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A man with a donkey cart beside Lake Karakul in China

© ALEX SIEVERS

Why the Silk Road?
The historic Silk Road trade network provides a namesake-worthy metaphor for the Silk Road Project’s vision of connecting artists and audiences around the world. Yo-Yo Ma has called these routes, which resulted in the first global exchange of scientific and cultural traditions, the “Internet of antiquity.” The Silk Road Project takes inspiration from this age-old tradition of cross-cultural exchange.

Silk Road Ensemble member Joseph Gramley demonstrating a waterphone to RISD students during a residency

Silk Road Ensemble percussionist Joseph Gramley demonstrating a waterphone to RISD students during a residency

© DAVID O’CONNOR

Artists in Residence


In July 2010, the Silk Road Project relocated its office to the Harvard University campus at the outset of a renewed five-year affiliation. Acting as a working laboratory at Harvard to explore intersections between the arts and academics, the Project hopes to enable new artistic and cultural opportunities at the University and in surrounding communities.

From 2005 to 2010, the Silk Road Project was affiliated with Harvard University and Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where the Silk Road Ensemble served as artists in residence. Annual residencies were designed to encourage intensive, multidisciplinary artistic and intellectual collaborations and to expand the scope of audience participation beyond a concert-tour format.



“In our complex world it is crucial that educators have the tools to help students understand not only their own lives, but the broadest possible horizons as well.”
– YO-YO MA