Study Abroad
Guatemala Spring 2017
(Click link to take you to the Western Music Study Abroad site)
For the very first time the Don Wright Faculty of Music will be leading a study abroad experience. In May 2017 undergraduate students will travel to Guatemala and work with university students at both the North and South campuses of Universidad del Valle Guatemala.
Funded by the International Curriculum Fund, this research project has two interrelated goals. The first is to explore the impact, challenges and limitations of a collaborative, short-term, intercultural experience in order to uncover the potentials and limitations of these exchanges as a catalyst for pedagogical and musical learning. On this journey, Western students will interface with the resilience of several underserved and disenfranchised communities, and will be presented with drastic class distinctions, clearly visible in parts of Guatemala. When traveling to the southern campus, where over 90% of both students and Professors are from indigenous backgrounds, students will have first-hand encounters with individuals and communities (much like the First Nations, Inuit and Métis populations of Canada) for whom struggle and perseverance are enacted daily.
Guatemala Spring 2017
(Click link to take you to the Western Music Study Abroad site)
For the very first time the Don Wright Faculty of Music will be leading a study abroad experience. In May 2017 undergraduate students will travel to Guatemala and work with university students at both the North and South campuses of Universidad del Valle Guatemala.
Funded by the International Curriculum Fund, this research project has two interrelated goals. The first is to explore the impact, challenges and limitations of a collaborative, short-term, intercultural experience in order to uncover the potentials and limitations of these exchanges as a catalyst for pedagogical and musical learning. On this journey, Western students will interface with the resilience of several underserved and disenfranchised communities, and will be presented with drastic class distinctions, clearly visible in parts of Guatemala. When traveling to the southern campus, where over 90% of both students and Professors are from indigenous backgrounds, students will have first-hand encounters with individuals and communities (much like the First Nations, Inuit and Métis populations of Canada) for whom struggle and perseverance are enacted daily.
The Guatemala study abroad students set up a GoFundMe site for Sistema de Orquestas de Guatemala and raised over $1000 CAN. Observing the directors and conductors of this organization work with these young students was one of the musical and pedagogical highlights of this trip and they wanted to give something in return The organization is now in a neighborhood that presents no undue danger for the children and staff. Your donations were part of that move!
