we raise the money we need in other ways?), event questions (How do we provide a sense of celebration and culmination for the year’s work?), and student learning questions (How do we keep the learning going online?).

The Ubuntu Music Program: Strengthening Community through Music and Athletics

Collective submission from members of the Playing For Change Foundation

04-02-2020

The Playing For Change Foundation has been working in Rwanda since 2011, using music and sports as tools for positive change and education. Ubuntu is a Bantu word that means “humanity towards others”; the Ubuntu Philosophy is a humanist concept that could be summed up as “I am because we are,” and is based on the idea that there is a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity. This way of thinking inspired the name of our program in Rwanda: the Ubuntu Music Program.

Rediscovering Our Passion and Purpose during the Coronavirus Pandemic

Maria Majno, President, SONG / Sistema in Lombardia; Vice President, Sistema Europe

04-02-2020

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”  One of the best known, most philosophical yet universally accessible passages of the Bible (Ecclesiastes, 3:1) sets a consoling frame. Yet who knows for how many seasons the COVID-19 turmoil will last as an unprecedented challenge? So many questions: Why now? Why was it not possible to avoid, or at least predict, and prepare? Why so many different approaches to one identified enemy? Did any of us expect to see such a catastrophic phenomenon over our lifetimes?

Nurturing the Artistry in Leadership: Wind Conductor Development In Chile

Dr. Kevin Cameron, Director of Education and Professional Development at Maestros With a Mission Pty Ltd

04-02-2020

This was my initial mindset in December of 2019, when I received news that I was to lead a Wind Conductor Intensive in Santiago as part of my work with the Global Leaders Program. I was delighted to learn that one of my most important early mentors, Maestro Carl Hammond, would also be in Santiago working with me as a co-clinician on this course.

Ambassador Updates, April 2020

04-02-2020

Inspired by a book recently donated to us, we recently began using a new method of rote learning for beginner students. With this new book to guide us, we not only have more insight into posture and playing position, but we also have a wealth of new pieces that we can play as a group. I have also found it easier to be flexible and more creative with lessons.

Inside SphinxConnect 2020

Joanna Borowski, Director of Education, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra

03-04-2020

The Sphinx Organization is dedicated to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts. The distinctive mission of Sphinx, within that context, is to address the underrepresentation of people of color in classical music at every level. Earlier this month, artists and arts leaders from all over the world converged on snowy Detroit—Sphinx’s home base—for a week of Sphinx signature programs, culminating in the fourth annual convening of the SphinxConnect conference.

Music Was Made in the Jungle

Raquel Maldonado, Director, San Ignacio School of Music, & Director, Ensamble Moxos

03-04-2020

In a little jungle-engulfed town in the Bolivian Amazon sits a music program that has changed the region’s social, cultural, and artistic complexion: The Music School of San Ignacio de Moxos. The school began without much forethought. Seeing it as an opportunity to pass along the musical legacy of Jesuit missions, a nun of the order of the Ursulines of Jesus opened the school in 1996 to encourage musical learning among her teenagers. Despite its modest aspirations, the school grew into something more impactful than she ever could have expected.

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