Hi! I’m Emily Joy Sullivan, a musician and educator
based in New York.
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I'm committed to music's potential to change
the world, and especially the possibility of communal creation to make us stronger, happier, and
better-connected.
I have a BA in Music from Amherst College and an MS in Education
from the Bank Street College of Education. For the last eight years, I
have led a variety of choirs while also becoming a classroom teacher,
researching education and the arts, and developing new ways of teaching
music. I have consistently returned to group singing as a fundamental part
of our humanity—a birthright many of us have lost touch with, even as we eagerly
consume the music we love.
To this end, three years ago I started Ubuntu, a community choir for international graduate students
from a diversity of backgrounds, including many who had never sung in a choir
before—but had always longed to. It has become a site of cross-cultural
interaction, musical exploration, and joy.
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Most recently, in South
Africa on a Davis Projects for
Peace grant, I brought youths together across various perceived
boundaries to learn and teach one another songs. Through this project,
"Common Chords," kids from different backgrounds came together to
find their individual voices while also connecting to one another through
teaching, learning, and writing music.
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Now, I'm back in New York, and I would like to take this
initiative even further. I am in the early stages of starting a new youth choir
in Queens, in affiliation with Queens Community House. This new choir will build
upon the work I did this summer, using song to cultivate a strong sense of
community while also honoring kids’ individuality and agency. Eventually, this
new choir will link up to Ubuntu,
thereby enabling interaction between different age groups and creating an
informal mentorship element. Though the youth choir would meet on its own once
a week, it would have a joint rehearsal with Ubuntu at least once a month, in order for the groups to teach
one another songs, and eventually work on writing original music! The
project would thus be an extension of both Ubuntu and Common
Chords, but it would also be something totally new that, to my
knowledge, has never been done before.
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I am uniquely positioned to facilitate this project, given my
extensive background in both education and the arts, and my track record of
successfully launching original projects. I don't just follow what others are doing—I create something new.
At the same time, I go to great lengths to suss out what people need and want,
in order to truly serve the community. All this makes my work both unusual and
valuable.
What We Need & What
You Get
Starting a new choir from
scratch will require a great deal of time and hard work. Furthermore, in order
to give the kids the attention, resources, and commitment they deserve, the
project will last for a full school year. In that time, they will develop confidence and familiarity with one another. This foundation
of trust will enable us to create musical experiences that are empowering,
inspiring, and a source of pride for all involved.
Why $12,000, and where is the money going? Well, if we meet our goal, a quarter of the funds will go toward direct costs such as transportation, copies, venue rental, and recording the CD. Another quarter will go toward bringing in other musical
leaders (from New York and beyond!) who can help expose kids to a variety of
music and support them in raising their voices. And finally, about half of the money will go towards enabling me to subsist in one of the most expensive cities in the world as I put my heart and soul into making this project the best it can be!
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In return, depending on the size of your contribution, you could receive a digital download of our CD, free
entrance to our concerts, or even more special perks, such as a customized
voicemail message. (See the sidebar for the variety of options.)
The Impact
By contributing to this campaign, you will help create a safe
space where youths can come together to interact, express themselves, and
release the musicians that already exist within them. You will facilitate
the creation of dozens of connections where none existed before. You will
enable the existence of a unique project in which adults from countries all
around the world will connect with these youths, providing casual, warm
mentorship and a broader sense of community and belonging. You will contribute to
original songs being born—songs made by and for the people! You will help create access to Japanese, Hebrew, South African, Bulgarian, English, American, and many more types of music, enabling youths to learn it, and many more people to hear it. This is an amazing way of honoring our diverse and increasingly interconnected world.
But most of all, by investing in this campaign you will support the conviction that singing is a right, not a privilege—that the arts are not "extra," but are a fundamental human birthright. If music has touched you for the better—and I'll bet it has!—please help provide this opportunity to others!
Other Ways You Can Help
Please spread the word about this campaign by linking to it on Facebook, sending it around in emails, etc.! Also, if you are interested in joining Ubuntu, or participating in or volunteering with this project in another capacity, contact me at emilyjoysullivan@gmail.com!
Sala kahle! ("Stay well" in Xhosa),
Emily Joy
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