From left: Playing for Change Foundation CEO Jake Groshong, Samueli Academy Executive Director Anthony Saba, Universal Music artist PAMÉ, The Drake Gives CEO Alec Glasser and Richard Matthew, Power of Music faculty director. Photos by Han Parker
Power of Music initiative launches new partnership
Music’s power to change lives and improve society was celebrated at a recent event marking a new partnership between UC Irvine’s Power of Music initiative, The Drake Gives, Samueli Academy and Playing for Change Foundation.
“This is exciting and an historic moment,” Richard Matthew, professor of urban planning and public policy and faculty director of the Power of Music initiative, told attendees at the Aug. 28 event at Samueli Academy, featuring musical performances by Samueli students and staff and headline entertainment by the Universal Music artist PAMÉ.
“Our mission is to bring music into places where the opportunities are lacking, to strengthen programs where an increase in size would be tremendously beneficial and to study the impact of these programs on the lives of people,” he said.
The Drake Gives and the School of Social Ecology established the Power of Music initiative last year. Earlier this year, The Drake Gives funded the initiative with a $1.5 million donation.
Since then, two staff members — Anna Kamanzi as director and Michelle Ly as coordinator — were hired to run the program.
Kamanzi, who earned her Ph.D. in socio-cultural anthropology from UCI earlier this year, said the Power of Music has plans to become a campus center, where students and faculty can participate in research at home and abroad.
“Our goal is to build this new center from the ground up, to work on building collaborative partnerships so we can continue to grow,” she said.
Music is important, she said, because “it touches so many aspects of our lives as humans. We are a story-telling species and music is a great way to tell stories and to share messages, communicate culture, communicate information, pass things down generations.”
Research shows that music produces myriad benefits, including enhancing cognitive ability, athletic ability, mental and physical well-being, collaboration, self-esteem, confidence, team building, to name a few, Kamanzi said.
“Having this center that can validate the power of music is really important and, hopefully, it will lead to increased music education and access for young people in our community and abroad,” she added. “And, hopefully, the research will lead to policy changes in the future.”
The focus, said Alec Glasser, founder and CEO of The Drake Gives, is to leverage the power of music to galvanize students, other individuals and communities for social progress and well-being.
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