CAL ACT IVISM In each issue, The Pool shares stories of CalArtians who cherish their roles as what President Ravi S. Rajan calls Citizen Artists— alumnx who have found their own ways to, in Rajan’s words, “steer us toward a better future.”
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Clayton Stromberger
This time around, we meet John Daversa (Music MFA 06)— trumpet virtuoso, arranger, and band leader extraordinaire. His new Grammy-winning album, American Dreamers: Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom, provided a platform to draw 53 »Dreamers« into recording studios for a powerful musical collaboration. Then, we drop in on the volunteer work that Nancy Barton (Art MFA 84, BFA 82; Art faculty 84–92) and Michael Cohen (Art BFA 92) are doing. In a remote mountaintop town in the Catskills, they bring the healing power of art—and a rare urban-rural experiment—to a community still recovering from a devastating flood.
John Daversa (right) with young musicians during recording session of American Dreamers.
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CalArts Alumni Magazine
