Musicians Without Borders programs impact thousands of young people every day through music. Working in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities, we work closely with local musicians and organizations to build sustainable projects in response to local needs.
We are currently active in Kosovo, Palestine, Greece, Northern Ireland, Germany, Rwanda, Uganda, El Salvador, Italy, and the Netherlands.
"Music is a symbol of friendship in our country. It helps us to be released from depression in order to have a better future. I think we will learn how to show others who are HIV+ that they have a value for themselves and for their country."
Rwanda Youth Music was developed at the invitation of local partner WE-ACTx for Hope to support the needs of children and young people living with HIV. The most appropriate and effective musical approaches are embedded in WE-ACTx for Hope’s clinical support structure, sustainably providing young patients with opportunities for positive creative expression and social empowerment through musical interaction.
In 2013, Musicians without Borders was invited to support the establishment of the country’s first professional Music Therapy position. Since then, in small groups and in 1-1 sessions, over 100 young people living with HIV have attended and benefitted from music therapy sessions with a UK qualified and registered music therapist. In evaluation, 100% of interviewed participants reported positive impact.
Innovative methods of practice have been developed to enable many more people to access the benefits of music therapy. Rwandan musicians have been trained to run therapeutic music groups; and a training course has been developed in Music & Health, accredited within the University of Rwanda’s forthcoming BA Music.
Community Music Leaders are trained to use music as a tool for social change, community building, and healing. Since 2012, international and Rwandan trainers have facilitated the training of 80 Community Music Leaders in Rwanda, each receiving 116 hours of professional training.
Training focuses on musical skills; leadership skills; and introductions to principles of non-violence, non-judgment, inclusion and participation that inform Musicians without Borders’ working ethos. Rwandan trainers provide on-going support, and ensure local culture is embedded in the training.
The Community Music Leaders in Rwanda wrote and recorded “Ubumuntu”, a song that speaks of their commitment to music as a resource for change and community. Ubumuntu is a compassionate way of living together. It asks all people to have empathy and to feel the human needs of others.
To Rwandans the word signifies sharing, giving, and supporting the needs of your neighbors.
Over 30,000 young people across Rwanda have participated in musical outreach events.
Community Music Leaders have travelled to centres for former street children; refugee camps; and to communities affected by HIV. They lead children to dance, sing, write songs, and play instruments, using their skills in leadership and nonviolent communication to create safe and creative experiences.
The program helps advocate for the adoption of music approaches developed in Rwanda for WE-ACTx for Hope. This has led to employment opportunities for the young music leaders, and the inclusion in training courses of members of other organisations.
Our training program in Rwanda continues in partnership with WE-ACTx for Hope, Ready for Reading and SACCK. This month, our trainees wrote a song together titled “Urukundo” (Love).
read more ›This year in Rwanda we started a four week training in partnership with WE-Actx for Hope, Ready for Reading and SACCK.
read more ›A small piece of the story of Musicians without Borders’ work can be told through numbers; the number of people participating in programs, the number of activities that have taken place, the number of organizations around the world with which we work. Of course, each of these numbers represents a story in itself, of the music made by people in a moment of their lives.
read more ›At the weekend, a new training course in MwB Community Music Leadership began in Rwanda’s Eastern Province, led entirely by a team of Rwandan musicians and community leaders trained by Musicians without Borders.
The trainees are 20 community members (aged 13-50) who are engaged with supporting young people facing limited opportunities due to poverty, illiteracy, rural unemployment, gender based violence, and formerly living as street children.
This training shares the skills and experience developed since 2010 at our partner WE-ACTx for Hope, and is organised with the organisation Ready for Reading.
The outreach program continues in Rwanda! Over 100 children from 3 local organisations danced, sang, wrote songs, and played drums strengthening old connections and creating new friendships.
read more ›“Every time we go out and meet children who don’t access music and do music together, its like working with little angels because the smile and happiness on their face is priceless.”
read more ›We would like to share some highlights from our Rwanda Youth Music program in 2017.
read more ›Rwanda Youth Music project assistant Allison Shyaka traveled to Europe last month to attend our Training of Trainers. Read his story!
read more ›At the weekend, a new training course in MwB Community Music Leadership began in Rwanda’s Eastern Province, led entirely by a team of Rwandan musicians and community leaders trained by Musicians without Borders.
The trainees are 20 community members (aged 13-50) who are engaged with supporting young people facing limited opportunities due to poverty, illiteracy, rural unemployment, gender based violence, and formerly living as street children.
This training shares the skills and experience developed since 2010 at our partner WE-ACTx for Hope, and is organised with the organisation Ready for Reading.
This year marks the first MwB training course delivered entirely by our Rwandan team. Yves and Espoir are working as lead trainers, alongside a team of experienced music leaders. They are training a group of 15 young people to use music to benefit 100s of vulnerable children.
read more ›On Tuesday, April 5th, we concluded a year-long community music training for 30 Burundian youth living in the largest refugee camp in Rwanda, home to 50,000 refugees, of whom more than 30,000 are children.
On their graduation day they performed and worked with thousands of children in an uplifting event.
As MwB Community Music Leaders, they now bring hope, healing, and joy every day to the thousands of children at Mahama refugee camp. With music.
Please help us raise EUR 6000 by the end of April to sustain this program:
http://mwb.to/donate
read more ›We’re training 30 Burundian refugees to become Community Music Leaders in the largest refugee camp in Rwanda, home to 50,000 people, over 30,000 of whom are children and youth.
They are learning how to use music to connect, heal and give hope to thousands of children in Mahama Refugee Camp.
This is the fourth and last training week. We’re working with the trainees for 4 days, preparing them to run a community music event for all the camp’s children!
Improving their improvisation skills, they learn ways to tap into their creativity, think outside the box, and create a safe environment for the children for creativity and expression.
Please support our work by securing the future of this program and give today: http://mwb.to/donate
read more ›We explained to the trainees that the next day we would work with children from the village, and they would lead workshops of drumming, songwriting and movement. Stage one of the workshops would be to go into the community and talk with the children and their families and to invite them to participate. The result was 80 children, including street children and homeless youth, singing and smiling in community music-making.
This was the practical experience assignment during the third week of training for this group of trainees. The trainees are from Burundi, living in Rwanda as refugees at Mahama camp. http://mwb.ngo
read more ›This week MwB Community Music Leaders have given music workshops for 200 young refugees as part of our outreach program.
These photos show both the joy and the conditions experienced in workshops at Mugombwa refugee camp.
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/music-supports/
#MusicConnects
During the second week of their training, 30 trainees from Burundi living as refugees in Rwanda practiced their new skills as Community Music Leaders.
On the 4th day they worked with children from their community in Mahama refugee camp, writing songs, playing movement games, singing, and dancing.
#MusicConnects #PeaceEveryDay http://mwb.link/friends
read more ›Yesterday we began the second week of training in Community Music Leadership for a group of 30 people from Burundi living as refugees in Rwanda, at Mahama camp.
