From performing in one of Latin Americas premier concert halls to seeing, firsthand, efforts to safeguard Indigenous heritage, more than 60 窪做惇蹋厙 students immersed themselves in the culture of Mexico City during two very different, if equally unforgettable, trips over spring break.
Last month, 10 students joined the and the for a of social entrepreneurship. Nearby, the 50-member was on showcasing new work by Mexican composers.
The trips converged for a wind ensemble performance on March 24, the day before the students, faculty, and staff departed the city, carrying with them what many participants described as a deeper sense of connection with each other and their Mexican counterparts.
Each trip was part of a broader initiative. The wind ensemble tour grew out of the , which aims to bring Mexican compositions to the international stage and provide opportunities for Mexican composers. And the Magnusons Social Entrepreneurship Experience reflects the centers growing focus on societal issues.
The Magnuson-Rassias Social Entrepreneurship experience
Sometimes people think entrepreneurship is just Silicon Valley or other for-profit businesses, says Jamie Coughlin, the centers founding director. But Magnusons Social Entrepreneurship program, launched in 2021, gives students pathways for developing socially inspired business ideas and bringing students, faculty and staff together around issues like environmental conservation and sustainable economic development.
Last months interactive trip took students into a market that has some of those elements, Coughlin says.
Starting with the pandemic, Mexico City has seen a huge influx of digital nomads and a spike in start-ups, says Kathleen Burke, a program manager at Magnuson who co-led the trip.
Among those are social entrepreneurs who have designed business models to address problems ranging from corruption and election fraud to climate change and economic development.
We knew that Mexico City would embody the spirit of resilience that social entrepreneurship necessitates, Burke says.
During their week in Mexico City and the surrounding areas, students got an up-close look at social entrepreneur-led ventures.
Traveling by bus, they met a politician and founder of the nonprofit Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, who described the challenges he faces in his work, and how he employs creativity to surmount them.
At Ehecalli, an innovative ecotourism center, they built a composting toilet, experienced a traditional sweat lodge, and conversed at length with founder Nando Aus穩n 06 about sustainability, including just how much there is to learn from indigenous populations. They toured Xochimilco Ecological Park and Plant Market, a 400-acre reserve that utilizes ancient farming methods to grow food in a sustainable way.
For Yuniza Limeta 24, of Los Angeles, seeing the parks floating gardens, or chinampas, was a highlight.
It was amazing to see people continuing to use chinampas as a form of traditional indigenous agriculture, says Limeta, a geography major minoring in human-centered design. Hearing others spotlight a food-growing tradition of hundreds or thousands of years as nothing alternative, but an environmentally sustainable legacy, was thrilling.
John Ejiogu 23, who is from Nigeria, says the week in Mexico has already changed his lifethe way he talks with friends who are struggling, his approach to challenges, and even how he no longer leaves the water running when he brushes his teeth.
The economics major has been involved with the throughout his time in Hanover and is interested in how standards of living in developing countries could be improved for a majority of the population.
All of the activities we did were connected to making the world a better place, Ejiogu says.
Yet another facet of the program involved a visit to the building where Mexican artist Jos矇 Clemente Orozco lived and had his studio, which is now home to a Quaker library and meeting room. Orozcos mural , painted between 1932 and 1934, is one of 窪做惇蹋厙s artistic treasures.
In addition to Burke and Maggie Ronan, who is the Magnuson program manager for startup support, the students were accompanied by , director 窪做惇蹋厙s Rassias Center for World Languages and Cultures, and , a lecturer in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese.
As Magnuson expands its social entrepreneurship programs, the partnership with Rassias Center is just one way Magnuson is leveraging expertise across campus, says Coughlin.
Magnuson has recently begun working to create curricular offerings, says Coughlin. A credit-bearing Arts Entrepreneurship course in the Department of Music he developed with wind ensemble director debuted this term. The class has been well-received, with about 30 students enrolled, representing interests ranging from theater to studio art.
Wind ensemble shares music
Collaboration was also integral to the wind ensemble trip. It showcased new works by Mexican composers, most of which were commissioned by Hopkins Center for the Arts or created through the Mexican Repertoire Initiative, which Messier founded.
Having been postponed by the pandemic, the visit to Mexico City represents the culmination of several years work.
This is our first opportunity to really share this music, not only here in the U.S., but with our Mexican partners in this music making, says Messier. Its a really exciting time to bring the people together around this music.
Throughout the week, the wind ensemble teamed up with two local bandsfirst, the community-based Centro de Capacitaci籀n de M繳sica de Banda, and later Banda Sinf籀nica de la Facultad de M繳sica de la Universidad Nacional Aut籀noma de M矇xico.
The students rehearsed, side by side, for hours. They shared meals and laughs. Then, they took to the stage for performances in two venerable concert halls, where appreciative audiences included most of the composers whose works were being performed.
Rodrigo Roy Mart穩nez Torres, a digital musics graduate student in the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies, was sitting with the other composers when he heard his Onda Tropical performed live for the first and second times, in Teatro Principal, Puebla, and Sala Nezahualc籀yotl.
We would all be crying, said Mart穩nez Torres, who collaborated with Abi Pak 26 on the Hop-commissioned selection for diatonic accordion and wind ensemble.
Mart穩nez Torres says Pak did an amazing job performing the piece, which includes plenty of space for improvisation.
Sometimes, as a creator, you want to just focus on your own idea as the sole and final one, but leaving the accordion part in Paks hands was the best choice, he says. I can trust that shell do better than I can in writing any type of melody, and she trusted me in organizing the whole narrative.
Messier says the programs, which consisted solely of original Mexican music, were highly unusual.
Public school music programs in the U.S. usually include wind ensembles, but wind bands in Mexico are community-based, and typically lack funds to buy or commission music, so they often rely on handwritten transcriptions, he says. And as in the U.S., music in Mexico has been very Eurocentric.
And Mart穩nez Torres describes the Mexican Repertoire Initiative as a very fortunate merging of needs: that of a burgeoning musical culture in Mexico that wants to get out, and of really amazing ensembles that you can find all over the U.S. to play it.
Oboist Sophia Sulimirski 23, student manager of the wind ensemble, says she wasnt sure what to expect from the trip.
But from playing with guest conductors, to interacting with the composers, to just getting lunch with the other musicians, it blew my expectations out of the park, says Sulimirski, an environmental studies and biology major from Westchester County, N.Y. I made so many new friendships and watched so many new friendships emerge.
That struck him as well, says Messier, who found himself tearing up during a rehearsal.
The moment a conductor stopped to review a passage, the students from 窪做惇蹋厙 and the Mexican bands started chatting, even though many of them didnt speak the same language. It was like any band room, any music rehearsal where theyre talking and youre like, Guys, settle down, he says.
The next day, Messier shared his observation with the students.
The fact that everyone in between sets is just chatting is exactly why were here, Sulimirski recalls him saying. You guys are being super obnoxious, but its fantastic.
It was one of her favorite moments, Sulimirski says. It was really touching to see that this is ultimately why we are here, to make those connections and to play awesome music.
Photos of Magnuson Trip Photos of Wind Ensemble Trip
Trips Coverage Roundup
