Giovanni Díaz-Infante Posadas, Grade 11
UWC Maastricht
Art, more specifically music and theatre, has been my gateway to happiness for as long as I can remember. Singing gives me peace of mind when I am in distress, and acting helps me to detach myself from my problems when I need it; whenever I do one of the two, I feel most like myself. They both are a fundamental part of my life, and they have had a great influence on the formation of my identity. Maybe that is why one of my favourite movies of all times is Dead Poets Society, and maybe that is why one of my favourite quotes of all times is:
“Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for”
Now, this quote is specifically about poetry, but it perfectly captures my thoughts on art. Art is said to be powerful and to have the capacity of nurturing the human soul, but in reality, it has become a good, a commodity. We consume it as nothing more than a mere form of entertainment. I have always wanted to believe that art can be more than that, that it has the potential to enact change and create an impact.
Throughout my National Committee’s selection process, I shared this thought over and over again in every interview I had; it was not intentional, but one way or another, I always found myself going back to it. I became the ‘artsy kid’, and it became my go-to answer whenever I was asked why I wanted to go to a conservatory after high school. I even dare say that my passion for the arts helped me stand out from the pool of participants and get into UWC. However, as I settled into Maastricht and got to know new people and their stories, my confidence began to wither away. In the face of nominees of the International Children’s Peace Prize, climate activists and founders of NGOs, my dreams of using the arts as a tool to empower individuals and spark social change seemed futile and childish. Pursuing a career in the arts started to seem selfish because it meant turning a blind eye to the adverse realities of many and the problems of today’s world. I started feeling that I was not ‘UWC enough’ for putting my personal interest first. That is when, by pure chance, I had the opportunity to collaborate with Musical Postcards.
Musical Postcards “is a music program that enables children and audiences worldwide to connect through music”. This initiative launched in 2015 by composers Jon Deak and Merlijn Twaalfhoven consist of workshops for children and teenagers in which the participants are given a musical piece (or ‘musical postcard’) from somewhere around the world, and then, asked to compose a new postcard with the help of trained musicians and composers. During the process, the staff is only meant to serve as mentors; students are encouraged to make every musical decision. Thus, Musical Postcards allows youth to “voice their dreams in compositions”, it develops their “social and emotional skills” and helps them “become aware that they are part of a bigger world”.
My involvement with Musical Postcards was a result of the connection that my Music HL teacher has with their office in Maastricht and the Conservatory of Maastricht. Every year, he invites them to UWC Maastricht to collaborate with his class in order to practice our composing skills before submitting the first official composition of our coursework. This year, due to the size of the group, we were broken down into smaller groups and worked on three different postcards, mine was addressed to Irbid, in Jordan.
To this day, this has been my favorite assessment by far. It gave me strong guidance on how to approach a new composition, and it helped me find my own creative process. More importantly, it showed me the potential of music and re-inspired me to follow my passion. It showed me that my dreams were compatible with UWC. It showed me that there are tangible ways in which art can be used as a tool for change. It showed me that art is a fundamental instrument to foster human connections.
“Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for”
Now, this quote is specifically about poetry, but it perfectly captures my thoughts on art. Art is said to be powerful and to have the capacity of nurturing the human soul, but in reality, it has become a good, a commodity. We consume it as nothing more than a mere form of entertainment. I have always wanted to believe that art can be more than that, that it has the potential to enact change and create an impact.
Throughout my National Committee’s selection process, I shared this thought over and over again in every interview I had; it was not intentional, but one way or another, I always found myself going back to it. I became the ‘artsy kid’, and it became my go-to answer whenever I was asked why I wanted to go to a conservatory after high school. I even dare say that my passion for the arts helped me stand out from the pool of participants and get into UWC. However, as I settled into Maastricht and got to know new people and their stories, my confidence began to wither away. In the face of nominees of the International Children’s Peace Prize, climate activists and founders of NGOs, my dreams of using the arts as a tool to empower individuals and spark social change seemed futile and childish. Pursuing a career in the arts started to seem selfish because it meant turning a blind eye to the adverse realities of many and the problems of today’s world. I started feeling that I was not ‘UWC enough’ for putting my personal interest first. That is when, by pure chance, I had the opportunity to collaborate with Musical Postcards.
Musical Postcards “is a music program that enables children and audiences worldwide to connect through music”. This initiative launched in 2015 by composers Jon Deak and Merlijn Twaalfhoven consist of workshops for children and teenagers in which the participants are given a musical piece (or ‘musical postcard’) from somewhere around the world, and then, asked to compose a new postcard with the help of trained musicians and composers. During the process, the staff is only meant to serve as mentors; students are encouraged to make every musical decision. Thus, Musical Postcards allows youth to “voice their dreams in compositions”, it develops their “social and emotional skills” and helps them “become aware that they are part of a bigger world”.
My involvement with Musical Postcards was a result of the connection that my Music HL teacher has with their office in Maastricht and the Conservatory of Maastricht. Every year, he invites them to UWC Maastricht to collaborate with his class in order to practice our composing skills before submitting the first official composition of our coursework. This year, due to the size of the group, we were broken down into smaller groups and worked on three different postcards, mine was addressed to Irbid, in Jordan.
To this day, this has been my favorite assessment by far. It gave me strong guidance on how to approach a new composition, and it helped me find my own creative process. More importantly, it showed me the potential of music and re-inspired me to follow my passion. It showed me that my dreams were compatible with UWC. It showed me that there are tangible ways in which art can be used as a tool for change. It showed me that art is a fundamental instrument to foster human connections.
www.unitedworldwide.co