Arts Research

 
The Ensemble seeks to connect and inform all people who are committed to ensemble music education for youth empowerment and social change.

In Overlooked Spaces, Art and Dignity Flourish

07-08-2026

In the winter of 2013, Project: Music Heals Us Founder Molly Carr shattered a glass bowl into her left hand on the eve of her concert tour, halting her performing career. In the months that followed, she enrolled in a nursing aide course through the American Red Cross and was assigned to work with Ruth, a late-stage Alzheimer’s patient who, staff warned her, hadn’t spoken in years. The advice she received was practical: get in, get the job done, harden yourself to the screams, and get out.

She knew that the care and attention all people need required something more. So she sat down, held Ruth’s hand in silence, and Ruth, the woman who had not spoken in years, turned and began speaking in complete sentences.

Molly came back every day of that residency. On the last day, she promised Ruth that she would return, and bring her viola next time.

Mapping Social Impact Across Africa

07-08-2026

CAN (Community Arts Network) commissioned their member/partner organization Somali Arts Foundation to do a first-ever mapping of the socially engaged arts and cultural practitioners across North Africa, East Africa, West Africa, and South Africa in an effort to reposition the arts as central to public life and to build stronger connections between artists, institutions, and communities

Suggested Reading: Music Reshapes Young Lives in Africa

05-06-2026

The Art of Positive Fatalism – Lessons from Kinshasa is a new book by Lukas Pairon, the founder of the international research organization SIMM (Social Impact of Making Music).

Learn about Artistic Intelligence

05-06-2026

“Arts Plural: A Reader on Artistic Intelligence” is available free from the ELIA (European League of Institutes of the Arts) Biennial Conference 2024.

UNGA Healing Arts Week Call For Proposals

05-07-2025

Many of us have witnessed the arts’ positive impact on the health and wellbeing of our communities. The Jameel Arts & Health Lab invites you to share your experiences as a practitioner, educator, or researcher as part of their annual symposium Re-Imagining Health Through the Artson September 22 at New York University.

Share

© Copyright 2022 Ensemble News