The NYU Music and Social Change Lab, a new, multi-disciplinary social enterprise incubator designed to drive social innovation through music, will celebrate its official launch at a free special performance at Lincoln Center Atrium February 4, 2016.
The NYU Steinhardt School today announced the formation of the school’s first Music and Social Change Lab, a new, multi-disciplinary social enterprise incubator designed to drive social innovation through music. Established by associate professor of music business Carlos Chirinos, the new Lab aims to bring together multiple departments and schools around NYU to explore multi-disciplinary approaches to the world’s most pressing issues.
The NYU Music and Social Change Lab will have its official opening celebration on Thursday, February 4, 2016 at the ¡Vaya 63! Latin music series program, featuring legendary New York-based salsa band Tipica 73. The performance will be held at The David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center, at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Chirinos, who spearheaded a successful campaign to fight the spread of the Ebola virus in Africa through an original song and radio campaign, founded the Lab with the aim to fill the gap between the music and media industries and the non-profit sector. Among the Lab’s first priorities will be to explore the role of music in health education and the economic impact of music activities in tourism.
“I have seen first hand that music is the most powerful communication tool for social mobilization,” said Chirinos. “At the lab we intend to bring together a disparate array of thinkers and professionals: music entrepreneurs, epidemiologists, songwriters, economists, social thinkers, coders, media professionals and music producers to work together to develop music campaigns that can advance efforts for sustainable social and economic development.”
Some of the MSCLab’s additional projects will encompass the ongoing partnership with the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center to promote engagement with the Latin community in New York City through Latin Music Concerts; a partnership with non-profit organization Women in Music to explore issues of gender equality in the music industry with an event on March 4 at NYU celebrating International Women’s Day; a partnership with Manana Festival, the first electronic and folkloric music festival in Cuba to be held in May 2016; and other projects looking at the use of music in public health campaigns in Africa.
The David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center is located at Broadway between 62nd and 63rd Streets. Easy access via subway: No. 1 IRT Broadway local to 66th Street/Lincoln Center or A, B, C, D or No. 1 to 59th Street/Columbus Circle; Buses: M5, M7, M11, M66, M104 to Broadway.
For more information about the NYU Music and Social Change Lab, please visit
www.musicsocialchange.org, or follow www.facebook.com/musicsocialchange, or on Twitter: @NYUMSCLab
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