Danny, our trainer, wrote: “I’m so inspired. Many of the 30 young Burundian refugees that I teach this week are called Community Mobilizers. They work with hundreds of children DAILY at the refugee camp. There are more than 30,000 children in the refugee camp, and these young leaders are determined to reach every single child, and bring them the joy of music.
For the past two days, we danced, sang, drummed, and learned about issues of safety, behavior, and setting rules. Tomorrow we will practice songwriting, and plan their workshops with the children on Friday.”
Help us support the team of Community Music Leaders in Rwanda:
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/music-supports/
#PeaceEveryDay #MusicConnects
read more ›One of the great successes of the Rwanda Youth Music program is that young people who received Musicians without Borders training as Community Music Leaders, are now finding opportunities with other organizations as trainers and teachers of music.
read more ›Yves Kana works with Musicians without Borders since 2012 as a music teacher and assistant trainer. He reaches 1000s of vulnerable children with his work. We need your support to continue and train more Rwandan community musicians in 2017.
read more ›Over the past 12 months we have worked with a group of thirty young people from Burundi living as refugees in Mahama camp, Rwanda. A team of MwB trainers from Rwanda, Israel and the Netherlands have led them through our course of Community Music Leadership, to become leaders in their community using musical and nonviolent approaches. During this period, they stepped into the role, leading music workshops with an astonishing 35,000 young people in Mahama refugee camp.
read more ›Your donation can support Community Music Leaders to work with 1000s of vulnerable refugee children in Rwanda. They use music to bring an experience of community, safety, creativity and joy to children who too often face isolation, danger, stagnation and sadness.
read more ›We want to take this opportunity to celebrate a group of African children who we work with in Rwanda. These young Rwandans volunteer their time every single week to give support to 100s of vulnerable children through dance, song, instruments, games and musical activities.
read more ›In February 2013 Leontine graduated from Musicians without Borders’ music leadership training in Kigali, Rwanda. Since then she and her 24 colleagues have brought music to thousands of HIV+ children.
read more ›An overview of the music leadership training program, with a video clip of a new song the youth leaders wrote.
read more ›This song was written by the youth leaders during a songwriting workshop they gave to children in the program.
read more ›El Salvador is a country that suffered a brutal civil war from 1980 to 1992. Today in El Salvador, many years after ‘peace’ was declared, inequality, fear and violence still prevail.
We have partnered with UNICEF and the Ministry of Education of El Salvador, as part of a national program to build capacities for teachers in peacebuilding.
We are training 35 Salvadoran music teachers and community facilitators to become community music leaders, and use music as a tool to promote inclusion and social harmony.
The training is based on our Community Music Leadership training that has been developed and delivered in Central-East Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Following an assessment visit in March, our team has further developed and adapted the program to the local needs in El Salvador.
For more information about the program, please contact m.ortega@musicianswithoutborders.org
We’re back in El Salvador for the fourth training week in our program Soy Música.
We are training 35 Salvadoran music teachers and community facilitators to become community music leaders, and use music as a tool to promote inclusion and social harmony among thousands of children in El Salvador.
The program is in partnership with Unicef El Salvador and the Ministerio de Educación E.S.
Fore more information: http://mwb.to/soymusica
#MusicConnects
read more ›A small piece of the story of Musicians without Borders’ work can be told through numbers; the number of people participating in programs, the number of activities that have taken place, the number of organizations around the world with which we work. Of course, each of these numbers represents a story in itself, of the music made by people in a moment of their lives.
read more ›We’re back in El Salvador for the third training week in our program Soy Música. We are training 35 Salvadoran music teachers and community facilitators to become community music leaders, and use music as a tool to promote inclusion and social harmony among thousands of children in El Salvador.
read more ›Meet Saúl Gestoni, an arts teacher who joined our training program, Soy Música, in El Salvador.
read more ›Those who like millions of Salvadorans have been impacted by war know that the mere absence of physical violence is a poor substitute for true peace.
read more ›This week, we began the second phase of our Soy Música training in El Salvador with good energy and music making. We expect a full and intense week ahead of new experiences in community music leadership!
This program is in partnership with Unicef El Salvador and the Ministerio de Educación E.S. http://mwb.to/soymusica #MusicConnects
read more ›The program in El Salvador “Soy Música” is taking its first steps forward.
read more ›Last week our team traveled to El Salvador to kick off our new program, Soy Música, in partnership with UNICEF and the Ministry of Education.
read more ›We’re back in El Salvador for the fourth training week in our program Soy Música.
We are training 35 Salvadoran music teachers and community facilitators to become community music leaders, and use music as a tool to promote inclusion and social harmony among thousands of children in El Salvador.
The program is in partnership with Unicef El Salvador and the Ministerio de Educación E.S.
Fore more information: http://mwb.to/soymusica
#MusicConnects
read more ›We’re back in El Salvador for the third training week in our program Soy Música. We are training 35 Salvadoran music teachers and community facilitators to become community music leaders, and use music as a tool to promote inclusion and social harmony among thousands of children in El Salvador.
read more ›This week, we began the second phase of our Soy Música training in El Salvador with good energy and music making. We expect a full and intense week ahead of new experiences in community music leadership!
This program is in partnership with Unicef El Salvador and the Ministerio de Educación E.S. http://mwb.to/soymusica #MusicConnects
read more ›We are training 35 music teachers and community facilitators in community music leadership, reaching out to thousands of children across the country, and using music for inclusion and social harmony.
This program is in partnership with Unicef El Salvador and the Ministerio de Educación E.S.
For more information: http://mwb.to/soymusica
#MusicConnects
read more ›In March we were invited by Unicef El Salvador and the Ministerio de Educacion E.S. to assess the needs and structure for a community music leadership training in El Salvador. The aim is to address the high level of violence in the country and reach thousands of children using music as a tool for community building, reducing violence, and bringing hope.
During the week we visited several community and cultural centers, running workshops with children, and structuring the program to start later this year.
We would like to thank the following centers for welcoming and sharing their music with us:
Centro Cultural Pablo Tesak,
Armonia Cuscatleca,
Centro Arte para la Paz,
Centro de Arte y Cultura, Escuela de Música “Paco Cutumay”
#MusicConnects http://mwb.ngo
read more ›In Europe’s most divided city, Mitrovica in Kosovo, the conflict between Serb and Albanian communities still continues with barricaded bridges over the Ibar river, increased tensions and regular outbursts of violence. Musicians without Borders and partners CBM and the Fontys Rockacademie have successfully run an inter-ethnic youth project since 2008.
The Mitrovica Rock School provides a neutral platform for youth from both sides of ethnically divided Mitrovica to meet as young musicians and song writers. The Rock School provides daily lessons and band coaching sessions and connects youth through weekly inter-ethnic workshops and its program for ethnically mixed bands. Over 1,200 youth have attended the Mitrovica Rock School since the program started in 2008.
