MiM’s 14th anniversary was a mix of in-person & online programs. A new adventure (part of our youth outreach) was celebrating the production and premiere of the David Arben docufilm which includes archival recordings of the violinist as well as original music by Polina Nazaykinskaya and Jose Gonzalez Granero.

We presented programs for 100 third graders at Hall Elementary School in Watsonville, 240 sophomores at Scotts Valley High School, and an international audience (including China and Germany!) of students and scholars from UCSC. In a series of 18 Zoom programs for youth at Santa Cruz Juvenile Hall, MiM presented 11 different musicians representing Hong Kong, Russia, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, China, Venezuela and around the U.S. They shared their personal journey and music’s significance in their lives. The youth learned about 9 different classical instruments, heard live and recorded performance, and learned many of the tools that musicians use to practice, perform, communicate, and work with others effectively. One highlight was when Wendy Law led an improvisation activity in which the youth contributed words and rhythms that inspired the creation of a new piece of music.

We performed 5 neighborhood pop-up concerts across Santa Cruz County and 1,000 tuned in to watch festival-weekend programming.