Alexandra Soumm

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Making the arts accessible to the greatest number of people, and in particular to people in situations of great precariousness, disability or loneliness, has been an obsession for me for more than ten years.

 

Playing in large and beautiful concert halls, working with great colleagues and travelling to many countries, is a great opportunity that I have had since I was a child, but the desire to play for a diverse audience has always been there.

In 2011, I suggested to my friend Paloma Kouider that she spend New Year's Eve in a shelter for the homeless. This experience had a profound impact on us, but we knew that in order to create real change in the long term, we needed an appropriate structure, a platform where artists with the same deep desires as us could also share their talent, their passion, their time, with those who are in such need of beauty and humanity.

It was at that time that Maria Mosconi joined us, and in May 2012, the Esperanz'Arts association was born. Since then, it has grown to include more than 70 volunteer artists, all deeply committed to the way art is shared in our society. 

There are so many injustices to fight, so many bonds to create, so much beauty to offer. Of course, art cannot provide a roof over your head, nor can it heal a handicap, but it allows you to escape, to learn, to know something else, to question yourself, to dream...

 

A big thank you to the people who have supported us from the very beginning, to the structures who have trusted us, to the artists who give so much.