“Social Engagement Through Music: Histories, Economies, Communities” is a new, team-based, immersive course in which students collaborate with and provide professional support to musicians from Boston’s immigrant communities. The course also provides an intellectual framework for understanding the historical circumstances, economic and political realities, and community needs of these artists.
The course is the first of its kind, a collaboration with the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC). Maggie Holzberg, MCC folklorist, helped recommend the artists through MCC’s 2018 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program. The course also collaborated with the Bok Center Learning Lab, the Mindich Program in Engaged Scholarship, the Music Department’s faculty — Carol Oja, Kay Kaufman Shelemay, and Michael Uy — graduate students Matthew Leslie Santana and Caitlin Schmid, and the four brilliant musicians from around the world who have made Boston their home. . .