Community MusicWorks Fund

“It is so powerful to learn again and again that if you give kids enough of a platform they are incredible leaders,” remarks Community MusicWorks Executive Director Sebastian Ruth, reflecting on the twelve-year journey that brought his organization from the germ of an idea to a thriving center for music education. Ruth, who studied transformative education models at Brown and earned a fellowship from the University’s Howard Swearer Center for Public Service to start Community MusicWorks (CMW), adds, “Putting students at the center of being civically engaged artists allows them to find their voice, to think about their role in the city and in the world. We teach music as a vehicle for social change.”

Serendipity influenced the organization’s early success. The West End Community Center, in search of a music program, gave CMW a chance. And as the sounds of chamber music drifted from the open doors of this welcoming center in the heart of the neighborhood, CMW was an instant hit. Years later, CMW acquired a storefront in the neighborhood where young people can see and hear musicians rehearsing as they walk home from school.

Lessons on string instruments tell only part of the story. Once a month CMW families attend local concerts to gain further exposure to the worldwide community of music. On Friday evenings, students play chamber music and enjoy themed group discussions focusing on solutions they can bring as musicians to global problems. On occasion they share international potluck suppers representing the diversity of their heritage. Ruth notes, “Over the last couple of years activities have been more student-led. After Hurricane Katrina students organized a Youth Salon concert to collect donations of cash and school supplies for Katrina victims. Last year they collaborated with Youth United for Global Action and Awareness. CMW is creating young activists through music.”

Commenting on CMW’s longevity, Ruth says, “I wasn’t doing this to start a nonprofit organization. I was going to be a teacher and a musician. I did not understand ‘three year funding.’” With this organizational endowment at the Foundation, Ruth and his board of directors look optimistically to the future.

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