Ten OneBeat alumni to receive the OneBeat Accelerator, a seed grant towards the development and implementation of socially-engaged initiatives. This year’s 2024 Accelerator recipients span nine countries and support projects that address issues ranging from music therapy and healing to preservation of local knowledge and traditions to youth empowerment through music to awareness and support for differently-abled artists.
To date, the Accelerator has supported more than 50 incredible projects that promote youth education, women’s empowerment, civic engagement, the documentation of unheard voices, robust creative economies and much more. OneBeat is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and produced by Found Sound Nation.
The Sound Artifact Residency
Septina Rosalina Layan | OneBeat Indonesia | Merauke City, Papua, Indonesia
The Sound Artifact Residency preserves local knowledge, singing and musical traditions in Merauke, Papua through the research and documentation of traditional chants and their connection to church liturgical songs. This includes an analysis of modes, rhythms, rhythmic patterns, melodic characteristics, vocal timbres and documentation into songbooks and musical transcriptions.
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WHUGBE (Anlo-Ewe Sound Packs)
Chris Parker & Edzordzi Sefogah (Megborna) | OneBeat Ghana | Anloga, Ghana
The mission of WHUGBE (Anlo-Ewe Sound Packs), is to document, preserve, and make accessible the indigenous Anlo-Ewe drum languages and patterns, oral music history, and knowledge. With this project, I aim to provide a platform for modern music practitioners to explore and incorporate traditional sounds and music practices into their work.
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Steal the Stage
Hannah Standiford & Susan Augustt | OneBeat Ghana | Pittsburg, PA & Accra, Ghana
Steal the Stage is a joint initiative between Susan Augustt (Ghana) and Hannah Standiford (United States) that will create a space for young women and gender expansive folks to build their voice and confidence through the art of staged performance.
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Komló Express
Vera Hajnalka Jonas | OneBeat Virtual 1 | Komló, Hungary
Komló Express is a series of workshops centered around Expressive Arts, an intermodal art therapy approach that utilizes art-based therapy and nature-based exploration techniques, which seeks to support one of the few associations that offer people suffering from severe addiction a path to sobriety and society: the Leo Amici Rehabilitation Center (LAC) in Komló.
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Y Studio Sipalay City
Aquil Charlton | OneBeat 1 | Sipalay City, Bacolod, Philippines
Y Studio seeks to increase access to music and dance programs for youth in Sipalay City, a rural area in the Philippines with a rich cultural heritage, and provide training and mentorship for youth leaders to lead workshops independently.
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Harmony Beyond Barriers
Mujeeb Ur Rehman | OneBeat Virtual 12 | Hunza Valley, Pakistan
Building on the success of initial music classes and workshops, Harmony Beyond Barriers seeks to establish an ensemble and music-making opportunities for differently-abled individuals in the Hunza Valley in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan.
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Tumaco Sonoro Festival
Ana Lucia Quiñones | OneBeat 11 | Tumaco, Nariño, Colombia
The Tumaco Sonoro Festival is a new space for the El Bajito neighborhood (located in the San Andrés de Tumaco municipality) to empower children and teenagers to present themselves as artists, inspired by their ancestral roots, display their full talents, and experience how art can positively transform our lives.
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Música, Señas y Sentido
Federico Rincón | OneBeat Virtual 4 | Bogotá, Colombia
“Música, Señas y Sentido” is a collaborative and dynamic 4-week workshop and conference that is dedicated to revolutionizing music education for university scholars with diverse hearing abilities in Bogotá. The program leads a movement to raise awareness in the educational community about the crucial importance of inclusion for individuals with hearing impairments in both music academia and industry.
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Empowering Futures: Harnessing Creativity, Music, Arts, and Crafts for Child-Centered Community Healing and Transformation
Bongiwe Lenga | OneBeat 11 | Eastern Cape, South Africa
Empowering Futures is a collaborative effort within our community in the Eastern Cape of South Africa to promote healing and positive change, focusing specifically on children. The process emphasizes the use of creativity, including art, music, and craft, as powerful tools for fostering growth, resilience, and well-being in young individuals.
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Petit Prince HandiSchool Culture Day
PPS | OneBeat 1 | Rufisque, Senegal
Petit Prince HandiSchool Culture Day is a day of fun, exchange and learning around music and the arts that will take place at Le Petit Prince HandiSchool, which is the only school for disabled and Down syndrome children in Rufisque, Senegal. This day will be organized by the Sunu Kaddu collective in Rufisque and will emphasize inclusion and sharing with and for youth.
