PREVIOUS PROJECTS
Hear Her Song Album Debut Launch
2020-2021
A musical celebration of extraordinary women through The Canales Project’s inaugural album
In 2020 we embarked on producing a recording in collaboration with engineer Christopher Botta (OneBeat, Emily Wells), featuring 11 songs by our Hear Her Song artists: Katy Pfaffl, Hyeyoung Kim, Helen Park, Janet Noh, Dina Fanai, Eliza Hull, Faye Chiao, Rosabella Gregory, Maria Landi, Sophia Lanuza, and Gwyneth Herbert. The album was launched in March 2021, aligning with Women’s History Month.
Video Pals (V-Pals)
2017-2020
Challenging participants to explore music and art as tools to help break down cultural identity barriers
In 2017, The Canales Project launched a new, free, and simple international education program titled “Video Pals (V-Pals).” TCP is committed to using the power of the arts to touch hearts, examine belief systems and find those common bonds that link all of us and help us overcome our differences. Our “V-Pals Program” not only exposes participants to new professional artists and cultural identities, but it also encourages and inspires them to artistically and creatively cross identity and cultural barriers with the intention to connect to and learn about new communities and ways of life.
Featuring and TCP Founder and CEO Carla Canales as well as various artists throughout the school year, “V-Pals” incorporates the cultural backgrounds and travel experiences from each of artists to give participants a broader understanding of the different cultures we encounter in our world. Working with a number of schools and organizations, “V-Pals” not only educates and engages a wide range of participants about different parts and cultures in the world, but it also inspires them to continue to be inquisitive about other cultures, ethnicities and lifestyles while teaching them how to cross barriers related to identity and culture artistically and creatively.
This free, interactive, video-based program challenges participants to explore music and art as tools to help break down cultural identity barriers and make the journey from “the other” to the “all.” To inquire about participating in “V-Pals,” please contact TCP at admin@thecanalesproject.com.
Between Two Worlds
2017-2018
A Journey from “the Other” to “the All” in Music and Conversation
A series of concert programs in which issues of culture and identity were explored in songs, music, and interaction with artists who understand and have lived those issues. These concerts not only offer great music from many traditions, they also include conversations between the artists and the audience in which key questions were explored.
The host, Carla Canales, founder and director of The Canales Project, was the creator and presenter of these events. She was joined by two-three artists from different genres, as well as an accompanying pianist. Together they used music to explore the theme in question and then through conversation will engage the audience in a unique, interactive event that combines storytelling with world-class musical performances.
Songs of Strength, Songs of Regret
2017-2018
Revisiting the stories of Antigone and Creon
Presented in partnership with San José Office of Cultural Affairs and MACLA / Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana, and featuring Carla Canales, Molly Joyce, Rosemary Feit Covey, and Jacqueline Suskin. Drawing inspiration from Greek mythology and personal stories of Bay Area community members, the times that people stood up for something they believed in explored in “Antigone’s story,” and “Creon’s story” featuring stories of regret, guilt, and culpability.
Finding Your Voice
2016-2017
Presented in partnership with Education Through Music and Boys and Girls Clubs of Tucson
An educational program created to help participants find their voice, both literally and figuratively, through activities exploring culture, heritage, and identity as well as voice lessons and other forms of artistic and musical training. The curriculum is designed to take them on an exploration of their own cultural roots as expressed through the arts, and introduce them to ways their cultural roots are unique as well as how they link to other traditions and backgrounds. The program also aims to foster a safe space for youth to speak freely and candidly about challenges they face in being “the other” and how they uniquely fit into the diverse patchwork that is “the all, providing a platform to youth who have their voices heard and realize their full potential. The program was launched in 2016 with Education Through Music as well as Boys and Girls Clubs of Tucson AZ and made possible through a generous contribution from Linda and Stuart Nelson.