Music Connects is a new project supported by Creative Twinning, a program of Netherlands Enterprise Agency, and other donors. In partnership with Fontys Rockacademie, Mitrovica Rock School, Roma Rock School and Music School Enterprise, the project activates youth and builds sustainable alternatives for social inclusion through state-of-the art rock music education, production and promotion.
Music Connects will deliver thousands of music activities to Serb, Albanian, Macedonian, Roma and other youth. We will establish a recording studio in Mitrovica and train sound engineers in Mitrovica and Skopje, increasing cultural participation and cooperation and lowering the barrier for young bands to enter the region’s emerging music scene.
Video production house HATCHED-MV will produce a documentary on Music Connects as an audiovisual testimony to the power of music to connect people across divides. HATCHED-MV previously supported our Mitrovica Rock School by working pro bono to create the music video Set Me Free for our ethnically mixed band Proximity Mine. The documentary is set to be released in the first half of 2020.
We talked to Ana Petanovska, about her first experience at the Mitrovica Rock School’s 2018 Band Camp and singing with High Frequency.
read more ›School’s out & the summer school is in! Meet some of our 2018 Skopje Summer School participants.
read more ›Female front woman, Marina (18) opens up about living out of her comfort zone, confronting the patriarchy and her band, Feed D Fury.
read more ›We’re happy to announce Music Connects, a Creative Twinning project that brings together youth at three rock schools in former Yugoslavia, using state-of-the-art rock music education to promote social inclusion.
read more ›Mitrovica Rock School band Proximity Mine opened the 16th North City Jazz and Blues Festival, becoming the first ethnically mixed Rock School band to play publicly in Mitrovica.
read more ›Four mixed Mitrovica Rock School bands will perform their own songs at a spring concert on May 12.
read more ›Longtime Mitrovica Rock School member Jelena Zafirovic has been the front woman and lead song writer of two ethnically mixed bands, Sublime 6 and Rootless. She is now working on her first solo album, Melancholia. We asked Jelena about life as a musician in Mitrovica and what inspired the album.
read more ›On April 14, ethnically mixed Mitrovica Rock School band Proximity Mine performed for hundreds of soldiers on a truck stage at a benefit march and concert. The proceeds of the event will go to a public address system needed for school concerts.
read more ›Mixed Mitrovica Rock School band Proximity Mine recorded a music video in Vienna, directed, filmed and produced for the Mitrovica Rock School by Hatched-MV: hatched-mv.com
Ristevski and Emir Hasani
Proximity Mine: https://www.proximitymine.com/
In August 2017, our Mitrovica Rock School kicked off its anniversary year with our tenth annual summer school. Seven mixed bands, formed by Rock School students from both sides of ethnically divided Mitrovica, wrote, rehearsed, recorded and performed their original songs during a fun-packed musical week in neighboring Macedonia.
Music: Rootless
Video: Goran Jolovic
Music video Fantasy of ethnically mixed band Rootless, a high-energy dream team formed by highly talented, long-term students of our Mitrovica Rock School.
Neverland, a mixed Mitrovica Rock School band, recorded in May 2017 in Mitrovica and at the Mitrovica Rock School.
Mixed band Proximity Mine are from Mitrovica (Kosovo), a city completely divided by war. They are setting an example to their generation, and they need your help. Click here to donate!
Proximity Mine, a mixed band formed by students of the Mitrovica Rock School, recorded January 2017 at the Mitrovica Rock School.
Acoustic version of Battery by mixed Mitrovica Rock School band Sublime 6. Sublime 6 was formed in 2013 under the Rock School’s Ambassador Band Program.
Acoustic version of Fire by mixed Mitrovica Rock School band Akasha
The 2016 Summer School for ethnically mixed bands organized by the Mitrovica Rock School, August 21 to 28, 2016.
Live recording of Proximity Mine, an ethnically mixed band formed in August 2016 by students of the Mitrovica Rock School.
Live recording of High Frequency, an ethnically mixed band formed in August 2016 by students of the Mitrovica Rock School.
The 2015 Remix Band Camp of the Mitrovica Rock School, where students from the Rock School’s north and south branches worked in ethnically mixed bands and wrote, recorded and performed their own songs.
Music video of ethnically mixed Mitrovica Rock School band The Suck of Psychotic
Music video of ethnically mixed Mitrovica Rock School band Astral Dreamers
At the 2014 Ambassador Band Camp, four ethnically mixed bands from the divided city of Mitrovica, Kosovo, came together in neighboring Macedonia to write, record and perform their own songs.
Rock School co-founder Wendy Hassler-Forest of Musicians without Borders speaks at TEDx Tirana about what it has meant to set up an inter-ethnic rock music school in a town as rigidly divided as Mitrovica.
The Rock School’s first Ambassador Band, the Artchitects, was formed in 2011. After a one-year break in 2012-2013, they got together again in August 2013 with a brand new sound. Let It Go was the first song written after the band regrouped.
Sublime 6 was formed in August 2013 and immediately faced a set-back when two of its members left the band. The band got back together in November 2013, with a new drummer and now only five members, and continues to this day writing and performing under the name Sublime 6.
From August 25 to September 1, four Ambassador Bands of the Mitrovica Rock School rehearsed, recorded and performed in Skopje, Macedonia. Schism, Sublime 6, the Toe May Toes and the Artchitects came together to finish songs they wrote in Mitrovica.
Every year since 2008, the Mitrovica Rock School has brought young musicians from north and south Mitrovica together at the annual Skopje Summer School. At the Summer School, students work in mixed bands towards a big concert in the Skopje City Park.
School’s out & the summer school is in! Meet some of our 2018 Skopje Summer School participants.
read more ›Our Mitrovica Rock School is hosting its 10th annual summer school this week in Skopje, Macedonia, where students come together from both sides of the divided city of Mitrovica to write, record and perform original songs.
read more ›On December 8, 2016, a team from our Mitrovica Rock School in Kosovo met Marky Ramone and thanked him for his support to Musicians without Borders and our Rock School project. His band performed in one of the t-shirts we presented him with.
Marky Ramone, thank you for your support!
read more ›Meet the teachers at Musicians without Borders’ rock music school in Mitrovica, Kosovo.
Learn more about the Mitrovica Rock School here: https://www.musicianswithoutborders.org/projects/mitrovica-rock-school/overview/
read more ›Our monitoring, evaluation, and learning protocols for the project Music Connects are informed by our Theory of Change. Please also see Musicians without Borders’ overall Theory of Change.
Applying Musicians without Borders’ MEL practices, the partners in Music Connects keep detailed quantitative records of their activities, conducts regular participant evaluations, and are introducing the Most Significant Change methodology. We will share details in 2018 regarding our collaboration with academic partners on an external project review.
Music Bridge is a multi-year collaborative project to create sustainable community music programs within Northern Ireland’s divided communities.
Music Bridge employs the expertise of Musicians without Borders in partnership with Culturlann Uí Chanáin, a pioneer in bringing a multi-ethnic approach to the exploration of arts and culture in the city of Derry-Londonderry.
