School of music

School Notes: School of Music
March/April 2022

José García-Léon | http://music.yale.edu

Alum’s music project brings music education to Diné youth

The Heartbeat Music Project (HMP), which was founded by violinist and School of Music alum Ariel Horowitz ’19MusM, ’20MusAM, has received a $500,000 Accelerator Award from the Lewis Prize for Music. The multiyear award supports the ongoing work of HMP, which reflects the Lewis Prize’s mission of providing access to music programming for all young people, regardless of life circumstances. Horowitz founded Heartbeat in 2016 to provide students on the Navajo Reservation in Crownpoint, New Mexico, with music education that reflects Western and Indigenous cultures. 

Previous recognition for the Heartbeat Music Project includes a $25,000 COVID Community Response Fund grant from the Lewis Prize in 2020 and the Yale-Jefferson Award for Public Service to Horowitz in 2019 for her work (through HMP) with youth on the Navajo Reservation.

Since the Heartbeat Music Project’s inception in 2016, many School of Music students and alumni—including HMP assistant director Gregory Lewis ’19MusM, ’27MusAD—have contributed to the organization’s effort, which, according to language on its website, aims to “cultivate a safe space for our students to thrive and gain confidence in themselves, their abilities, and their local and global potential. We strive to create an atmosphere of cultural exchange in which we acknowledge the impact of past and present colonialism on indigenous peoples, respectfully engaging with Diné music, cultures and customs.”

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