For three days at the beginning of December, the Fellows participated in the Social Action Through Music symposium, hosted by Play On Philly! (founded by Stanford Thompson, Sistema Fellow '10) in West Philadelphia. With good representation from across four years of the Sistema Fellows Program in each, there were two tracks featured throughout the symposium: a focus on teaching artisty facilitated by Eric Booth, and a focus on organizational leadership facilitated by Beth Babcock.
The Fellows were tasked with documenting the learning taking place. Look for a future publication, resulting from this national (international) gathering, with some important lessons learned to share with the field.
On the final day, before attending the Simon Bolivar Orchestra's concert, a Play On Philly! orchestra rehearsed at the Curtis Institute and a panel of El Sistema's musical and operational leadership shared their thoughts. At the Kimel Center, a few fortunate Fellows managed to run into Dr. Abreu during intermission.
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