June 2024

A year ago, I received a phone call asking me if El Sistema USA® wanted to partner with a commercial mission to space called Polaris Dawn. I was as surprised to get this call as you probably are to hear about it. My first thought was: Why El Sistema USA?

As The Lewis Prize enters a new phase, we are taking the learnings from our grant process, field relationships, and research to create a platform for expanded investment in creative youth development. We’ve designed the Creating Abundance Collaborative, a cross-sector space where practitioners, young people, researchers, philanthropists, and policymakers come together to advance the field through shared learning and pooled resources.

“Your alumni will become your best assets for your mission.” That’s what social entrepreneurs from Changemaker Fellowships told AIM’s leadership when we began in 2018. So far, we agree. 

Seenaryo has been creating collaborative and imaginative community theater in Lebanon since 2015. We started working in Jordan in 2018, and we ran our first training in Palestine in 2022. While Seenaryo is first and foremost a theater organization, music has always played a big part in what we do.

There are not many music programs in the world with the word “Mystics” in their name. But it serves us well. Like many Ensemble readers, we are a passionate group of musicians working toward creating social inclusion and happy childhoods through music. And we find inspiration in the all-inclusive and peaceful messages of mystic poets like Kabir Das and Mahatma Gandhi.