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OneBeat | 
Music as a form of cultural diplomacy

Now in its seventh year, OneBeat is cultivating a pioneering international network of leading artistic, technological, and social innovators in music. An initiative of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) in collaboration with the groundbreaking New York-based music organization Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation, OneBeat employs collaborative original music as a potent new form of cultural diplomacy.

OneBeat brings musicians (ages 19-35) from around the world to the U.S. for one month each fall to collaboratively write, produce, and perform original music, and develop strategies for arts-based social engagement. OneBeat begins with an opening residency, when Fellows collaborate to create original material, record new musical ideas, and incubate their projects. OneBeat fellows then go on tour, performing for a wide array of American audiences, collaborating with local musicians, and leading workshops with youth. In a closing residency, each OneBeat musician sets out their plans for the future, developing projects in their home countries linked to a mutually-reinforcing network of music-driven social enterprises.

OneBeat is a musical journey like no other. It is a chance for adventurous musicians from an incredible diversity of traditions to seek common ground, create new musical combinations, push the boundaries of music technology, and find ways to involve all members of society in the process of musical creativity. OneBeat endeavors to be the nexus of a new way of thinking about how music can help us collectively build healthy communities, prosperous societies, and a more peaceful world.

Mixtape Playlist | 
2017 Details | 

Location: Sisters, OR (residency); Boise, ID, Jackson, WY, Fort Collins, CO (tour)

Length: 4 week intensive

Partners: U.S. Department of State, Caldera Arts, Sisters Folk Festival, Treefort Music Fest, The Music District, The Suttle Lodge, KHOL, Center of Wonder, City of Fort Collins, Bertha Foundation, City of Boise, Colorado State University, The Museum at Warm Springs, Boise Rock School, Global Lounge, Create Places, Art Lab Fort Collins, Youth on Record, FoCo Bookfest, The Record Exchange, Downtown Artery, Rhodes Skatepark, Boise Skateboarding Association

Program Website: 1beat.org/projects/onebeat-2017/

Selected Press: Music in Africa, Cascade Business News, KHOL, Coloradoan, The New Indian Express

2016 Details | 

Location: New Smyrna Beach, FL (residency); Orlando, FL, New Orleans, LA, Chattanooga, TN, Chicago, IL (tour)

Length: 4 week intensive

Partners: U.S. Department of State, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Columbia College, Ace Hotel New Orleans, Silence is Violence, Make Music NOLA, Music Box, New Orleans Airlift, Startup Week Chattanooga, New World Symphony, Chattanooga Public Library, The Bridge Refugee Service, Coming to America, Mad Priest Coffee Roasters, Rebuild Foundation, Inner-City Muslim Action Network, Steve Coleman and the Five Elements, Eighth Blackbird, Constellation, Old Town School of Folk Music

Program Website: 1beat.org/projects/onebeat-2016

Selected Press: Hyperallergic, Orlando Weekly, Offbeat Magazine, City Arts

2015 Details | 

Location: Saratoga, CA (residency); Oakland, CA, Sisters, OR, Portland, OR, Seattle, WA (tour)

Length: 4 week intensive

Partners: U.S. Department of State, Montalvo Arts Center, Compound, Seattle Arts Commission, UMPQUA Bank, MOHAI, World Affairs Council, Caldera Arts Center, Hotel Max, Islandwood, Arts Corps, Columbia City Theatre, EMP Museum, Freemont Abbey, Hands for a Bridge, Jack Straw, Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, Mississippi Studios, Oakland Museum, Seattle Art Museum, UW World Series, Youngstown Cultural Arts Council, Beloved, Sisters Folk Festival

Program Website: 1beat.org/projects/2015

Selected Press: The Stranger, Oregon Arts Watch, New Music World, Portland Tribune

2014 Details | 

Location: Saratoga, CA (residency); Oakland, CA, Los Angeles, CA, Arcosanti, AZ, Albuquerque, NM, Abiquiú, NM (tour)

Length: 4 week intensive

Partners: U.S. Department of State, Montalvo Arts Center, Ableton, The Yards, National Hispanic Cultural Center, Ghost Ranch, D'Addario, Sonos, Art Share L.A., Arcosanti, 516 Arts, Compound, Glyph, Peluso Microphones

Program Website: 1beat.org/projects/2014

Selected Press: ABQ Journal, Pyragraph, San Jose Mercury News, KUNM Radio

2013 Details | 

Location: New Smyrna Beach, FL (residency); Orlando, FL Charleston, SC, Chapel Hill, NC, Durham, NC, Washington D.C., Brooklyn, NY (tour)

Length: 4 week intensive

Partners: U.S. Department of State, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Ableton, Words Beats & Life, ToBe, Sacrificial Poets, REDUX, Peluso Microphones, Nuit Blanche New York, Sunu Kaddu, Kidz Notes, World Up, The Kennedy Center, June Bug Center, Washington Parks & People, Glyph, Durham Arts Council, Dubspot, Busboys & Poets, BRIC Arts Media Brooklyn, Beatmaking Lab

Program Website: 1beat.org/projects/2013

Selected Press: OkayAfrica, Charleston City Paper, The Rumpus, The Post & Courier

2012 Details | 

Location: New Smyrna Beach, FL (residency); Orlando, FL, Charleston, SC, Asheville, NC, Floyd, VA, Roanoke, VA, Washington DC, Philadelphia, PA, Brooklyn, NY (tour)

Length: 4 week intensive

Partners: U.S. Department of State, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Ableton, Beatmaking Lab, BRIC Arts Media, Busboys and Poets, Dubspot, Durham Arts Council, Glyph, Washington Parks & People, The June Bug Center, The Kennedy Center, World Up, Kidz Notes, Sunu Kaddu, Nuit Blanche New York, Peluso Microphones, Redux, Sacrificial Poets, ToBe, Words Beats & Life

Program Website: 1beat.org/projects/2012

Press: New York Times, Tiny Mix Tapes, Arts Diplomacy Network, POP! Tech

Photos | 
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