Emporia State is next in line to host Kansas Paraguayan Partners’ (KPP) annual meeting Saturday, April 9 in Beach Music Hall. The organization meets annually, rotating through Kansas universities to showcase any of their current projects and talents at each college. Paraguayan Ambassador, Jose Antonio Dos Santos, will be giving the keynote address. 

The meeting’s theme is “Making Connections through Culture and Music.” This year, ESU will be showcasing their music and written literature in the music and English departments. 

KPP, a branch of Partners of the Americas, started by former President John F. Kennedy in 1963, highlights the friendships and commonalities between the two countries, such as agriculture, cultural arts, natural resources and much more. 

“It’s been a partnership between the two countries and over time people from the universities here in Kansas have traveled there to look at education, medicine, agriculture,” saidMelissa Reed, one of the program’s coordinators and associate professor in elementary education, early childhood and special education. KPP, a branch of Partners of the Americas, started by former U. SPresident John F. Kennedy in 1963, highlights the friendships and commonalities between the two countries, such as agriculture, cultural arts, natural resources and much more.  

ESU’s Kevin Rabas, 2017-2019 Poet Laureate of Kansas and Amy Sage Webb Baza, professors of English, modern languages, and journalism and Ramiro Miranda will be performing violin and as well as participating in a collaborative project, “Spoken Sanatas,” consisting of composed music put together by Miranda and former student, Seth Cuppy. 

Cuppy was the originator of the idea for the “Spoken Sanatas” and did most of the work when it came to recording the pieces, according to Miranda.  

“I mixed and mastered everything. It took an entire summer,” Cuppy said. “This is definitely the biggest collaborative project I’ve ever worked on.”