Music As a Tool for Integration and Community Building
Parantainen, Elmeri (2024)
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024121837314
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2024121837314
Tiivistelmä
Music has long been recognized for its power to unite people, foster a sense of belonging, and serve as a tool for social inclusion. Community musicians use music to promote these qualities, but it is still a marginalized group of professionals that consciously include community work as a part of their skill set. Simultaneously, a Multicultural Center Gloria, located in Jyväskylä, Finland, faces challenges in including music and art education as a more solid part of their operations, a desire clearly expressed. Continuity in the programmes, gaining resources, and recruiting more volunteers and interns with relevant competences are topics, that the research strives to explore.
The research-based development work was guided by the research questions: What kind of needs does Gloria have in terms of music, and how could the competences of local music educators be transferred to their use? Is there something applicable in the operating models of other organizations working towards social change through music? Relevant themes were researched in the knowledge base, and two thematic interviews were conducted.
The research was commissioned by the Multicultural Center Gloria, and the output of the process was a list of themes, under which guidelines, ideas, and development proposals were described. The findings were constructed through an interview with a Gloria staff member, comparing the results with the knowledge of local music educators’ competences, and adding another perspective of social change through music from the data collected by interviewing a staff member of Musicians without Borders.
The need for integrating music education as a part of multicultural community work became apparent in the findings, which are constructed in a way that they can be used by various relevant parties. The Multicultural Center Gloria and Jamk UAS can find ways to increase collaboration, and local music educators can develop their understanding of community work through music. In addition, motivated facilitators and participants of musical activities can find ways to boost the development of the impact in these initiatives.
The research-based development work was guided by the research questions: What kind of needs does Gloria have in terms of music, and how could the competences of local music educators be transferred to their use? Is there something applicable in the operating models of other organizations working towards social change through music? Relevant themes were researched in the knowledge base, and two thematic interviews were conducted.
The research was commissioned by the Multicultural Center Gloria, and the output of the process was a list of themes, under which guidelines, ideas, and development proposals were described. The findings were constructed through an interview with a Gloria staff member, comparing the results with the knowledge of local music educators’ competences, and adding another perspective of social change through music from the data collected by interviewing a staff member of Musicians without Borders.
The need for integrating music education as a part of multicultural community work became apparent in the findings, which are constructed in a way that they can be used by various relevant parties. The Multicultural Center Gloria and Jamk UAS can find ways to increase collaboration, and local music educators can develop their understanding of community work through music. In addition, motivated facilitators and participants of musical activities can find ways to boost the development of the impact in these initiatives.