Nov
11

Brian Boyes

by Featured Volunteer

Trumpeter, composer, and music educator, Brian Boyes, has worked in Vermont for the past 18 years. As a music educator Brian Boyes has twice received special recognition from the Vermont Arts Alliance for his unique and creative approach to music education at Cabot School.
"When I saw the first Playing For Change video, I immediately thought that it would be amazing to do something like this with kids," Brian says. Driven by an inspiration to infuse the spirit of Playing For Change into an educational experience for students, Brian and his colleagues - humanities teacher, Peter Stratman, and science teacher, Michael Crocker - set out to develop a brand new interdisciplinary curriculum that would result in Playing For Change-style video.

"We wanted teach the concept of global citizenship through an interdisciplinary course that involved social studies, science, digital media arts and music. A critical element of The Global Citizen Project was to empower young people to understand first hand that they can make a difference in the world through a creative act. Towards that goal, we have created and posted this video to support the Playing For Change Foundation's efforts in building music schools in impoverished communities across the globe. "

Playing For Change Day 2011 was the perfect opportunity for Brian and his students at Cabot School to celebrate the debut of their video: One Day: The Global Citizen Project.

"Playing For Change Day was so cool," says one Cabot 8th grade student. "It was amazing to learn about the world and share our learning with our town while also helping other people around the world. Can we do something like that again really soon?"

Indeed, the future is bright when we know that young people are actually experiencing the power of positive change through creative activism.