{"id":6987,"date":"2013-12-09T15:03:27","date_gmt":"2013-12-09T20:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=6987"},"modified":"2024-07-02T14:27:38","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T14:27:38","slug":"nextlevel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=6987","title":{"rendered":"New program to foster cultural diplomacy through music, dance"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_6988\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6988\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2024\/07\/fys_dj_01.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-6988\" alt=\"A new U.S. State Department\/UNC music department program will foster international diplomacy through music and dance. (photo by Mary Lide Parker).\" src=\"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2024\/07\/fys_dj_01-300x200.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6988\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A new U.S. State Department\/UNC music department program will foster international diplomacy through music and dance. (photo by Mary Lide Parker).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A new international exchange program created by the U.S. Department of State and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will foster cultural diplomacy through popular music and dance.<\/p>\n<p>Next Level is an initiative of the department\u2019s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the UNC music department. It will use popular music and dance to foster cross-cultural creative expression, understanding and conflict resolution in younger audiences in underserved communities and support the professional development of artists in those communities.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/music.unc.edu\/facstaff\/katz\">Mark Katz<\/a>, professor and chair of music in UNC\u2019s College of Arts and Sciences and the project\u2019s principal investigator, said the idea stems from the popularity of hip-hop music and dance around the world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn hip-hop, when artists say that they want to \u2018take it to the next level,\u2019 they are saying that they want to improve themselves, to surpass their current abilities,\u201d Katz said. \u201cNext Level\u2019s artists will teach young people to develop skills and express themselves in ways they wouldn\u2019t have thought possible. The name has another meaning, too. We want to use this as a way to model peaceful and productive collaboration, to transcend conflict in creative ways.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The program consists of four labs, \u201cBeat Making Lab,\u201d \u201cDance Lab,\u201d \u201cDJ Lab\u201d and \u201cMC Lab,\u201d which will be taught overseas in six countries. Artists from each of the six countries will travel to Chapel Hill and Washington, D.C., to participate in workshops and performances.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeat Making Lab\u201d was founded by Katz and producer\/DJ Stephen Levitin (aka Apple Juice Kid) in 2011, and Pierce Freelon joined Levitin to co-teach the class in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>Together Levitin and Freelon expanded the original lab in a grassroots campaign to collaborate with communities around the world by donating equipment and software to community centers and conducting two-week residencies with talented youth. They filmed workshops and created music videos as part of a web series with <a href=\"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/2013\/03\/28\/beat\/\">PBS Digital Studios. <\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0Read a UNC story about the Beat Making Lab.<\/p>\n<p><strong>To apply to the program, please visit \u00a0http:\/\/music.unc.edu\/next-level. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new international exchange program created by the U.S. Department of State and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will foster cultural diplomacy through popular music and dance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6988,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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