Music in Medellin: Citizenship, Social Development, and Urban Renewal
Lead Research Organisation:
Royal Holloway University of London
Department Name: Music
Abstract
The field of "social action through music" (SATM), a term popularised by Venezuela's youth orchestra program El Sistema, currently faces two problems: a paucity of rigorous research, and a disconnect between that research and the practice and policy spheres. My proposed project is intended not just to augment that research base but also to inform, and ultimately impact on, practitioners and policy makers. Focusing on Medellin, Colombia, it will explore how musical practices shape and are shaped by conceptions of citizenship, which is central to SATM, and consider the impact of music education programs on social development and urban renewal. It will entail a year of ethnographic fieldwork, and build on my previous research on El Sistema, music education and citizenship, music and the city, hip hop, and cultural policy.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Medellin was considered the murder capital of the world. In 1997, aiming to reverse the city's fortunes, the city government adopted a strategic development plan labelled "social urbanism" for its emphasis on education, culture, and citizenship. A key initiative was the creation of a network of 27 music schools in poorer neighbourhoods. An important hip hop scene also arose around this time, and gave rise to a number of educational projects. The result is a city with a remarkable concentration of music education activity, particularly on the urban margins, in which issues of citizenship and social development play a prominent role.
My project will take a comparative, relational approach, exploring the different managerial regimes that organise musical activity in Medellin and focusing in particular on (1) the Network of Music Schools (predominantly classical music); (2) Cultura y Libertad (hip hop schools); and (3) Canto Alegre (Colombian popular music).
My primary research questions are:
1. How is citizenship conceptualised in different institutional contexts and musical genres? And how do conceptions of citizenship relate to actual practices of music making and learning?
My initial hypothesis is that the Network imagines the personally responsible citizen, whereas Cultura y Libertad focuses on the justice-oriented citizen (Westheimer & Kahne, "What kind of citizen?"). Canto Alegre is chosen because, in contrast, it targets the upper-middle class, from which the city's future leaders are likely to come, and thus approaches the questions of citizenship and social development very differently. I will focus primarily on education, but also consider music making and listening more broadly as potentially fostering "intimate citizenship" (Stokes, The Republic of Love).
2. In what ways does music education serve as a form of social development?
Heightened publicity surrounding El Sistema has led to an upsurge of interest in the potential of music education to ameliorate a range of problems in disadvantaged sectors of society. Youth orchestras, in particular, have been a central focus, because of the presumed benefits that they bring in terms of teamwork, discipline, solidarity, and inclusion. However, my book El Sistema: Orchestrating Venezuela's Youth (OUP, 2014) revealed that such benefits were neither fully conceptualised nor (in many cases) realised in the Venezuelan context. Further research on the theory and practice of SATM in other contexts is thus a high priority.
3. What roles have music policies played in processes of urban renewal?
Music education plays a prominent role in "social urbanism," Medellin's strategic development plan. The city government has also embraced the "creative city" paradigm as part of its urban renewal strategy, and Medellin was recently designated as a City of Music within UNESCO's Creative Cities Network. The use of music and education in the city's reimaging attracts national and international investment, yet inequality is rising. Music may therefore play ambiguous, even contradictory, roles in broader urban processes.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Medellin was considered the murder capital of the world. In 1997, aiming to reverse the city's fortunes, the city government adopted a strategic development plan labelled "social urbanism" for its emphasis on education, culture, and citizenship. A key initiative was the creation of a network of 27 music schools in poorer neighbourhoods. An important hip hop scene also arose around this time, and gave rise to a number of educational projects. The result is a city with a remarkable concentration of music education activity, particularly on the urban margins, in which issues of citizenship and social development play a prominent role.
My project will take a comparative, relational approach, exploring the different managerial regimes that organise musical activity in Medellin and focusing in particular on (1) the Network of Music Schools (predominantly classical music); (2) Cultura y Libertad (hip hop schools); and (3) Canto Alegre (Colombian popular music).