This collaborative project trains community music professionals, local musicians and community organizations in using music to contribute to reconciliation and bridge building across the divides that history has created in Northern Ireland.
The goal of Music Bridge is to create sustainable community music programs contributing to reconciliation, community building and healing for people throughout Derry-Londonderry.
We lead music workshop leadership training for community workers and musicians interested in developing meaningful projects in their communities with a focus on children and youth from fragile environments.
Our trainees have been able to organize and implement creative music activities within both single and mixed identity communities with the aim of strengthening their self-identity, creating common goals while learning more about what connects us rather than what separates us. The trainees use their acquired variety of musical skills to further their understanding of positive group leadership, principles of nonviolence and emotional self-awareness. Ultimately, the project aims to establish successful working models of community music programs that can gradually be implemented throughout Northern Ireland.
A small piece of the story of Musicians without Borders’ work can be told through numbers; the number of people participating in programs, the number of activities that have taken place, the number of organizations around the world with which we work. Of course, each of these numbers represents a story in itself, of the music made by people in a moment of their lives.
read more ›An interview with Amanda Koser-Gillespie, our trainer and music coach for our Music Bridge program in partnership with Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin (Northern Ireland).
read more ›Our project partner, Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin, will run a series of workshops for community professionals in the coming months, based on our longer-form community music training program – Music Bridge – in Northern Ireland.
read more ›Today our trainees ran the final community event as part of our 2016-2017 Music Bridge training program in partnership with Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin. Almost 100 children participated in a 2.5 hours event “The Sounds of Seasons”!
Thank you St Eugene’s Primary School, Model Primary School and Gaelscoil Éadain Mhóir.
#MusicConnects http://mwb.ngo
read more ›This is the final week of our 2016-2017 Music Bridge training program in partnership with Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin. This year, our trainees introduced their skills as music workshop leaders within a range of communities across Northern Ireland and abroad, working with prisoners, women’s groups, refugees and asylum seekers, schools and community groups.
#MusicConnects http://mwb.ngo
read more ›As we prepare for the final week of training for our 2016-2017 Music Bridge program, we are taking stock of how our trainees have been developing as community music workshop leaders over the course of the year.
read more ›Last week, our trainees came together again in Northern Ireland to exchange and deepen their skills as community music workshop leaders.
read more ›We’re in Northern Ireland this week to continue training community music workshop leaders in our Music Bridge project. We’re joined by researchers from Queen’s University Belfast who wish learn more about our work as part of their multi-year study ‘Sounding Conflict: From Resistance to Reconciliation.’
Learn more: https://www.musicianswithoutborders.org/2017/03/sounding-conflict-research-study/
read more ›Today our trainees ran the final community event as part of our 2016-2017 Music Bridge training program in partnership with Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin. Almost 100 children participated in a 2.5 hours event “The Sounds of Seasons”!
Thank you St Eugene’s Primary School, Model Primary School and Gaelscoil Éadain Mhóir.
#MusicConnects http://mwb.ngo
read more ›This is the final week of our 2016-2017 Music Bridge training program in partnership with Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin. This year, our trainees introduced their skills as music workshop leaders within a range of communities across Northern Ireland and abroad, working with prisoners, women’s groups, refugees and asylum seekers, schools and community groups.
#MusicConnects http://mwb.ngo
read more ›We’re in Northern Ireland this week to continue training community music workshop leaders in our Music Bridge project. We’re joined by researchers from Queen’s University Belfast who wish learn more about our work as part of their multi-year study ‘Sounding Conflict: From Resistance to Reconciliation.’
Learn more: https://www.musicianswithoutborders.org/2017/03/sounding-conflict-research-study/
read more ›This was the second week of training in our Northern Ireland project this year. We are training musicians and community workers to become community music leaders.
Today, 26 children enjoyed 2 hours of creative music workshops run by our trainees. They danced, sang, wrote songs, built instruments from junk, and performed in front of their friends!
This program is in partnership with Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin.
read more ›We’re back to Northern Ireland training musicians and community workers to become community music leaders.
The project aims to address the consequences of the N.Ireland conflict, reaching out to communities affected by years of hostilities and mistrust. Through music we bridge divides and create empathic connections that help to rebuild a more resilient and peaceful society.
This program is in partnership with Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin.
#MusicConnects http://mwb.ngo
read more ›We’ve begun year three of our project in Northern Ireland this week, training local musicians to run workshops for children with a focus on inclusivity, community building and creative music making.
Learn more about the Music Bridge program: mwb.to/musicbridge
read more ›This week is the final training of the second year of the Music Bridge program. To date, we’ve trained over 30 community music leaders, reaching thousands of children and youth living in divided cities across Northern Ireland through music workshops.
Registration is now available for the new training season: http://culturlann-doire.ie/an-tacadamh-ceoil/music-bridge/
read more ›We’re back at Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin this week, training local musicians to become music workshop leaders, reaching communities across Northern Ireland. This week, our trainees will work with two groups of students from the NW Academy of English and Model Primary School, putting their workshop skills to good practice!
read more ›Since 2008, Palestine Community Music has grown to become a multifaceted program that empowers youth to express themselves and serve their communities.
The project offers uplifting, music-based activities to young people who lack social or cultural opportunities, and reaches thousands of the most marginalized children of the West Bank. Our programs include Music and Nonviolence Leadership training, music workshops for the deaf and children with special needs and the Musical Playground. We also run special projects using rap as a tool for social change as well as offer Music as Therapy
The Musical Playground program maximizes impact with our limited staff, while retaining the rich diversity of activities and target groups. Thousands of school children each year benefit from regular music workshops including dancing, singing, rapping and body percussion, empowering and engaging children, school staff and families in a festive celebration.
We work in close cooperation with Sounds of Palestine, supporting the program with training and musical resources. Sounds of Palestine uses music education as a medium for long term social change, offering regular lessons per week to the many participating children. Hundreds of children from Aida and al-Azzeh refugee camp in the Bethlehem area participate in music appreciation lessons, instrument instruction, folk dancing, choir, music theory lessons and orchestral training.
Musicians without Borders coaches drum groups composed of young Palestinians from refugee camps and villages surrounded by the wall. Samba percussion connects the drummers and the audience with joyful, contagious and empowering rhythms. The samba instruments are used during community events, including nonviolent vigils and percussion workshops for local youth.
Our Palestine Community Music Program Manager on the connection between observation and effective training.
read more ›As we enter the last phase of the Music as Therapy Blended Learning Course, we learn more about how music therapy is being used in Palestine.
read more ›A small piece of the story of Musicians without Borders’ work can be told through numbers; the number of people participating in programs, the number of activities that have taken place, the number of organizations around the world with which we work. Of course, each of these numbers represents a story in itself, of the music made by people in a moment of their lives.
read more ›After eight months of studying tutorials provided by Music as Therapy International and writing assignments, our six Palestinian trainees have started their practical work in three different locations.
read more ›It doesn’t happen every day that the school we work in is exactly located next to the entrance of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. So we were happy to arrive too early and walk around the beautiful gardens with a unique irrigation system from the Roman Period.
read more ›Today we gave two more workshops in a different school in Tqu’a, a village east of Bethlehem, Palestine. Enjoy the pictures of the children from the 1st-6th grade of the al-Arsa school. Thank you for your hospitality!
