Concerts & Conversations
Overview
Concerts and Conversations uses jazz music and other popular music rooted in the African and other diaspora to intellectually and emotionally energize and empower a wide public, in particular high school and college students, teachers, parents, and members of the community who have been underserved by formal educational institutions. Our concerts are designed to “open up” participants, so that they will be ready to take part in the dialogue which follows. This dialogue, lead by a facilitator who may be a well-known researcher or speaker, centers on an issue(s) of concern to participants that will have been identified prior to the program. Through listening to the music, participants will acquire a sense of empowerment and beauty that will motivate conversation. This conversation will hopefully sow the seeds of greater individual, and communal, social and cultural understandings. It is also hoped that this new awareness will lead to a plan for social action to address the issue of concern. Follow-up conversations to develop such a plan are part of our program, as are initial conversations with teachers, and student, parent, and community leaders, to identify issues of concern and potential facilitators.
Audience: High Schools, Colleges and Community
While an individual school may decide to address an issue such as racism, violence, aids, or drugs, in their dialogue, we also encourage students to turn some of the energy they gain from the music into academic motivation. We urge them to develop and apply literacy and Social Studies skills in developing a greater understanding of how they, and the world around them, are shaped by their social relationships, by culture, and by power. We encourage them to do as Paulo Freire, the Brazilian educator urged – to “read the world” as well as “the word.” Our goal is that students will pursue their educational and artistic goals with greater commitment as a result of our program, as well as develop a greater sense of community responsibility. This commitment will come from better understanding the importance of education and art in affirming and empowering their lives.