My primary research questions are:
1. How is citizenship conceptualised in different institutional contexts and musical genres? And how do conceptions of citizenship relate to actual practices of music making and learning?
My initial hypothesis is that the Network imagines the personally responsible citizen, whereas Cultura y Libertad focuses on the justice-oriented citizen (Westheimer & Kahne, "What kind of citizen?"). Canto Alegre is chosen because, in contrast, it targets the upper-middle class, from which the city's future leaders are likely to come, and thus approaches the questions of citizenship and social development very differently. I will focus primarily on education, but also consider music making and listening more broadly as potentially fostering "intimate citizenship" (Stokes, The Republic of Love).
2. In what ways does music education serve as a form of social development?
Heightened publicity surrounding El Sistema has led to an upsurge of interest in the potential of music education to ameliorate a range of problems in disadvantaged sectors of society. Youth orchestras, in particular, have been a central focus, because of the presumed benefits that they bring in terms of teamwork, discipline, solidarity, and inclusion. However, my book El Sistema: Orchestrating Venezuela's Youth (OUP, 2014) revealed that such benefits were neither fully conceptualised nor (in many cases) realised in the Venezuelan context. Further research on the theory and practice of SATM in other contexts is thus a high priority.
3. What roles have music policies played in processes of urban renewal?
Music education plays a prominent role in "social urbanism," Medellin's strategic development plan. The city government has also embraced the "creative city" paradigm as part of its urban renewal strategy, and Medellin was recently designated as a City of Music within UNESCO's Creative Cities Network. The use of music and education in the city's reimaging attracts national and international investment, yet inequality is rising. Music may therefore play ambiguous, even contradictory, roles in broader urban processes.
Planned Impact
My project is designed to inform and benefit socially oriented music programs around the world and those involved in:
a) the design, funding, and creation of SATM programs - policy-makers, governments, development banks, charities, performing arts organisations
b) the running of SATM programs - managers, teachers, other employees
c) the documentation and analysis of SATM programs - consultants, researchers, the media
The project aims at improved practice as well understanding. It is intended to illuminate the strengths and weaknesses of current practices, and thereby promote the design and implementation of more effective SATM projects. Putting SATM on a firmer foundation of research will contribute to the wise investment of resources and the tailoring of programs to maximise the desired social outcomes. Such improvements will benefit not only the funders and deliverers of such programs, but also the participants and, by extension, the communities in which they live.
The project's outputs and activities will thus be aimed at a mixed audience of academic and non-academic beneficiaries. The principal topics have already demonstrated ample appeal to non-academic sectors. Two major SATM conferences in 2016, "Reframing El Sistema" (Baltimore) and "Music and Social Transformation" (Bogota), involved predominantly non-academic participants, and Medellin's social urbanism is frequently covered by the international media.
Communications and engagement with these beneficiaries will take place through two principal routes: (1) public events, and (2) mainstream and social media.
(1) The public events at which I will engage with users and beneficiaries will include:
a) The third SIMM symposium in Zurich (spring 2018)
b) The world conference of the International Society for Music Education in Baku (July 2018)
c) A two-day conference on SATM that I will organise at Senate House in London
d) A two-day conference that I will co-organise at the University of Maryland Baltimore County: "Reframing Social Action through Music"
e) A two-day conference that I will co-organise at Porto Polytechnic, Portugal (the fourth SIMM symposium)
f) An event with the National Foundation for Youth Music (UK): "SATM: Dialogues between South and North"
g) A symposium for researchers, managers, and teachers with Symphony for Life (Australia)
h) A knowledge exchange event with NEOJIBA (Brazil)
i) Collaborative events with institutions in Medellin and Bogota (Colombia), such as the Network of Music Schools, Casa Morada, and the Universidad Nacional and Universidad Distrital.
