Why do schools teach music in a way that turns off so many young people rather than igniting their imagination? A program that taps into students’ passion for pop and rock is revitalizing music education in many schools.

A collaboration between a Parkinson’s disease support group and a New York City dance company created a program of movement for people managing the disease. Besides an improvement in physical mobility, participation also gave people an increase in self-esteem and cognitive function.

Kids will be the ones carrying out the effects of current city planning efforts. To get kids involved in city planning at a young age, Michael Ford started a series of “Hip Hop Architecture Camps.” By teaching about building, development, and neighborhoods through the lens of hip hop music, young people could engage creatively and connect to the process. The camps now takes many forms and have spread internationally.

As popular music has become digital and immaterial in the twenty-first century, record stores are hard to find and those in business struggle to be commercially viable. Used Kids record store in Columbus, OH has been in business for thirty years and is perhaps even more popular now that it was ten years ago. The current management treat the medium of vinyl not as a museum artifact, but rather as a commodity in demand by selling online, holding private events with collectors, and selling the materiality to young people.

The Bunk Police sell kits that test the content of drugs—such as LSD and MDA—providing an effective way for people to ensure they are not taking potentially harmful synthetics. While studies show that these kits provide useful harm reduction, there are often difficult legal hurdles to the distribution of these kits online and in person.

Operating as a low-power FM radio station, Detroit’s 96.7 WNUC provides an independent platform for community voices and interests. Programming ranges from shows focusing on Detroit’s musical legacy to discussions of environmental justice issues.

Little Kids Rock has helped to revitalize and broaden music education in more than a thousand schools by encouraging children to learn to play popular music, form bands and compose their own songs. Despite a backlash from traditionalists, teaching children to play music they love doesn’t “dumb down” music education—it enriches it.

For musicians and artists who don’t have traditional access to healthcare, one music festival has them covered. O+ (“O Positive”) is a music festival in Kingston, NY that invites musicians and artists from around the United States to perform, and in exchange they get free access to health care services. Doctors, dentists, and other providers are recruited as volunteers. At the 2018 festival, over 173 musicians and artists made 465 clinic visits.