Music as a pathway for personal growth
Imagine, having a great talent but no opportunity to make use of it. Or imagine, in your community, being perceived as a burden rather than a blessing. This limits your personal and professional development massively and decides how you, as an individual, will fit into society.
The objective in our focus area, Music for Social Change, is to empower young people through music to make conscious choices for life. We are concentrating on three initiatives: supporting grassroot programs, building bridges between music programs and the established music world, and the Academy for Impact through Music (AIM).
Supporting grassroot programs
Our work is centered on the goal of creating a world with more equal opportunities. We want to give children and young people without any fair chances a perspective by helping them discover their hidden abilities through music, strengthening their self-esteem and self-confidence, and empowering them to believe in themselves. Making music together promotes their social skills, teaches them to take responsibility for each other, to actively participate and to make decisions. Ideally, this begins at a young age in grassroot music programs, where children have their first musical experience, perceive themselves as part of a community, and learn first-hand that with commitment and hard work, you can get ahead quickly.
After two years of the pandemic, face-to-face classes finally resumed in 2022. Surprisingly, it turned out that many young musicians had significantly improved their playing. This was partly due to the regular online lessons offered by the various programs, but also because they invested much more time in music, since many public schools had closed their doors for a full two years. However, making music together is a deeply social affair, which the young musicians naturally had to do without during the pandemic. This led to psychological problems for many of them, a situation we addressed with regular online psychological support.
Building bridges
Our initiative "Building Bridges" promotes the connection between music programs with social objectives and institutions in the established music sector. Through regular teacher exchanges, joint projects and performances at renowned international festivals and theaters, the young musicians learn about international standards, establish contacts in the professional music scene and develop an increased awareness of quality.
Due to many postponed events caused by the pandemic, 2022 became a particularly intensive year, with more than 550 young musicians participating in international activities. These included exchange projects with the Musikkollegium Winterthur, the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg, and the tour of the Youth Orchestra Sinfonia por el Perú with spectacular concerts at the renowned classical music festivals in Salzburg, Gstaad and Lucerne. The international summer camp of Sistema Europe took place in Madrid with more than 120 participants; and in Los Angeles, the Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel dedicated two weeks to a group of about 200 young musicians from all over the world as part of his project "Encuentros" (Encounters). All these events have been unforgettable moments for the participants and, at the same time, fantastic opportunities for personal growth.
AIM – Academy for Impact through music
AIM is an innovation lab where music teachers have the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of creative and impact-oriented teaching, try out new things without fear of failure, and reflect on their teaching with mentors and coaches developing new approaches. For AIM, 2022 was the first year in which the program could be carried out according to plan and without cancellations or postponements.
The cohort 2022 – 40 music teachers from 12 different international institutions – underwent ten weeks of online training before putting their theoretical learnings into practice at the AIM summer camp in Lisbon in August 2022. This camp was also attended by young musicians from different programs, who not only acted as test subjects for the different teaching methods, but also analyzed the lessons’ impact on their own learning and music making. Now, the teachers are back in their programs, implementing what they have learned and regularly analyzing and reflecting on their teaching with their personal external as well as internal AIM coaches. At the same time, they multiply their learnings with their fellow teachers, deepening the impact of AIM for students.
Methodology of the Music for Social Change programs
Unlike in traditional music schools, the children and young people learn musical fundamentals in small groups and soon after become part of an ensemble or an orchestra. They learn that in an ensemble everybody counts and often become aware of their importance for the first time in their lives. Young people grow into active listeners, gain self-confidence, and learn about responsibility and reliability. This helps them overcome some of the major challenges that prevent children and young people from reaching their full potential.
Sinfonía por el Perú
Sinfonía por el Perú is one of the Hilti Foundation’s most important programs in its focus area of «Music for Social Change», based on clear objectives, a well-thought-out strategy and a constant striving for excellence. With a concept of collaborative and participatory learning, the young musicians not only develop their talent, but also their social skills, a sense of mutual responsibility and self-confidence that enables them to make conscious decisions at a young age. Since its inception in 2011, the program has been able to provide thousands of children and young people with an education for life, and has also been scientifically proven to positively impact their families and society.
AIM Firebird Residency
The Academy for Impact through Music (AIM) was established as an independent charitable foundation in Liechtenstein in 2022. It is one of the Hilti Foundation's responses to the most critical requirements in the music for social change sector identified over the past ten years. Its goal is to achieve systemic change in the entire sector. Every year, AIM’s Firebird Fellowship teacher training program supports a cohort of 30-40 young teachers (Firebirds) from social music programs around the world. The program provides an inspiring educational journey that allows each Firebird to flourish artistically and develop more teaching skills while feeling part of a learning community with other Firebird fellows. During a full academic year in their local program, they conduct action research and reflect on their practice by recording their teaching. Supported by AIM coaches, they discuss next steps to improve their teaching practice. At the same time, the training serves as a learning model, the Firebirds will take back to their own classrooms to multiply that knowledge within their local programs.