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Advocate for Music as Change Agent in Prisons and Beyond to Speak April 4 at Roosevelt University


Andre headshot

CHICAGO–(ENEWSPF)–March 24, 2016.  André de Quadros, an internationally known music professor, conductor and human rights activist who believes music has power to make social change, will speak about the idea of saving the world with music on Monday, April 4 at Roosevelt University in Chicago.

A researcher and performer who has studied and spoken globally about the importance of the arts to health and rehabilitation of those who are incarcerated, de Quadros will speak on “Saving the World through Music – Really?” at 5:30 p.m. in the University’s 10th floor library, 430 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago.

The event is free and open to the public. For information, email [email protected] or [email protected] or call 312-341-2041.

Arguing that the arts have the potential to mobilize communities, providing opportunities for empowerment, de Quadros is Roosevelt’s first Social Justice in the Performing Arts resident.

“We are proud to welcome André de Quadros as our first social justice guest resident in the performing arts,” said Henry Fogel, dean of Roosevelt’s Chicago College of Performing Arts (CCPA). “At CCPA, we don’t want our students to just sit in practice rooms preparing for the next recital or audition. We want them to go out and make a difference in the world with their music. We believe that Professor de Quadros not only has the tools, but can be an inspiration for our performing arts students to become change agents.”

During his keynote, de Quadros is expected to argue that musicians have a social justice responsibility to use their talents as a means of dealing with and solving the world’s societal problems. He will discuss his efforts to bring music into U.S. prisons and also will talk about music as a tool of conflict resolution in the ongoing Arab-Israeli dispute.

During his three-day visit, the Boston professor will be meeting with a variety of Roosevelt University community members, including Michael Schneider, a Roosevelt master’s in Viola Performance student who recently developed a new social justice opportunity and program that will enable CCPA student musicians to perform and discuss music with juveniles serving time at the Illinois Youth Center in Chicago.

A panel presentation that will look at Schneider’s new program as well as the impact of music on capital punishment and incarceration will be held at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, April 6 in Room 925 of Roosevelt’s Auditorium Building, 430 S. Michigan Ave.  The event is free and open to the public.  Panelists include de Quadros, Schneider and University of Illinois PhD student Michael Siletti, who has been working on a doctorate about the impact of music on incarceration.

These events and Roosevelt’s new Social Justice in the Performing Arts Residency are sponsored by CCPA, its Center for Arts Leadership and Roosevelt’s Mansfield Institute for Social Justice and Transformation.

Source: http://www.roosevelt.edu


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