In this unstable climate of boundaries drawn, borders disputed, and identities forced to bridge the middle ground, we’re often pressured into seeing concrete lines of distinction. We’re told to see others’ differences as discordant notes of tension rather than as the harmonious elements of an orchestra.

ACG was recently honored to perform at an event confronting these notions of division: ACC’s 8th Annual Peace and Conflict Studies Spring Symposium on Friday, April 12. This year’s theme was “The Borders of Belonging: Art, Conflict Transformation, and Peace.” The event was a full day of art, music, and discussion focused on uniting discrete disciplines in a contemplation of how peace relates to borders.

Executive Director Matt Hinsley described the transformative nature of the arts in a speech to introduce our performers.

“Art is powerful. Its imprecision is where the power lies: the opportunity to interpret, to participate, is a space to feel belonging. Transformation occurs with a feeling of safety and connection.”

Tom Echols – experimental artist, Adjunct Professor of Music at ACC, and longtime friend of ACG – performed Barrios’s Una Limosna por el Amor de Dios (Alms for the Love of God) and a variation of Leonard Cohen’s theme on a French wartime folk song. He explained how music enables us to see the space between, allowing us to be more accepting of difference.

“Otherness is created to distract. In music, we need to see musical objects, like chords and phrases, in every perspective. We have to be comfortable with questions, with uncertainty. Art-making is inherently conducive to inclusivity.”

Travis Marcum, ACG’s Director of Education, played some covers and some original compositions of 20-year-old vocalist Ta’tyana Jammer, a graduate of our McCallum High School guitar program who’s carving a path into the music world. Travis shared how his perception of age changed during dream – ACG’s community-based music project from last summer devoted to the voices, hopes, and dreams of young people in Austin.

Dream sought to erode imaginary borders of age through music. Time and life can systematically desensitize us to the emotions, the urgent sense of purpose we had when we were young. When I hear young people like Ta’Tyana pour their heart into music they create, I am reminded of the fire and the passion. I feel those feelings again. I carry them with me.” 

Oliver Rajamani, Austin guitarist notable for his Flamenco India project highlighting the Indian roots of flamenco, performed genre-bending music – such as a country song with an American accent – on both the oud and the guitar.

“I’ve worked a lot with the Romani, a people long misunderstood by others. People say my music breaks borders. I’m not sure it does, but my whole life I’ve been able to connect with people from all walks of life: all ages, races, religions. Music has been instrumental – it crosses borders in a non-violent way. It touches people and affects them very deeply.”

The timing of ACC’s Peace Symposium could not have been more serendipitous. A little more than 200 miles away, the “Bach Project” of world-famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma brought him on April 13th to the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge, a crossing point between Mexico and the US. The Bach Project has taken Ma all over the world exploring connections between cultures using the centuries-old music of Bach.

Before an audience with residents of both Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, Yo-Yo Ma performed the beginning of Bach’s Suite No. 1 for Unaccompanied Cello.

“As you all know, as you did and do and will do, in culture, we build bridges, not walls,” he said. “I’ve lived my life at the borders. Between cultures. Between disciplines. Between musics. Between generations.”

We’re so fortunate to exist in the midst of such thoughtful, creative music-makers. Through experiences such as the Peace Symposium and Yo-Yo Ma’s Bach Project performance, we’re reminded of the complimentary aspects of identity, of the components of our beings that strive for connection. We’re reminded that the arts offer an opportunity to communicate with others from different backgrounds, an opportunity to dissolve constructed boundaries and provide spaces for belonging.