#MusicConnects http://mwb.to/donate
read more ›Can music really make a change? Yes! Read about the powerful workshops led by Halimeh for children with special needs in Palestine.
read more ›We visited the public primary school ‘al-Huriyah’ in Tqu’a village and gave music workshops to 470 boys and girls, age 6-11.
read more ›After eight months of studying tutorials provided by Music as Therapy International and writing assignments, our six Palestinian trainees have started their practical work in three different locations.
read more ›It doesn’t happen every day that the school we work in is exactly located next to the entrance of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. So we were happy to arrive too early and walk around the beautiful gardens with a unique irrigation system from the Roman Period.
read more ›Today we gave two more workshops in a different school in Tqu’a, a village east of Bethlehem, Palestine. Enjoy the pictures of the children from the 1st-6th grade of the al-Arsa school. Thank you for your hospitality!
#MusicConnects http://mwb.to/donate
read more ›We visited the public primary school ‘al-Huriyah’ in Tqu’a village and gave music workshops to 470 boys and girls, age 6-11.
read more ›Today we gave music workshops to 518 children in the ‘Haifa public mixed school’ in the village Beit Fajjar, Palestine.
read more ›Our brilliant workshop leader Halimeh Sarabtah Deaf gave another series of music workshops in January to children and teenagers with special needs in the Ramallah district, Palestine. Using paper sheets and sticks, Halimeh creates a special music environment that can be enjoyed by both hearing and deaf people. Thank you Halimeh for your beautiful work!
read more ›After our Musical Playground in the Girls School of Beit Fajjar, another school in the same village heard about the program and invited us.
read more ›October and November have been two exciting months for our special music program in Palestine: Halimeh Sarabtah Deaf, our deaf music workshop leader, participated in the Training of Trainers in The Netherlands, started working in three new centers, and gave 81 music workshops to deaf children and children with special needs.
read more ›Our partners Sounds of Palestine participated in Palestine Philharmonie’s 2nd Winter Music Academy.
read more ›Our deaf music workshop Halimeh traveled to The Netherlands to participate in Musicians without Borders’ Training of Trainers.
read more ›In April and May our local team of Palestinian musicians worked together with Dutch musicians to perform ‘Fe Beit Fe Holanda’ (In Holland is a House) for 1340 children in Palestine.
read more ›In November 2015, Musicians without Borders organized a rap workshop leader training for Palestinian rappers. After an incredible training week with Dutch rappers and spoken word artists Manu and Guus (Kern Koppen), the five Palestinian rappers Abed, Mohammad A., Nadim, Mohammad G. and Ahmad organized several series of rap workshops for children in their communities.
read more ›Watch the video clip Soud Homaidi made of the song written by blind children from al-Shurouq School. The song is recorded in our music studio in Dheisheh refugee camp and is the result of a series of ten rap workshops given by Musicians without Borders’ rap workshop leaders.
read more ›In November and December, four grades from the Ephpheta Paul VI Institute received a series of ten rap music workshops from Musicians without Borders rap workshop leaders Mohammad, Soud and Hisham. The kids are deaf, but that didn’t keep them from making music, rapping and writing words for their own songs!
read more ›Halimeh Sarabtah is deaf, but that didn’t stop her from realizing her dream and study special education, so she can help children with special needs, blind and deaf. And now, also with music. Halimeh followed the Music Workshop Leadership training of Musicians without Borders and Holy Land Trust in Palestine which allowed her to incorporate music into her work.
read more ›Halimeh is one of the 90 young people trained by Musicians without Borders as community music workshop leader in Palestine, where we now bring music to more than 5000 marginalized children. She is especially gifted in working with children with special needs. Since Halimeh finished our training, she has been working daily with children and adults with special needs, giving workshops in art and music. Halimeh is deaf. By joining Musicians without Borders, she has not only enriched our work with ‘special children’; she has also opened the door to other hearing-impaired Palestinian youth to use music to break out of isolation and raise their voices for human rights.
read more ›Bringing comfort, solidarity and hope to war refugees through music.
As refugees arrive in increasing numbers in Europe, Musicians without Borders is building a program of support and solidarity. Our trainers and workshop leaders use the power of music to engage people living in emergency reception centers, building trust and connection among refugees, as well as with the local communities in which they are now located. Following our pilot project in the Netherlands, we’ve now expanded the Welcome Notes project to Italy and Germany and are focusing on providing training and creating connections between local musicians, organizations and refugee communities throughout Europe.
Goals:
We offer training for musicians, music teachers and workshop leaders from all cultural backgrounds who wish to increase their ability to use music as a tool to work towards the social inclusion and support of refugees and newcomers. This training has been specially adapted from our advanced training course and offers the necessary skills to lead music workshops with refugees in European communities.
The following skills and subjects are addressed in the training:
Would you like to receive information on upcoming training opportunities? Send an email to: a.swinkels@mwb.ngo
We’re open to discussing the implementation of Welcome Notes training opportunities with partner organizations in other European countries. Please contact: a.swinkels@mwb.ngo
Musicians without Borders is proud to announce the launch of ART27, a platform for all artists and arts organizations for an open and welcoming Europe: art27.art
Throughout history, artists have contributed their vision, talent and expertise to creating diverse, inclusive attitudes in European societies. Today, alarmed by the increasing influence of fear and xenophobia in Europe, we launch ART27 as a platform to raise voices through the arts for social inclusion, for protection of the vulnerable and for honoring our culturally diverse societies.
We are a network of artists of all backgrounds, arts educators and arts organizations in Europe and we stand in solidarity with refugee artists, and dedicate our efforts – on the stage, in the gallery, in arts education, in the classroom, and in our wider communities – to further the social inclusion of newcomers and other vulnerable people in our diverse societies.
Join art27.art now!
In March 2016, we launched Welcome Notes Italy with the first training for 30 musicians in partnership with Musicians for Human Rights. With this training, we offer musicians the necessary skills to lead music workshops for refugees in Italian communities. The training has been specially adapted from Musicians without Borders’ pilot program in the Netherlands and includes supervised practical work at reception centers.
Would you like to receive information on upcoming training opportunities in Italy? Send an email to: info@mwb.ngo
In partnership with the Landesmusikakademie NRW in Heek, Germany, we train local musicians to work with refugees and asylum seekers across Germany. Over one million refugees have come to Germany since 2015 and there are currently over 70,000 refugees registered in the region of Nordrhein-Westfalen, where Heek is located.
Our next training week is planned for November 19-23, 2018. More information available here.
In response to increasing numbers of refugees arriving in the Netherlands, we launched a year-long pilot project in 2016 to train musicians to run music workshops in refugee centers. Over the course of a year, we led three training weekends with a total of 62 trainees and organized 40 workshops in several refugee centers.
