Saturday 19 January 2013

ISME sistema SIG News Update #1

Dear colleagues,

My first newsletter circulation is a short one and three weeks in advance of the planned circulation date for reasons that will become apparent! Three short items:

1.       Sistema Fellows application 2014

Applications are invited by February 8th for next year's Sistema Fellows programme. If you know of people who might be interested in applying the link is: http://necmusic.edu/sistema-fellowship . There's a link on that page to the form, and I've attached it to this email as well. Do let anyone know that they can contact current Sistema Fellow Elaine Sandoval at echangsandoval@gmail.com if you have more questions.
2.       Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM) tour to the US
Erika Donald has recently returned from her second visit as an invited guest artist and teacher at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM) in Kabul. Though it's not explicitly a 'Sistema-inspired' program, the school has many methods and goals in common with El Sistema. Most notably, the school educates boys and girls, as well as children from all ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, side by side. About half of the students are orphans or kids who used to work selling items on the street to help support their families.
An Australian film about the school's beginnings has just been posted in its entirety (48 min.) on Al Jazeera's website: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/witness/2013/01/201311412401920574.html. Erika writes that it's enlightening and inspiring to see what these people go through and how studying music is changing their lives.
The ensembles of ANIM will be touring to the United States in early February, performing at the NEC in Boston, Kennedy Center in Washington, and Carnegie Hall in New York.
Here is the press release for the tour, in case people are in/near those cities: http://www.21cmediagroup.com/mediacenter/newsitem.php?i=1093 And here is an article from the World Bank, who provide a great deal of support to the school: http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/2013/01/17/afghan-music-students-take-show-on-road
3.       Thanks from me!

Thanks from me to Elaine and Erika for sharing this information. Please let me have any further news items by February 15th (or sooner) for posting on February 18th. We can decide on the frequency of our future newsletters in response to the nature of your news!

Richard

Richard J Hallam MBE
m +44 (0)7850 634 239
fax +44 (0)1908 690078
www.dickhallam.co.uk

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