leadership development

 
The Ensemble seeks to connect and inform all people who are committed to ensemble music education for youth empowerment and social change.
 
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In Jerusalem, a Space for Healing

Micah Hendler, Founder & Artistic Director, The Jerusalem Youth Chorus

02-04-2026

The Jerusalem Youth Chorus (JYC) is a music and dialogue program for Israeli and Palestinian teenagers in Jerusalem. We bring young people from East and West Jerusalem into the same room each week to sing together, practice structured dialogue, and build the leadership skills needed to navigate a deeply unequal and polarized reality.

If you work in music for social change, none of that is conceptually new—“music builds connection” is something we all believe. What has surprised us over time is how much the container matters.

A Norwegian International Exchange Program Shifts Power Through Music

Siri Syverud Thorsen, Project Manager for Musicians and Organizers Volunteer Exchange (MOVE) at Jeunesses Musicales Norway

02-04-2026

While our daily lives are rattled by increasing global instability, polarization, and apathy, culture workers working toward youth empowerment and social change share many of the same questions. How do we empower young people without transferring unreasonable responsibility? How do we equip and motivate while acknowledging legitimate, sometimes harsh realities? How do we facilitate interconnectedness, in times of global dehumanization?

“Giftedness Is Just Access in Disguise”: Lessons in Flourishing Together

Jee-Hoon Krska, Founder/Executive Director, Keys 2 Success, Newark, New Jersey, USA

11-05-2025

The summer of 2025 brought a harsh financial reality. Like so many nonprofits in the United States this year, we lost more than 50% in foundation funding—money we’d counted on to hire adult teachers for our summer programming. We couldn’t bring in the experienced instructors who had anchored our summer camps in previous years.

This loss created an unexpected void that my teaching team and I didn’t know how to fill. To our surprise, our Urban Fellows and Junior Fellows—a group of our older and emerging student leaders—stepped up to fill the void.

Chiquinha Gonzaga Orchestra: Building a Culture of Peace Through Music

Diogo Pereira, Executive Director, Harmony Project Phoenix; Consultant, Instituto Brasileiro de Música e Educação (IBME)

11-05-2025

The Brazilian Institute of Music and Education (IBME – Instituto Brasileiro de Música e Educação) was launched in 2011 with just 15 students. Today, it serves more than 4,000 young people and continues to grow. Among its many talented ensembles, one stands out: the Orquestra Sinfônica Juvenil Chiquinha Gonzaga, an all-female youth orchestra that celebrates the intersection of Brazilian classical and popular music.

Sinfónica Azteca: Empowering Young Musicians Across Mexico, the Americas, and Beyond

Adrián Nájera-Coto, Sinfónica Azteca Project Manager, Orchestra of the Americas Group

10-01-2025

The story of Sinfónica Azteca begins about five years ago, when the world was just beginning to reemerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. Across the globe, music programs and youth orchestras were struggling to survive. The need to restore trust in live music and reignite enthusiasm among young musicians had never been greater.

In Mexico, this posed a double challenge, since we had always lacked a national youth orchestra capable of uniting the country’s young musicians in high-caliber, immersive artistic experiences.

Last Call! Apply for the Fire Up – The Field Teaching Artist Residency

07-09-2025

Fire Up – The Field is a free five-month program from the Academy for Impact through Music (AIM) in collaboration with LA Phil’s Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (YOLA) and its National Accelerator program.

Agents of Change

Loukia Lazarou, Teaching Artist and Project Manager, Sistema Cyprus

05-07-2025

The idea of hosting volunteers had two purposes: one, the additional staff would be an immense help for our organization, and two, they would provide relatable young role models for our students—especially important for those from vulnerable backgrounds. We wanted to create a structure that nurtures leadership, social responsibility, and cultural exchange, both for the young people in our orchestra and for the volunteers.

No Matter the Medium, Ensemble Learning Makes Leaders of Us All

Saurabh Sainani, Program Lead, Enabling Leadership

04-02-2025

For many organizations outside of our shared community, leadership is viewed as a title or formal role—something to aspire to professionally. When it comes to youth empowerment, though, it means a bit more. We see it in the everyday actions, habits, and mindsets that empower individuals to make a difference. Leadership, for us, is about inspiring others simply by living your values.

At Enabling Leadership (EL), we strive to support young people as they find their way toward those actions and values.

At Sirkhane Social Circus, Cultural Cooperation Is No High-Wire Act

Sahba Aminikia, San Francisco-based Iranian American composer; Founder, Flying Carpet Festival

03-05-2025

Sirkhane Social Circus is more than just a place to learn circus skills—it is a sanctuary of joy, healing, and creative expression for children who have endured the trauma of war, displacement, and social instability. Based in Mardin, Turkey, near the Syrian border, Sirkhane provides a safe and nurturing environment where children from diverse backgrounds—Syrian, Turkish, Iraqi, and Kurdish—come together to learn, perform, and play.

EDITORIAL
Accelerating Our Actions

Camille Delaney-McNeil, Director, the YOLA/Beckmen YOLA Center at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, California, USA

12-11-2024

As I pen this, I find myself looking through some of the session schedules of prominent convenings in our field over the course of the next several months. Many of these gatherings have their anchored purpose clarified and grounded—and, on paper, this is truly inspiring! However, it’s unfortunate to see that many of the topics are the same as those we discussed two, three, or four seasons ago. We continue to address the same problems, instead of new, compounded issues that we all must rally around, to course-correct.

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