The Global Association for Interconnective Arts (GAIA), a new international organization, has been established by five long-respected music programs—the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music at the New School, the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, and the Siena Jazz Academy—to implement new ways of educating young musicians. The GAIA will be led by pianist Danilo Pérez, along with representatives from the five schools.
“Our hope is that the GAIA will foster an international platform that inspires young artists to find adventurous proposals of great pedagogical, artistic, and social significance,” Pérez said in a press release announcing the organization, “helping us rise to the challenge of living in peace with dignity, justice, and freedom.”
More concretely, the GAIA will create a student ensemble that will study, record, and perform on stages around the world—starting with a tour, in March 2019, of the Netherlands.
“We encourage students to become ambassadors of music who inspire excellence, bridge cultural and ethnic differences, and create music that serves as a social experience,” Edo Righini, head of jazz and pop at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, said in the release.
Along with touring, students associated with the GAIA will visit hospitals and refugee centers as musical ambassadors.
“Through awareness and empowerment we motivate our students to find their own identity and realize their full potential as musicians, global thinkers, and world citizens,” Pérez said in the release. “We will offer them perspectives that transcend categorization and stereotypes, while fostering a learning environment where fulfilling artistic, social, and intellectual experiences interconnects and shapes the personality of a new global musician.”
Read Nate Chinen’s 2011 JazzTimes feature on Danilo Pérez.
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