A further route to engagement will be via SIMM, an organisation based at the University of Ghent, which aims specifically to connect research, practice, and policy in this area. I am now a steering committee member and co-organiser of the second symposium (London, 2017) and the fourth (Porto, 2018). SIMM will soon be launched as a permanent, multi-institutional, international platform, providing an important public-facing outlet for my work.
(2) My research on El Sistema has been disseminated and debated in major media outlets around the globe, including the BBC, several UK broadsheets, and the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. I have also served as a consultant for numerous journalists writing about this topic in several countries. This experience has left me with an international network of media contacts and a good understanding of public engagement via the media. I intend to draw on this knowledge and experience in order to publish further articles in The Guardian and other prominent media outlets, and I hope to make a radio program on SATM, drawing on a decade of work on this subject in Venezuela and Colombia.
I will also publish regularly on my two research blogs, which have received over 60,000 page views. One of these, Tocar y Pensar, is bilingual (English/Spanish), thereby targeting Latin America as well as Europe and North America.
a) the design, funding, and creation of SATM programs - policy-makers, governments, development banks, charities, performing arts organisations
b) the running of SATM programs - managers, teachers, other employees
c) the documentation and analysis of SATM programs - consultants, researchers, the media
The project aims at improved practice as well understanding. It is intended to illuminate the strengths and weaknesses of current practices, and thereby promote the design and implementation of more effective SATM projects. Putting SATM on a firmer foundation of research will contribute to the wise investment of resources and the tailoring of programs to maximise the desired social outcomes. Such improvements will benefit not only the funders and deliverers of such programs, but also the participants and, by extension, the communities in which they live.
The project's outputs and activities will thus be aimed at a mixed audience of academic and non-academic beneficiaries. The principal topics have already demonstrated ample appeal to non-academic sectors. Two major SATM conferences in 2016, "Reframing El Sistema" (Baltimore) and "Music and Social Transformation" (Bogota), involved predominantly non-academic participants, and Medellin's social urbanism is frequently covered by the international media.
Communications and engagement with these beneficiaries will take place through two principal routes: (1) public events, and (2) mainstream and social media.
(1) The public events at which I will engage with users and beneficiaries will include:
a) The third SIMM symposium in Zurich (spring 2018)
b) The world conference of the International Society for Music Education in Baku (July 2018)
c) A two-day conference on SATM that I will organise at Senate House in London
d) A two-day conference that I will co-organise at the University of Maryland Baltimore County: "Reframing Social Action through Music"
e) A two-day conference that I will co-organise at Porto Polytechnic, Portugal (the fourth SIMM symposium)
f) An event with the National Foundation for Youth Music (UK): "SATM: Dialogues between South and North"
g) A symposium for researchers, managers, and teachers with Symphony for Life (Australia)
h) A knowledge exchange event with NEOJIBA (Brazil)
i) Collaborative events with institutions in Medellin and Bogota (Colombia), such as the Network of Music Schools, Casa Morada, and the Universidad Nacional and Universidad Distrital.
A further route to engagement will be via SIMM, an organisation based at the University of Ghent, which aims specifically to connect research, practice, and policy in this area. I am now a steering committee member and co-organiser of the second symposium (London, 2017) and the fourth (Porto, 2018). SIMM will soon be launched as a permanent, multi-institutional, international platform, providing an important public-facing outlet for my work.
(2) My research on El Sistema has been disseminated and debated in major media outlets around the globe, including the BBC, several UK broadsheets, and the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. I have also served as a consultant for numerous journalists writing about this topic in several countries. This experience has left me with an international network of media contacts and a good understanding of public engagement via the media. I intend to draw on this knowledge and experience in order to publish further articles in The Guardian and other prominent media outlets, and I hope to make a radio program on SATM, drawing on a decade of work on this subject in Venezuela and Colombia.
I will also publish regularly on my two research blogs, which have received over 60,000 page views. One of these, Tocar y Pensar, is bilingual (English/Spanish), thereby targeting Latin America as well as Europe and North America.
