Engaging the Community

It has been a privilege to be invited to participate in this rich and insightful discussion on community engagement. My sincere thanks to Ann Drinan, Ray Ricker, and to Yvonne Caruthers for her interesting reflections and questions.

I’ve learned a lot these past few days and feel both supported and reassured that so many of us face similar challenges and that solutions are to be found. The main challenge, as I see it, is finding a better way to communicate with each other and share valuable resource information – e.g., perhaps Polyphonic can help us achieve a repository site for some of the program models, evaluation studies, testimonials that we would all benefit from accessing easily.

I also hope that we can continue to work collectively in our goal towards making clear and effective advocacy campaigns for music education in our communities. And I agree with Aaron that the next phase of this discussion would benefit greatly from a wider pool of community voices.

We, at the National Arts Centre, look forward to sharing the types of large-scale community engagement initiatives we are working on with our colleagues in Canada. And, of course, we look forward to learning more from all of you! Thank you, once again, for giving us this opportunity to participate.