{"id":826,"date":"2024-08-01T16:43:22","date_gmt":"2024-08-01T20:43:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onlylove.art\/?p=826"},"modified":"2026-01-12T22:02:44","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T02:02:44","slug":"a-muse-for-everyone-in-sendai-april-13-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onlylove.art\/ja\/archives\/826","title":{"rendered":"In Sendai,\u00a0A MUSE for Everyone (April 13, 2024)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the highlights of my trip to Japan was spending time with my friend the composer Aya Nishina<\/a> \u4ec1\u79d1\u5f69 and her partner, the artist Shimpei Takeda<\/a> \u6b66\u7530\u614e\u5e73, at MUSE<\/a> (Music Unites Special Education) in Sendai. At MUSE I had the privilege of sitting in on (and participating in, as it turned out!) two private lessons that Aya gave and one of the group art classes, which Aya and Shimpei supported. Observing them working with the differently-abled students afforded me the opportunity to understand their own creative work more deeply and to recognize that their art and their teaching work, while different in form, have the same purpose, each informed by and expressing the same universal spiritual principles that, in fact, guide all true healing work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MUSE is a certified NPO founded in Sendai City by pianist Atsuko Nishina in 2001 to increase the opportunities for people with special needs to touch highly artistic music and art and express themselves freely through artistic creative activities. MUSE provides private and group lessons in music and art to children, as well as some adults, with autism and disabilities. 80 to 90 times a year, MUSE also brings live music by professional musicians and classes with music therapists to hospitals and educational institutions throughout Miyagi Prefecture. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"MUSE<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

MUSE group music class<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"MUSE
MUSE group art class<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"MUSE
MUSE concert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With the onset of the pandemic in 2020, MUSE expanded to provide online education. Supported by Save the Children<\/a>, it launched the Kotori Project<\/a> to support children with high social vulnerability by providing them with art-making activities. The project culminated in the publication of the picture book Kotori Forest Orchestra <\/i>\u30b3\u30c8\u30ea\u306e\u68ee\u306e\u30aa\u30fc\u30b1\u30b9\u30c8\u30e9 (kotori<\/i> means small bird in Japanese), assembled from the Kotori project creations of 252 children creating in their homes throughout Tohoku and around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kotori
Kotori Forest Orchestra book cover<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Kotori
Kotori Forest Orchestra book bird drawings<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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