Interests
Cathy Correa Lopera, M.Mus.
Music and Movement Educator
We must work both with persons with dementia and the whole community around them, creating awareness about brain health and opening opportunities to improve their quality of life. Music, art and movement can be our way.
Current Work
As a music educator and Orff-Schulwerk specialist, Cathy works with children, young and adults, developing Music and Movement programs that help them to get close to the musical experience. As a children illustrator, she believes in the power that image and words have to tell a story.
Personal Hero
My grandmother and my family
Words of Strength
Working together, Sing, Move, Create
Vision
Cathy believes we must work not only with patients but with the whole community around them, creating consciousness about mental health and opening opportunities for people with dementia to rise their quality of life. Music, art, movement can be our way.
Strategy
Cathy has worked with patients and carers to develop music and movement activities, based on Orff-Schulwerk principles, as well as with teenagers at risk of drug abuse. She believes musical and art intervention at early age is key for wellbeing.
Impact
Cathy hopes to create a network of people from different backgrounds who also believe in the power that arts and science together have to fight for equity in society. She wants to offer a space for enjoyment and creation through music and movement.
Motivation
The department of Antioquia (Colombia) has the largest population of individuals with early-onset familiar Alzheimer's disease. Working through music and movement with patients and their families is an opportunity to bring joy and hope to their life.
Education & Experience
Cathy is a professional violinist who earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at EAFIT University (Colombia), and a postgraduate degree in Music and Dance Education from the Orff Institute and the Mozarteum University in Salzburg (Austria). In her career as a music and movement teacher, she has delivered workshops to early childhood and music teachers in Colombia, Chile, Bolivian, Peru, the United States, and Mexico. Cathy has served as coordinator of community musical programs at EAFIT University and Iberacademy, has taught Music and Dance at the Education Faculty in University of Antioquia, and founded ARTELÍRICA, her own music and art school in Medellín. As a violinist, she has played in EAFIT Symphony Orchestra, Jaibaná Camerata, and Salzburg University Symphony Orchestra. In 2017, Cathy participated in the San Francisco Orff Internship Program organized by The San Francisco International Orff Course in The San Francisco School. As a volunteer, she participates in the Social Plan of the Neurosciences Group of Antioquia (GNA), offering music and movement workshops to early onset Alzheimer's patients and their caregivers. She worked with teenage girls who are part of the prison system, offering them a weekly space for music and movement to strengthen social skills and an alternative for artistic development. Currently, Cathy is part of the board of directors of ACOLORFF (Colombian Orff-Schulwerk Association). She is studying illustration and creative writing for children to expand and enrich her field of study.
Featured Publications
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Cathy
a NoteHave ideas for global brain health or a collaboration? I would love to hear from you. Feel free to send an introductory note.
