Pan finds a home at Harvard

PAN MUSIC has received an official acceptance letter to Harvard University.

Thanks to the determination of T&T student Adam Bartholomew, the Harvard College Steelpan Ensemble has taken root, introducing the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago to an Ivy League audience.

The journey to bring pan to Harvard began in August 2022, just before Adam’s first semester at the university. It was during Harvard’s First-Year International Programme

(FIP) that he met Elizabeth Bennett, an English student who also played pan. Their shared passion sparked an idea.

“From our very first conversation, we both agreed that it would be awesome if we could start a steelpan ensemble,” Adam recalled. “At that time, we had no idea how challenging it would be.”

Determined to make it happen, Adam reached out to the Harvard Student Organization Center that December to understand the process of starting a new student group. Over the next few months, he and Elizabeth tirelessly worked to generate interest, eventually receiving 60 positive responses from students keen to learn the instrument. However, there was one major hurdle—they had no pans. Read More