MEMPHIS, Tenn.– As a rising junior at Middle College High School, 16-year-old Amanda Causey has been playing the violin since she was six years old.

She is able to continue her musical training thanks to a partnership between her school and Iris Collective.

“Iris Collective, we like to say we do music on purpose,” said Rebecca Arendt, executive director of Iris Collective.

It’s an organization that connects people through music. They do so through three main categories: mentorship, medicine and meaning.

“We work with Memphis Shelby County Schools to help build orchestra programs and kindergarten through 12th grade, as well as music in ways that opened our eyes to other things in life,” Arendt said.

“So, how can music influence literacy? How can music be part of science? How can music be part of geography?”

According to Arendt, music can also connect people through medicine.

“Our musicians teach weekly classes to Alzheimer’s and dementia patients and their caregivers using music to build confidence and community,” she said.

“Musical memories are one of the last ones that stay, so folks that maybe aren’t even verbal on a normal basis will start singing the songs that they remember when our musicians start to play them.”

Roberta Dos Santos is a Brazilian cellist and artist fellow with Iris Collective. She’s one of the musicians teaching and offering services to the Alzheimer’s community.

“I feel like I am a tool to help them recollect memories that might be lost somewhere, you know, we work with people in several different stages of the disease,” Santos said.

And the third category, music is meaning.

“Music is a universal language, but we can connect with people even when we don’t speak the same language through music,” Santos mentioned.

“But also, when we don’t have the same viewpoints, music can be a really wonderful way to have hard conversations and also a way to kind of even the playing field.”

That is why Brown Missionary Baptist Church and the Midsouth Genesis CDC donated $1,000 to Iris Collective. When you connect people through music, the whole community will thrive.