I vividly remember the first time I
truly felt and understood the power that
art has in this world I was unprepared
for how that experience would change me
change my future as an artist as
educator was 2009 in Caracas Venezuela
first of many trips in my work with El
Sistema the now very famous program of
social of transformation and music
that’s for more than 40 years has
dramatically changed the lives of
hundreds of thousands of Venezuela’s
most at-risk children and I was
transfixed by what I saw
arrghh Astaire’s of six seven eight year
old children performing Beethoven
symphonies in an old gymnasium one of
the poorest neighborhoods in the city
and I stood dumbfounded by a massive
chorus and orchestra of four-year-olds
playing instruments some actual
instruments some made of cardboard
singing dancing performing these these
amazing arrangements of Venezuelan
traditional folk music and with such
incredible joy they did this for 3-4
hours every single day and their lives
and their communities were transformed
by a connection to something bigger
their aesthetic and emotional perception
of their world had changed and this kind
of change doesn’t happen through mere
experiences it happens because of that
connection to something deeper something
that changes at the source level
something that catalyzes a new order a
new understanding and that source level
in the physical world will call the
atomic level so when you change
something at the atomic level it’s not
just powerful changes everything changes
the nature of the substance itself music
was the
powerful catalysts in the lives of those
Venezuelan children a modern example of
the power that art has to change lives
and change our world an artist
throughout history has shown us that
they can use their creations shine light
on something to refocus perception to
move hearts and minds from the world of
photography we have Dorothea Lange’s
famous migrant mother and through this
intimate portrait of devastating poverty
she gave a face to a nation suffering
from the Great Depression
perhaps the most famous anti-war
painting in history Pablo Picasso’s
massive Guernica he showed the
atrocities of war and the devastating
effects on the individual his response
to the Nazi bombing small basket owned
in the Spanish Civil War and in 1957
West Side Story one of the most famous
musicals in all of history was the first
to deal with serious issues like race
discrimination immigration right it
challenged its audiences to confront
their own biases their own humanity and
for a very current example I personally
like to look to hip-hop philosopher
Kendrick Lamar
and his watershed album to pimp a
butterfly which sent shockwaves through
the music industry because he chose to
take on difficult core political
concepts power racial identity
leadership and he brought important
heightened attention to the black lives
matter movement he reassured and
outraged and fearful nation quote we
gonna be all right do you hear me the
you filming we’re gonna be all right
Kendrick does it much better so all of
the artists in these examples somehow
refocus society’s perception or exposed
a new dimension of understanding and I
was recently reading this really
incredible activist artist in San
Francisco and she said this way art
helps us identify with one another art
creates profound empathy and connection
and it does this at our core it does
this and changes us at the atomic level
and for me it’s an artist as a human
being that’s all inspiring that’s
incredible isn’t it it’s tragic that’s
so often in contemporary society the
role of art an artist is relegated to
the category of extra or in the worst
case scenario non-essential and this is
most often done by those in power those
who set the agenda those perhaps who
fear that kind of change the most art
and artists are central to cultural and
social change not some parallel or
abstract force art creates change in the
world much like waves are formed in the
ocean and when I mention the word waves
it’s likely that many of you in the
audience the first mental image you got
is that of breakers that you might see
on the beach like this one but that’s
just what you see from something that
was created much earlier deeper because
most waves are created deep in the ocean
by small slow-moving deliberate changes
in the current that when they rise to
the surface there’s something you can
see so when you move a small amount of
water at that deep level you get
breakers like this but when you move a
much larger amount of water when you
move a massive amount of water you get
something much different you get
something more powerful and so like
waves are formed in the ocean throughout
history artists have changed our world
and they’ll continue to do so and man if
we ever needed that kind of change now
history repeats itself better for worse
and the cycle of joyful and tragic
things that happens to us in our world
so goes the cycle of artists responding
to it with their art as well as the
cycle of society either paying more or
less attention to it consider this what
if we always paid attention what if the
world was constantly flooded with this
kind of art what if focus and power were
central to how we viewed artists in the
first place I like to think that if that
were the case then cruelty the lack of
empathy that those things that still
exist in our world they wouldn’t have a
chance the next generation of artists
has the power to lead this but we as
educators have to do a better job of
helping them and how we’ve trained
artists traditionally has one that’s
been focused very inward prioritizing
things like the development of technique
study of history of styles study of
other artists developing personal
creativity and all these things are
super important they’re essential but if
as educators couldn’t we find a way to
balance priorities to also have our
young artists from the very beginning
focused outward outward into the world
hardwired to be constantly considering
the
affecting the power that their art can
have what if it were central to the
experience we make it central to the
experience of training artists that
they’re facing outward responding to the
world that they’re seeking ways to make
connections calling out injustice when
they see it giving a face to cruelty
then it will stick with them and we’ll