People |
ORCID iD |
Geoffrey Baker (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Description | I have documented and analysed a distinctive example of Social Action Through Music that has been developed in Medellín, Colombia. It offers an alternative model to the dominant one (Venezuela's El Sistema). As well as describing the development of this concrete example in detail, I have also been able - through this research project - to construct a manifesto for rethinking and remaking Social Action Through Music in future. |
Exploitation Route | The outcomes of this funding are potentially of interest to program leaders and music teachers in hundreds of Social Action Through Music programs around the world. Depending on their interest, they could use the findings of this research to inflect or transform their curriculum and/or pedagogy. |
Sectors | Education |
Description | Barranquilla keynote |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Keynote presentation at Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla, Colombia. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Brazil keynote |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Keynote presentation to Seminário Internacional de Música Ibero Americana, Manaus, Brazil. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Buenos Aires book launch |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Launch of my 2021 book at a specially-convened seminar in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with formal responses from three Argentinean scholars. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Buenos Aires symposium |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | I organised a one-day symposium on youth orchestras in Buenos Aires. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Cali keynote |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Keynote lecture at the IV Congreso de Investigación en Música in Cali, Colombia. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Chile roundtable |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Roundtable at music conference in Chile |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | City University seminar |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Research seminar at City University (online). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Démos scientific committee |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | I was invited to join the scientific committee of the French national music education program Démos. This involves an annual multi-day meeting, advising the program on their internal research processes. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020 |
Description | International Society of Music Education regional conference keynote |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Keynote at the Latin American regional conference of the International Society for Music Education, held in Cancún, Mexico. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Keynote at University of Antioquia conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Keynote at music conference hosted by University of Antioquia, Medellín |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Keynote to Red de Escuelas de Música de Medellín |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Keynote presentation at annual seminar of Red de Escuelas de Música de Medellín |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | McGill seminar |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Presentation of my book to postgraduate music education students at McGill University, Canada. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Music education seminar in Xalapa, Mexico |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | I gave a keynote presentation and participated in a panel and other activities at a 5-day seminar for music education students and professional music educators in Xalapa, Mexico. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Paper at ISME 2022 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Presentation at international conference of ISME (International Society for Music Education) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Presentation at Universidad de Playa Ancha, Valparaíso |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Presentation to students and staff at Universidad de Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, Chile |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Presentation in Valparaíso |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Public presentation as part of invited visit to Valparaíso, Chile |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Presentation to Queen Mathilde Fund |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
Results and Impact | I was invited by the Queen Mathilde Fund, Belgium, to address a mixed audience of music students, program leaders, and cultural officials on the topic of the social impact of making music. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Presentation to diplomado |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presentation as part of diploma course on music and peacebuilding at the Universidad Nacional, Bogotá |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | SIMM-posium keynote |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Keynote presentation to the 5th SIMM-posium (Social Impact of Making Music), organized by Bozar, Brussels. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Salvador visit |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | I gave a presentation and Q&A on youth orchestras at the program NEOJIBA in Salvador, Brazil. I spent several days interacting with the program and its staff and students. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Segment on my 2021 book on Radio 3's Music Matters |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Tom Service interviewed me about my new book on his Radio 3 program "Music Matters". |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Seminar for peace-building diploma |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Seminar presented to the participants in a diploma in music and peace-building offered through the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Social Impact of Making Music conference in Bogotá, Colombia |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | I participated in and helped to organize the Social Impact of Music Making conference in Bogotá, Colombia, in July 2019. This event brought in music educators, program leaders, and researchers from across Colombia and from a number of other countries. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Stellenbosch University talk |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Presentation of my book to students and academics at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Toulouse symposium |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | I catalysed the organisation of a one-day symposium on youth orchestras at the University of Toulouse. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Visit to program in Pau, France |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
Results and Impact | I was invited to participate in and present to a working group attached to a music education project in Pau (France) called El Camino. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |