Peace Tracks: A Cross-Cultural, Music-Focused Online Exchange for Youth
Overview
Plugged In Band Program’s Peace Tracks is a virtual exchange program for high school students from Jordan, Morocco, the Palestinian Territories, and the United States.
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Participants are grouped into multinational bands with each band composing, performing, recording, and producing an original song and music video about issues their generation or culture is facing and the positive change they want to create in the world.
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Participants develop skills in communication, cross-cultural collaboration, songwriting, video editing, and creating, recording, and mixing music.
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Each Peace Tracks session culminates in a live-streamed concert featuring the bands’ songs and music videos.
What is Virtual Exchange?
Virtual exchange connects young people from diverse places using everyday technology for collaborative learning and interaction through sustained and facilitated engagement.
Through virtual exchange programs, young people have access to life-changing opportunities that can shape their trajectories, bring new friends into their lives, and expand their worldviews.
Virtual exchange is a vital learning tool with the capacity to connect people around the world on an unprecedented scale without a need for travel.
Peace Tracks is implemented by the Plugged In Band Program and is supported by the J. Christopher Stevens Virtual Exchange Initiative (JCSVEI). JCSVEI is a U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs program administered by the Aspen Institute.
