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UTEP to Use Music to Build Civic Communication

Last Updated on May 07, 2019 at 12:00 AM

Originally published May 07, 2019

By UC Staff

UTEP Communications

The University of Texas at El Paso will be part of a national consortium of conservatories, music institutions and college music departments to use artistic experiences to enhance communication within U.S. communities.

The University of Texas at El Paso will be part of a national consortium of conservatories, music institutions and college music departments to use artistic experiences to enhance communication within U.S. communities. Photo: UTEP Communications
The University of Texas at El Paso will be part of a national consortium of conservatories, music institutions and college music departments to use artistic experiences to enhance communication within U.S. communities. Photo: UTEP Communications

Steve Wilson, DMA, chair of UTEP’s Department of Music, said his department and its affiliated Center for Arts Entrepreneurship along with El Paso Pro Musica and the El Paso Symphony Orchestra have pledged their support for this effort call “nour·ish.” He is still developing the calendar of activities but said events would begin in early November 2019.

“It’s going to be a music blitz,” Wilson said. “We’re all united in this effort. The response from faculty and outside organizations was that they wanted to make this happen. We all want to give back and be part of the community, and that includes Juárez.”

The consortium consists of the DePauw School of Music (Indiana), New England Conservatory (Massachusetts), Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University (Maryland), Indiana University’s Jacob School of Music, the University of Colorado – Boulder, and the University of South Carolina School of Music.

Each institution will organize events specifically for their communities. The initial plans from some site supervisors call for performances in jails and children’s hospitals. Wilson said the UTEP-affiliated groups might perform at shelters for migrant families along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Consortium leaders plan to create a “how to” curriculum based on the pilot program that other music programs could use to organize their own nour·ish event.