The Longy School of Music of Bard College—located in Cambridge, Massachusetts—has received a $100,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for a two-year study of El Sistema-inspired music education programs in the United States. The study will be conducted from 2014 to 2016 together with the WolfBrown arts consulting group, and will evaluate benefits of youth participation in the programs studied. The grant will cover the study of orchestras that have El Sistema sites as major components of their community programs, youth orchestras, and affiliations between orchestras and El Sistema sites; collect initial data about how implementing El Sistema inspired education programs affects orchestras; and support the training of Longy graduate students as El Sistema Research Fellows. Nine core sites, seventeen collaborating sites, and three companion sites—including programs affiliated with U.S. orchestras—have been invited to participate in the study. A complete list can be found here.
Posted May 30, 2014