In 2017-2018, we will run a new series of training weekends for professional musicians, experienced workshop leaders and music teachers who are (or wish to be) active as music workshop leaders in refugee centers or refugee communities in Europe.
Read more and register for our upcoming Welcome Notes training in Amsterdam.
We are happy to report that we have started a new Welcome Notes training group in Torino, Italy, in collaboration with Musicians for Human Rights.
read more ›A small piece of the story of Musicians without Borders’ work can be told through numbers; the number of people participating in programs, the number of activities that have taken place, the number of organizations around the world with which we work. Of course, each of these numbers represents a story in itself, of the music made by people in a moment of their lives.
read more ›Last weekend, we returned to the Landesmusikakademie NRW to provide training to musicians who work with refugee communities in Germany.
read more ›In March, MwB trainers led rap workshops with unaccompanied refugee youth in collaboration with SOS Children’s Villages Italy. Together, they wrote and performed their own rap.
read more ›Later this month, we will return to the Landesmusikakademie NRW (Heek, Germany) to run a follow-up training for musicians who are currently working or wish to work with refugees.
read more ›A few weeks ago, MwB trainers led rap workshops with unaccompanied refugee youth in collaboration with SOS Children’s Villages Italy. Together, they wrote and performed their own rap.
read more ›Photos from the last group of wonderful Welcome Notes trainees in Amsterdam! mwb.to/welcome
read more ›“It woke me up in many ways. To more creativity, to really look at the other person, to see what space he or she needs. It was very refreshing.”
read more ›Last weekend, we returned to the Landesmusikakademie NRW to provide training to musicians who work with refugee communities in Germany.
read more ›Photos from the last group of wonderful Welcome Notes trainees in Amsterdam! mwb.to/welcome
read more ›We just concluded our latest Welcome Notes training in Amsterdam, with a new group of musicians and music teachers who wish to use music as a tool to support and connect with refugee communities.
read more ›In June, we ran a five-day Advanced Community Music Training in partnership with the Landesmusikakademie NRW, training local musicians to work with refugees and asylum seekers across Germany. More info: http://mwb.to/training
read more ›This weekend, we began a new training for 30 musicians in Italy in partnership with MUSICIANS for HUMAN RIGHTS with the aim to develop inclusive music programs in local refugee centers.
This training is inspired by our Welcome Notes program, using music to support the inclusion of refugees and migrants throughout Europe.
Read more about the program: http://mwb.to/italy
#MusicConnects http://mwb.ngo
read more ›This past weekend, we trained over 20 musicians from the UK, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands as part of our Welcome Notes project, using music to connect with refugee communities across Europe. https://www.musicianswithoutborders.org/2017/02/welcome-notes-in-the-spring-house/
read more ›We’re training youth leaders to use the power of music to address the effects of HIV in young people.
We’ve partnered with Keep A Child Alive and Alive Medical Services to deliver a yearlong training program for 30 youth leaders.
We are training them to become Community Music Leaders to thousands of children and young people affected by HIV in Uganda. The program will build on existing services and further enhance the quality of psycho-social support being provided at Alive Medical Services.
The training is based on our ongoing program in Rwanda, drawing on the successes and knowledge developed since 2010. Members of our training team include Rwandan community music leaders who join as assistant trainers.
Globally, there are 5.4 million young people living with HIV, most of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa and disproportionately who are young women. While the number of global AIDS-related deaths fell by 30% between 2005 and 2012 (largely due to expanded access to HIV treatment), deaths among adolescents increased by as much as 50% during that same time period. AIDS is the number one killer of adolescents in Africa and the number two killer of adolescents worldwide, after only traffic accidents. Young people are falling out of care, stopping treatment, getting sick, and dying. We are failing this generation – the generation that is our future and that has the potential to see the end of AIDS in their lifetime.
A small piece of the story of Musicians without Borders’ work can be told through numbers; the number of people participating in programs, the number of activities that have taken place, the number of organizations around the world with which we work. Of course, each of these numbers represents a story in itself, of the music made by people in a moment of their lives.
read more ›A blog from Isabel and Ella, on their experience of the first Music Therapy placement at Alive Medical Services, Kampala, Uganda.
read more ›In 2016-2017, Musicians without Borders trained 29 young Ugandans with the skills to use music to support extremely vulnerable children. Now they are ready to begin their real work!
read more ›From May 22nd – 27th 2017 we are running the final week of training for 30 remarkable young people to become Community Music Leaders, supporting vulnerable youth. Program in partnership with Keep a Child Alive and Alive Medical Services.
read more ›On May 27th, thirty young leaders from our partner organization in Uganda, Alive Medical Services (AMS), will graduate from Musicians without Borders’ training as Community Music Leaders.
read more ›In January 30 trainee Community Music Leaders came together for a week focussed on creativity in music-making. This meant developing their own creativity, and also inviting the creativity of children participating in their workshops.
read more ›From January 23rd – 27th we are running the third week of training for 30 remarkable young people to become Community Music Leaders, supporting vulnerable youth.
Program in partnership with Keep a Child Alive and Alive Medical Services.
read more ›“Next time a child makes a mistake try and celebrate that mistake with him or her. Then they will learn from that mistake. After you have celebrated their mistake sit and talk to the child, then the child will trust you, feel protected, loved, hopeful and important in the community.”
read more ›From May 22nd – 27th 2017 we are running the final week of training for 30 remarkable young people to become Community Music Leaders, supporting vulnerable youth. Program in partnership with Keep a Child Alive and Alive Medical Services.
read more ›From January 23rd – 27th we are running the third week of training for 30 remarkable young people to become Community Music Leaders, supporting vulnerable youth.
Program in partnership with Keep a Child Alive and Alive Medical Services.
read more ›We’ve partnered with Keep a Child Alive and Alive Medical Services in Uganda, to run a training program for 30 youth leaders.
We are training them to become Community Music Leaders for thousands of vulnerable children across the country.
The training began on September 5, 2016, with our international trainers Danny Felsteiner Mekori and Chris Nicholson, assisted by Rwandan Community Music Leaders Habimana Augustin, Uwamariya Aimee, and Shyaka Allison.
http://mwb.ngo
#MusicConnects
Fred Mbalu works as a music coach in our new program in Uganda. He teaches a wide range of traditional instruments, dance, and drama. He trains the youth leaders in our program, preparing them to work with thousands of vulnerable children and young people.
Read about our past programs…
From Woman to Woman uses music to support the healing process of women who were victims of war and/or domestic violence in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in cooperation with local partner Snaga Žene (BiH). While the project officially concluded in 2015, both the choir and selected activities in refugee camps continue to operate.
"The pain is gone."
The 1995 genocide in Srebrenica left thousands of women alone and grieving for their men and boys. Many were themselves victims of (sexual) violence, displacement and other traumatic experiences. In communities like Potočari (the scene of a mass murder in 1995) and the villages and collective settlements around Tuzla where Bosniak refugees are still living, women still live with unimaginable grief and loss. This affects not only themselves, but also their children and other family members, their neighbors and the surrounding community.
