con*sil"i*ence, n: from the latin, consilere, formed from con,"with," and "salire," to leap; an interlocking of explanations of cause and effect between disciplines. An act of concurrence; coherence; jumping together.

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FUTURE PROJECTS:

As we grow and acquire funding, just a few of the projects we plan to implement include:

• Consilience Community Center
  Located in Long Island City, NY (Queens), this space will allow us to offer subsidized music lessons and rehearsal spaces, performance rooms, and artist studios. A café in the center will act as a gathering place where students, musicians, and artists can meet for a bite to eat and drink and to connect to the internet. The Center will also house the Consilience Productions' offices, out of which will run ongoing projects.
  
  
• Consilience Awareness Day
  The day-long event will consist of three hour-long concerts by different bands interspersed with
  two different symposia covering current issues of the day. These events will include socially
  responsible organizations presenting material throughout the day, in effect co-sponsoring these
  festivals. Ideas for symposia will incorporate subjects such as civic activism, the environment,
  human rights, sustainable development, media, etc. We will recruit organizations like the Sierra
  Club, League of Conservation Voters, Environmental Defense Fund, and Business for Social
  Responsibility, etc, to participate. Panelists will include authors, leaders of other progressive
  organizations, journalists, etc. Three members from different organizations will comprise each
  symposium with a fourth participant moderating.
  
  
• Live Jazz for Social Change
  We will provide jazz groups (trios, quartets, etc.) free of charge for events sponsored by organizations that focus on social change. Using the art form of jazz as an example of collaboration, flexibility and democracy, live performance will serve to enhance the understanding of complementary activist causes. Such causes may include the environment, human rights, sustainable development, media, civic activism, etc. This live jazz element will be offered to eco-fests, interdisciplinary symposia, educational forums, and other events involving the general pubic or members of a social change organization.
  
  Adding live jazz music to such events raises the level of discourse by exposing participants to the creative - and democratic - powers of improvisation inherent in the art form. Our performances, whether the main attraction or used as background music, will affect participants in a very positive manner as the stimulating and energizing "abstract" ideas coming from the group will create an atmosphere of openness and spontaneity. Finally, attendance and participation in the event will increase with the addition of live jazz since music always adds an element of fun to the festivities!
  
  
• Consilience Session Series (CSS)
  Because jazz is an improvisational, in-the-moment art form, the majority of this great American music is not documented. We will record rehearsals and interview musicians, documenting the amazing music made during informal sessions that regularly occur in the jazz community. We will publish audio and video podcasts of the CSS from our site and on iTunes. The “Consilience Session Series” will help document New York City jazz in the 21st century and will include an educational aspect where the moderator explains what exactly is going on in this complicated art form!
  
  
• Democracy Workshop Series
  We will develop small performative workshops to communicate the power of democracy and improvisation embodied within jazz music. Performed in a workshop environment for groups of students, executives, political organizations and other entities looking for fresh ideas, these workshops will illustrate how improvisation and in-the-moment thinking can spur new ideas and connections within a democratic structure. When the role of each musician within the ensemble is exposed (i.e. how jazz music actually works, with some of the musicians supporting the lead improviser and how that shifts around), it will help clarify where the organization's strengths rest in relation to its own industry and to society beyond. By showing the parallels between America’s art form – jazz – and our Democratic institutions, we will generate a new way of thinking about existing problems in order to discover innovative solutions.
  
  
• Music for Campaign Events
  We will organize local bands to provide musical entertainment for political candidates running for office all over the country. We will actively offer our services to candidates in every major election cycle. In addition, grant money will provide a stipend to pay all the local musicians performing at these vents, thereby providing the music gratis to every campaign event that requests it.
  
  
• Plus, many, many more ideas that will combine music and activism!

We invite you to take part in the dialogue page of each section of our site (music, earth, democracy, money). Feel free to add your comments and observations!

You can also contact us via email here.

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Featured Consilience Artists:

Vinson Valega
Terell Stafford
Chris Bacas
Jon Cowherd
Josh Ginsburg
Gary Wang
Anton Denner
Nicki Denner
Willie Martinez
Rolando Morales-Matos
Jennifer Vincent
Shai Hayo
Mark Miller
Julian Llanos
Greg Ryan
Matthew Fries

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Consilience Productions, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
All contributions are fully tax deductible.