see more transformative art we’ll see
real change I’m convinced that a major
tool in doing this is embedding things
like service social action and
entrepreneurship into the educational
experience in an integral way and I feel
very fortunate that I worked at two
institutions that really get this and
they’ve seen great results first here at
Berkeley where the concepts of equity
and diversity are not just important
topics for discussion
they are core institutional values that
range from top to bottom and my current
institution the University of North
Carolina School of the Arts deeply
shares these principles at UNC si the
idea of service and social action of the
Arts is one that’s prominently in our
students minds and it’s emerging in our
curriculum we have this really amazing
unique art service program called
artists core an artist core takes
accomplished young artists and it places
them with the most high risk/high need
children in our region and it helps them
connect to their community in some cases
build a community through music dance
drama through creating art and the
buy-in for this program is tremendous
and that is so cool to see but you know
what’s cooler to see the experience the
effect that that experience has on our
students that participate in the
gateways it opens up in their mind and
for their own artistic impulses one of
my favorite examples is one of our
composition students Kendra Harding you
can see Kendra there playing with
in refugee children and her lullaby
project and the framework for the
project was created by Carnegie Hall but
Kendra’s version she sought to connect
with immigrant Latino women and help
them write lullabies for their children
and she worked with a Latino community
center and she connected with women that
were under a tremendous amount of stress
single mothers teenage mothers some were
homeless some had been to prison some
had a collection of all those factors
and she partnered with them to help them
use art to express themselves to express
their situation and most importantly to
help them find a new and deeper way to
connect to their children a very simple
concept but one that has broad
ramifications and some of the most
transformative ideas and works of art
share those two characteristics simple
with broad ramifications I’ve seen the
true and raw power of art in this world
and I’ve seen that power and young
artists it’s visceral palpable and I
have unwavering faith in those young
artists what they will create and how it
will help shape our world our world
which due to gross indifference greed
ignorance by those who row it runs so
many of our governments it needs those
young artists more than ever I’m gonna
leave you with one final thought lately
I find myself reflecting on a quote
often by the great Bob Dylan and he said
when I watched the news I realized that
those who run the world never listen to
music that’s sink in and then let’s give
them something to listen to
let’s help young artists give them
something to see something to experience
something to feel something will make a
connection
breakthrough to help shape all of our
atoms for the better thank you
you
truly felt and understood the power that
art has in this world I was unprepared
for how that experience would change me
change my future as an artist as
educator was 2009 in Caracas Venezuela
first of many trips in my work with El
Sistema the now very famous program of
social of transformation and music
that’s for more than 40 years has
dramatically changed the lives of
hundreds of thousands of Venezuela’s
most at-risk children and I was
transfixed by what I saw
arrghh Astaire’s of six seven eight year
old children performing Beethoven
symphonies in an old gymnasium one of
the poorest neighborhoods in the city
and I stood dumbfounded by a massive
chorus and orchestra of four-year-olds
playing instruments some actual
instruments some made of cardboard
singing dancing performing these these
amazing arrangements of Venezuelan
traditional folk music and with such
incredible joy they did this for 3-4
hours every single day and their lives
and their communities were transformed
by a connection to something bigger
their aesthetic and emotional perception
of their world had changed and this kind
of change doesn’t happen through mere
experiences it happens because of that
connection to something deeper something
that changes at the source level
something that catalyzes a new order a
new understanding and that source level
in the physical world will call the
atomic level so when you change
something at the atomic level it’s not
just powerful changes everything changes
the nature of the substance itself music
was the
powerful catalysts in the lives of those
Venezuelan children a modern example of
the power that art has to change lives
and change our world an artist
throughout history has shown us that
they can use their creations shine light
on something to refocus perception to
move hearts and minds from the world of
photography we have Dorothea Lange’s
famous migrant mother and through this
intimate portrait of devastating poverty
she gave a face to a nation suffering
from the Great Depression
perhaps the most famous anti-war
painting in history Pablo Picasso’s
massive Guernica he showed the
atrocities of war and the devastating
effects on the individual his response
to the Nazi bombing small basket owned
in the Spanish Civil War and in 1957
West Side Story one of the most famous
musicals in all of history was the first
to deal with serious issues like race
discrimination immigration right it
challenged its audiences to confront
their own biases their own humanity and
for a very current example I personally
like to look to hip-hop philosopher
Kendrick Lamar
and his watershed album to pimp a
butterfly which sent shockwaves through
the music industry because he chose to
take on difficult core political
concepts power racial identity
leadership and he brought important
heightened attention to the black lives
matter movement he reassured and
outraged and fearful nation quote we
gonna be all right do you hear me the
you filming we’re gonna be all right
Kendrick does it much better so all of
the artists in these examples somehow
refocus society’s perception or exposed
a new dimension of understanding and I
was recently reading this really