From Woman to Woman addresses the problem of isolation by providing a way for Bosnian women musicians and dancers to offer their professional skills and their compassionate support to their countrywomen.
The project is built on a solid collaboration between Musicians without Borders and Snaga Žene, an organization that offers psychological, social, medical, pedagogical and legal support to women, children and adolescents (refugees, returnees and displaced persons) who suffered different traumatic experiences during and after the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
From Woman to Woman produced a pool of trained local workshop leaders to lead music and dance workshops and activities with women who are still haunted by traumatic experiences of violence, dislocation and loss of loved ones during the ethnic ‘cleansing’ especially in the Srebrenica region. Parallel with the didactic/ artistic/ therapeutic training, the project focused on creating a local project management team with skills in organization, logistics, public relations, communication and fundraising.
The following activities were planned between May 2013 – May 2014 in order to achieve the objectives of the project:
International Women’s Day, March 8, is widely celebrated in Bosnia-Herzegovina, as in the entire former Yugoslavia region. This year, MwB’s music coordinator, Almerisa Delic and partner organization, Snaga Zene created a memorable day for hundreds of women survivors in eastern Bosnia.
read more ›Time for us has stopped here in the past years, but we need positive changes, if not for us, for our children; we need to think positively!
read more ›Brave Roses – our From Woman to Woman choir – offered an early gift to the women who live in Dom penzionera Tuzla (Home of Pensioners). On the 8th of March – the International Women’s Day – they will sing for and with the women of Srebrenica.
read more ›During the music workshops with children, their mothers join in and listen to their children singing and watch them play musical games, share their joy, their creative energy and their genuine sense of freedom, which brings them closer to the experience of music.
read more ›And this is how 2013 came to an end for a small part of those who live in the camps of Ježevac and Višća, with music from woman to woman, with new bonds created and with renewed hope for a better life.
read more ›The group smiled, thanked her, and then all headed to their homes, already talking about their next meeting. In the days to come, they will sing again for the women in the camps, in Potocari, in Srebrenica and, maybe, make their lives brighter and richer, by sharing with them the gift of music through their singing.
read more ›But there is so much more to this, there is the process, the people involved, the smiles, the path to the goal. And the obvious question that followed was: how do we share this with our supporters, with our networks and those who’ve never heard of this project?
read more ›By the end of the workshop, the women were creating their own music, using percussion instruments and simple vocal elements. The effects of this process were visible: the women were smiling and looking serene and relaxed. They were clearly enjoying being together as a group, but they weren’t singing – or at least they didn’t realize they were.
read more ›From Woman To Woman (Od Zene Do Zene) is carried out by Musicians without Borders and the Bosnian women’s organization Snaga Žene.
From Woman to Woman is a collaborative project between Musicians without Borders (Netherlands) and Snaga Žene (meaning ‘Women Power’) based in Bośnia i Hercegovina. The project uses music to address severe, persistent war-related trauma among women in Eastern Bosnia.
About IuliaIulia started working in the field of peacebuilding in 2009 while finalizing her MA in National Security Management. Prior to that, she studied International Relations and European Studies, both in Romania and in the Czech Republic at Charles University. As a peacebuilding professional, she has worked with the Peace Action Training and Research Institute of Romania, initially as training coordinator and, starting in 2010, as a trainer. Her areas of expertise include: discrimination, gender issues, active citizenship, conflict transformation, peacebuilding, intercultural communication, training development and implementation, project management, etc. She currently lives in Vienna, where she is collaborating with the Austrian branch of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, as well as with Peace is the Way Films Ltd., an organization focused on media for social change and filmmaking, as Associate Producer and scriptwriter.
About MarijkeMarijke Smedema is a music teacher and works with children with special needs. She is trainer and project leader and has been associated with MwB since 2003. She specializes in music and movement, pedagogy, didactics, children with special needs and coaching. In From Woman to Woman, Marijke is one of two trainers who will train local musicians in using music and movement to work with traumatized women in the camps.
About LisLis Murphy is the Founder and Artistic Director of Musicians without Borders in the United Kingdom (UK). She trained in music at Edinburgh University and is a gifted singer and violinist. Lis spent two years in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as head of the schools program of Warchild. She has pioneered the use of singing and songwriting with asylum seekers and torture survivors living in the UK to reduce trauma and connect communities in a positive way. In From Woman to Woman, Lis will be one of two trainers who will train local musicians in using music and movement to work with traumatized women in the camps.
About DanielaDaniela Micevic Dedovic has been working with Snaga Zene/Women Strength as program manager since 2009. Her work experience in management and administration was gained while working with different international organization such as UNMIBH, ESS/EUFOR, NPA, DRC, etc. from 1996 to 2007. As part of ‘From Woman to Woman’, Daniela is responsible with supervising and coordinating the implementation of the local activities foreseen in the project, together with Branka Antić-Stauber, Snaga Zene director.
About AlmerisaAlmerisa Delic is a talented music teacher based in Tuzla. She has worked with Musicians without Borders as workshop leader, as part of the “Music Bus” project, conducting workshops with children in Srebrenica (and villages around Srebrenica), as well as the camps around Tuzla. As part of ‘From Woman to Woman’, Almerisa is responsible with leading the music activities foreseen in the project, such as conducting choir practice sessions with the women based in Tuzla, that visit the Snaga Zene house, as well as leading the music workshops with the women in camps.
About MarijkeMarijke Smedema is a music teacher and works with children with special needs. She is trainer and project leader and has been associated with MwB since 2003. She specializes in music and movement, pedagogy, didactics, children with special needs and coaching. In From Woman to Woman, Marijke is one of two trainers who will train local musicians in using music and movement to work with traumatized women in the camps.
About DanielaDaniela Micevic Dedovic has been working with Snaga Zene/Women Strength as program manager since 2009. Her work experience in management and administration was gained while working with different international organization such as UNMIBH, ESS/EUFOR, NPA, DRC, etc. from 1996 to 2007. As part of ‘From Woman to Woman’, Daniela is responsible with supervising and coordinating the implementation of the local activities foreseen in the project, together with Branka Antić-Stauber, Snaga Zene director.
About SnagaSnaga Žene Association has been established upon the initiative of women from Tuzla and German association Vive Žene e.V. from Dortmund. “Snaga Žene” exists since 1999 and conducts activities in the area of Tuzla Canton and Eastern Republika Srpska. The Centre offers psychological, social, medical, pedagogical and legal support to women, children and adolescents (refugees, returnees and displaced persons) who suffered different traumatic experiences during and after the war in BiH. “Snaga Žene” supports clients in retrieving their psychological balance, strengthening their family relation and in their endeavors to fit in everyday life.
