Models of Collaboration and Community Music

Abstract

This chapter discusses the nature of collaboration as it pertains to community music. The chapter begins with a discussion of some areas of tension in collaborative initiatives within community music. Vignettes that stem from the authors’ observations of community music programs in Canada, Brazil, and the United States are presented to both introduce and discuss different models that might assist in designing and developing effective collaborations within community music programs. The chapter ends with implications of these same models and traits for the assessment of collaborations and collaborative research within the context of community music. The main argument is that any study of collaboration in community music needs to centre on an in-depth understanding of contextual issues, social and cultural capital, and musical aspects that impact organizations, but also on the models and traits that frame the underlying partnerships/collaboration.