incredible activist artist in San
Francisco and she said this way art
helps us identify with one another art
creates profound empathy and connection
and it does this at our core it does
this and changes us at the atomic level
and for me it’s an artist as a human
being that’s all inspiring that’s
incredible isn’t it it’s tragic that’s
so often in contemporary society the
role of art an artist is relegated to
the category of extra or in the worst
case scenario non-essential and this is
most often done by those in power those
who set the agenda those perhaps who
fear that kind of change the most art
and artists are central to cultural and
social change not some parallel or
abstract force art creates change in the
world much like waves are formed in the
ocean and when I mention the word waves
it’s likely that many of you in the
audience the first mental image you got
is that of breakers that you might see
on the beach like this one but that’s
just what you see from something that
was created much earlier deeper because
most waves are created deep in the ocean
by small slow-moving deliberate changes
in the current that when they rise to
the surface there’s something you can
see so when you move a small amount of
water at that deep level you get
breakers like this but when you move a
much larger amount of water when you
move a massive amount of water you get
something much different you get
something more powerful and so like
waves are formed in the ocean throughout
history artists have changed our world
and they’ll continue to do so and man if
we ever needed that kind of change now
history repeats itself better for worse
and the cycle of joyful and tragic
things that happens to us in our world
so goes the cycle of artists responding
to it with their art as well as the
cycle of society either paying more or
less attention to it consider this what
if we always paid attention what if the
world was constantly flooded with this
kind of art what if focus and power were
central to how we viewed artists in the
first place I like to think that if that
were the case then cruelty the lack of
empathy that those things that still
exist in our world they wouldn’t have a
chance the next generation of artists
has the power to lead this but we as
educators have to do a better job of
helping them and how we’ve trained
artists traditionally has one that’s
been focused very inward prioritizing
things like the development of technique
study of history of styles study of
other artists developing personal
creativity and all these things are
super important they’re essential but if
as educators couldn’t we find a way to
balance priorities to also have our
young artists from the very beginning
focused outward outward into the world
hardwired to be constantly considering
the
affecting the power that their art can
have what if it were central to the
experience we make it central to the
experience of training artists that
they’re facing outward responding to the
world that they’re seeking ways to make
connections calling out injustice when
they see it giving a face to cruelty
then it will stick with them and we’ll
see more transformative art we’ll see
real change I’m convinced that a major
tool in doing this is embedding things
like service social action and
entrepreneurship into the educational
experience in an integral way and I feel
very fortunate that I worked at two
institutions that really get this and
they’ve seen great results first here at
Berkeley where the concepts of equity
and diversity are not just important
topics for discussion
they are core institutional values that
range from top to bottom and my current
institution the University of North
Carolina School of the Arts deeply
shares these principles at UNC si the
idea of service and social action of the
Arts is one that’s prominently in our
students minds and it’s emerging in our
curriculum we have this really amazing
unique art service program called
artists core an artist core takes
accomplished young artists and it places
them with the most high risk/high need
children in our region and it helps them
connect to their community in some cases
build a community through music dance
drama through creating art and the
buy-in for this program is tremendous
and that is so cool to see but you know
what’s cooler to see the experience the
effect that that experience has on our
students that participate in the
gateways it opens up in their mind and
for their own artistic impulses one of
my favorite examples is one of our
composition students Kendra Harding you
can see Kendra there playing with
in refugee children and her lullaby
project and the framework for the
project was created by Carnegie Hall but
Kendra’s version she sought to connect
with immigrant Latino women and help
them write lullabies for their children
and she worked with a Latino community
center and she connected with women that
were under a tremendous amount of stress
single mothers teenage mothers some were
homeless some had been to prison some
had a collection of all those factors
and she partnered with them to help them
use art to express themselves to express
their situation and most importantly to
help them find a new and deeper way to
connect to their children a very simple
concept but one that has broad
ramifications and some of the most
transformative ideas and works of art
share those two characteristics simple
with broad ramifications I’ve seen the
true and raw power of art in this world
and I’ve seen that power and young
artists it’s visceral palpable and I
have unwavering faith in those young
artists what they will create and how it
will help shape our world our world
which due to gross indifference greed
ignorance by those who row it runs so
many of our governments it needs those
young artists more than ever I’m gonna
leave you with one final thought lately
I find myself reflecting on a quote
often by the great Bob Dylan and he said
when I watched the news I realized that
those who run the world never listen to
music that’s sink in and then let’s give
them something to listen to
let’s help young artists give them
something to see something to experience
something to feel something will make a
connection
breakthrough to help shape all of our
atoms for the better thank you
you
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