This spring and fall, OneBeat will be in residence at Avaloch Farm Music Institute where they will welcome 50 musicians from 30 countries and the United States for the first time to communities in Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. OneBeat is the leading multinational music exchange of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) that uses the power of creative collaboration as a gateway to civic discourse and cross-cultural understanding. OneBeat is a key element of the United States’ Global Music Diplomacy Initiative launched by Secretary of State Antony Blinken in September 2023 to promote peace and democracy through music.

OneBeat Fellows hail from every world region and represent diverse musical traditions and perspectives. For the first time since the launch of the program in 2012, musicians from Honduras, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Greece, and Argentina will join musical tastemakers from Brazil, China, Colombia, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Nigeria, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, South Africa, South Korea, Ukraine, and the United States. These musicians, ranging in age from 19-35, represent traditional to avant-garde musical traditions, instrument builders and sculptors, educators, and creative entrepreneurs, all of whom contribute to their communities and the music industry through their artistic practice and dedication to music and sound as a form of cultural cohesion.

During the residency, Fellows will collaborate on new music and participate in professional development workshops and masterclasses with guest artists including composer, multi-instrumentalist, singer and poet Ben LaMar Gay and Grammy-nominated performer and producer Shahzad Ismaily.

To kick off their Spring tour, the OneBeat Fellows will give a special performance in Avaloch's new concert barn on Friday May 3rd at 7PM!