Sessions for Justice: A Pace MCVA / Music to Life Partnership
For more than a decade, co founders of Music to Life, Liz Stookey Sunde and Noel Paul Stookey have explored the landscape of music and social justice, asking how music might become a more strategic tool for social change. To test the waters, the father/daughter pair recruited a diverse, cross-functional national team, producing social justice songwriting contests, multimedia programs, educational panels, conference sessions and commemorative events.
Liz and David became thought partners during the pandemic in search of pathways for educational partnership with Pace University’s Media Communications and Visual Arts Department. Generating opportunities on campus for film and media production students to work side by side with musicians has always been a priority for the department. In February 2022, David and Liz brought a curated group of Asian American Artists to gather, share experiences, ideas and music including Taiyo Na, Treya Lam, Ashni and Jason Kao Hwang. Students and alumni took the lead in the production with a pilot episode on the horizon.