About ChrisIn September 2012, Chris Nicholson set up a music therapy program for people living with HIV and AIDS at a clinic in urban central Rwanda. In September 2013, he returned to continue his therapy work with vulnerable HIV+ adolescents and to train staff in Music & Health. He is Project Manager of Rwanda Youth Music. Prior to his involvement with music therapy, Chris had an international performance and teaching career as a classical guitarist. He studied classical guitar at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and in Spain with maestros Jose Tomas and Alex Garrobe.
About OttoOtto de Jong is a choir and orchestra conductor specialized in working with large groups of children. Since 1999, he has been working as a trainer for Musicians without Borders training others to work with children. His music workshops, lessons and rehearsals demonstrate and teach trainers to use the power of nonverbal communication and team building. For Otto, music is a means for children to receive attention, to learn to concentrate, to be in a safe environment in a group setting and, last but not least a source of joy. Music is a universal language.
About OttoOtto de Jong is a choir and orchestra conductor specialized in working with large groups of children. Since 1999, he has been working as a trainer for Musicians without Borders training others to work with children. His music workshops, lessons and rehearsals demonstrate and teach trainers to use the power of nonverbal communication and team building. For Otto, music is a means for children to receive attention, to learn to concentrate, to be in a safe environment in a group setting and, last but not least a source of joy. Music is a universal language.
Tanzania Youth Music employs the expertise of Musicians without Borders to strengthen the capacity of community based organizations in Moshi District, close to Kilimanjaro. The project is in cooperation with FEMI and operates in line with the foundation’s aims to increase community participation and access to education and healthcare in Tanzania.
The goal of Tanzania Youth Music is to build local capacity and strengthen Tanzanian cultural connections. 30 youth and community leaders will be trained to incorporate community music methods within organizations working in partnership with FEMI.
Based on the successful Rwanda Youth Music program, Musicians without Borders will conduct music workshop leadership trainings for 30 community members in Moshi, the Lower Moshi region, and Arusha, engaging them to work with vulnerable children or youth on a regular basis.
Following the training, all participants will be better equipped to engage their communities, strengthen social bonds between vulnerable children, and between children and their families through music. The trainees will acquire skills in running music workshops and will become leaders and role models, promoting community involvement and increasing social awareness concerning HIV-infected/affected individuals and other marginalized groups.
Rwandan musicians and graduates from our Rwanda Youth Music project will work alongside six international trainers to provide four weeks of training to 30 youth and community leaders in Tanzania. The training course will incorporate elements of percussion, vocal skills, song-writing, games and musical activities.
A strong emphasis is placed on community leadership skills and is informed by Musicians without Borders’ ethos of inclusion, community building and reconciliation through music. Trainees who complete the full year’s course will be certified by Musicians without Borders as Music Workshop Leaders.
The final week of training for the 29 new MwB Community Music Leaders
read more ›To be a MwB Community Music Leader requires creativity. The situations in which we work are fragile and changing. Often resources are limited. Power can go off mid-workshop, a storm can flare up in seconds during rainy season, the mood of the children participating can be high or low.
read more ›For 5 days the trainees learned techniques in creating workshops, connecting activities, and adapting workshops according to different situations and the profile of children. On the fourth day of the training, the trainees traveled to a nearby orphanage, working with 60 orphans, where they led an hour-long workshop.
read more ›Congratulations to the 11 new Musicians without Borders Assistant Trainers!
Last week, eight young Rwandans were accepted as Training Assistants for our 2014-2015 projects in Rwanda and Tanzania. The eight new assistants all graduated in February 2013 from Musicians without Borders’ Music Workshop Leadership training, and since then have been using music in support work in their communities with HIV+ children, genocide survivors, and other vulnerable children and youth. In addition to the eight young leaders, three Rwandan musicians will also be employed to work alongside our international trainers during the coming year.
read more ›As we closed the first week’s training of Tanzania Youth Music, one of the trainees picked up my guitar and began to play and sing the refrain “Storm is over now…”, with an acoustic reggae groove. The group caught the words and the feel, moving and singing along. The words shifted into “Music without Borders…”, each of us…
read more ›As we closed the first week’s training of Tanzania Youth Music, one of the trainees picked up my guitar and began to play and sing the refrain “Storm is over now…”, with an acoustic reggae groove. The group caught the words and the feel, moving and singing along. The words shifted into “Music without Borders…”, each of us…
read more ›The final week of training for the 29 new MwB Community Music Leaders
read more › About ChrisIn September 2012, Chris Nicholson set up a music therapy program for people living with HIV and AIDS at a clinic in urban central Rwanda. In September 2013, he returned to continue his therapy work with vulnerable HIV+ adolescents and to train staff in Music & Health. He is Project Manager of Rwanda Youth Music. Prior to his involvement with music therapy, Chris had an international performance and teaching career as a classical guitarist. He studied classical guitar at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and in Spain with maestros Jose Tomas and Alex Garrobe.
About OttoOtto de Jong is a choir and orchestra conductor specialized in working with large groups of children. Since 1999, he has been working as a trainer for Musicians without Borders training others to work with children. His music workshops, lessons and rehearsals demonstrate and teach trainers to use the power of nonverbal communication and team building. For Otto, music is a means for children to receive attention, to learn to concentrate, to be in a safe environment in a group setting and, last but not least a source of joy. Music is a universal language.
About EspoirEspoir began working with Musicians without Borders in 2013 as a guitar and vocal teacher. He performs professionally with Trezzor, the Mashirika Band and with Afro-rock vocalist Mani Martin. He has performed internationally in Tanzania, DRC, Kenya and Uganda, with planned performances in Japan in 2015. He travelled to Tanzania in 2014 to work as Assistant Trainer with Tanzania Youth Music.
About DannyDanny Felsteiner Mekori studied music and music education at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. Since 2006, he has been giving music workshops and trainings in Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Sweden, Northern Ireland, Rwanda, Uganda, and South Africa. Danny also works as a facilitator in a music project bringing young Palestinian and Israeli musicians together (Music on Trouble Grounds, Spiritus Mundi). From Feb 2012 until Feb 2014, he worked as the project manager of Rwanda Youth Music, setting up the project and training the first group of youth leaders.
About OttoOtto de Jong is a choir and orchestra conductor specialized in working with large groups of children. Since 1999, he has been working as a trainer for Musicians without Borders training others to work with children. His music workshops, lessons and rehearsals demonstrate and teach trainers to use the power of nonverbal communication and team building. For Otto, music is a means for children to receive attention, to learn to concentrate, to be in a safe environment in a group setting and, last but not least a source of joy. Music is a universal language.
About DannyDanny Felsteiner Mekori studied music and music education at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. Since 2006, he has been giving music workshops and trainings in Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Sweden, Northern Ireland, Rwanda, Uganda, and South Africa. Danny also works as a facilitator in a music project bringing young Palestinian and Israeli musicians together (Music on Trouble Grounds, Spiritus Mundi). From Feb 2012 until Feb 2014, he worked as the project manager of Rwanda Youth Music, setting up the project and training the first group of youth leaders.
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