Dr. Abreu, image courtesy of www.tedprize.org

The now world-famous educational program that has revolutionized music education and brought us super stars like Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra has finally arrived in the United States.  The New England Conservatory of Music, located in Boston, has been exploring this partnership for several years. Dr. José Antonio Abreu, the founder of the Venezuelan based foundation, was awarded an honorary doctorate by the conservatory in 2002, and in 2007, the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra under the direction of ‘the Dude’ himself performed at NEC’s Jordan Hall.

The program, titled El Sistema USA, is beginning by educating 50 ‘fellows’ over the next 5 years, who will each institute “núcleos” around the country, typically where music education is limited or non-existent. The first class of ten arrived in Boston for the start of classes last week, and their diverse backgrounds and common desire to replicate the ingenious program make for a hopeful and exciting group of folks.

I am, admittedly, a cynic in many things, and tend not to be caught up in hyped-up news items. But I have to say, I’ve never felt so hopeful, nay, joyful, about anything of this nature. This fresh approach of music education represents not simply a positive change for music education, or even for classical music, but ultimately for American society. I am neither the first nor the last to do so, but with all my heart, I wish those 10 students at NEC the very best of luck in this most important mission.

by Dejen Tesfagiorgis

After a weekend of browsing websites and staying on top of our news, we came across the new website of the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Interlochen, Michigan.  But thanks to the internet, you do not have to go to Michigan to see their website, you can browse through your computer at home.

The thing that most impresses me about this website is Interlochen’s knowledge of its target market – young artists who have grown up with a high expectation of websites, technological integration, embedding, and feeling welcome through a website.  There was nothing wrong with their old website, but this new one totally blows me away.  Amongst other things, their new website features:

1. AddThis Content sharing links on each news article – Helps readers share Interlochen news with friends on social networks
2. Links to view the site in Spanish, German, French, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (Big Props on this!)
3. News tags to aid navigation between related topics on the site
4. Embedded videos that visually demonstrate news and the mission of the organization
5. A Camera that allows you to View the campus live -  Prospective students and parents can virtually tour the campus. This feature is a nice to have, but a great introduction to the environment

A few Suggestions

1. RSS Feeds – People who use RSS want your news immediately.  An RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed would help get your news to the people, instead of the people coming to your website for news
2. Blog – Well at a big organization, who maintains the Blog?  Here we can see that “Megan” has done some contributing, but other than that nothing. People want to know everything about you.

The color scheme has a bit of a Twitter homepage vibe, but there is greater color contrast and visual organization on the new website.  Fantastic work, A.

Arts schools and orchestras, Take notes.