Democracy Sessions: The Room Begins to Rise

Wild Up presents the world premiere of Shelley Washington’s newly commissioned How We Hold Together, performed by Wild Up musicians, CalArts students, and the Collective Orchestra, an open-invitation community ensemble. Inspired by Émile Durkheim’s concept of “collective effervescence”—the energy that arises when people gather in shared emotion, attention, and action—the piece asks how music can become a practice of collective life. Through a flexible score combining notation, images, text, and prompts, the work invites musicians of all backgrounds into a collaborative performance shaped by listening, responsiveness, and shared decision-making. Wild Up musicians serve as both performers and facilitators, teaching and learning the work alongside community participants. REDCAT will be reconfigured into a more communal space, allowing performers and audience to occupy a shared field of resonance, proximity, and exchange—a space where music becomes a way to rehearse collective creativity, cooperation, and democratic action in real time.