Martin Urbach

About Martin Urbach

GRAMMY Music Educator Award nominee Drummer / Percussionist Martin (pronounced mar-TEEN) Urbach is a Latine Immigrant, educator, activist and youth organizer. His work in the classroom is based on facilitating brave spaces for young folks to fall in love with music and to promote social justice through music making in their community.He holds a BA in jazz performance from the University of New Orleans, a MA in jazz arts from the Manhattan School of Music, an Advanced Certificate in Music Education from Brooklyn College and is currently a Doctoral candidate in Urban Education at the CUNY Graduate Center.Martin has been an educator in New York City since 2006. He has taught well over ten thousand children; from pre kindergarten to doctoral students. Martin’s first days in the classroom were in 2006, as a bucket drumming teaching artist through the Manhattan School of music (MSM). Shortly after graduating with his MA from MSM, he began teaching residencies for Urban Arts Partnership, Lincoln Center Institute, Marquis Studios, Bash The Trash, and Carnegie Hall. Martin’s teaching and curriculum design programs are as original, inventive and diverse as the students he has taught! Having taught courses from drumming bucket brigades, to rockband & songwriting, to musical theater, to beatmaking, as well as courses based on social justice and activism, as well as courses on restorative justice, critical consciousness and youth participatory action research. Martin has served as music educator, Restorative Justice Youth Organizer, advisor, dean of students, and school leadership team co-chair for The New York Public Schools from 2008 until 2025. He is currently the Executive Director of The Circle Keepers Martin has presented workshops, talks and keynotes on the intersections of social justice activism, music technology, music education and youth development at conferences such as the International Symposium of Music Education (ISME) in Baku, Azerbaijan (2018), the Association of Popular Music Education (APME) at Berklee College of Music (2016) and at New York University (2019), at the Freire50 conference at the University of South Carolina (2018), The Sustaining Peace Forum at Teachers College, Columbia University.Martin lives in Brooklyn, NY. When not teaching, organizing or activating youth, he is either baking cookies, eating cookies, or imitating cookie monster.

Experience

1. Co-founder & Executive Director

   Martin Urbach

   Jan 2017 — Present · NY, US

   Martin (pronounced mar-TEEN) Urbach is a Latine Immigrant, educator, activist and youth organizer. He has been teaching music and organizing for social justice alongside youth in New York City since 2006. As a student of abolition, he is committed to dismantling oppressive systems while birthing joyful, healing and transformative through curriculum, pedagogy and a praxis of liberation. He is doctoral candidate in Urban Education at the CUNY Graduate Center where he researches the intersections of youth development, arts education, activism, and restorative justice as vehicles to develop artivist identities. Martin is a 2020,2021,2024 and 2025 Grammy Music Educator Award quarter finalist, a world-renowned clinician and has been recognized as a restorative justice educator/organizer by NPR, The NYC Public Advocate\'s Office, among others.The Circle Keepers train youth as restorative justice practitioners, researchers, and artists-activists, that advocate for desegregation, equity and youth voice in schools.Since we first started offering arts based and restorative justice based programming, The Circle Keepers has gained national recognition by presenting a sold-out workshop at SouthBySouthWest2023 (SXSWEd2023), reduced suspensions at a NYC Public High School by 95%, released a multimedia toolkit of arts based restorative justice educational materials, trained 500+ students and 75+ school based staff in restorative practices natioanlly, engaged youth in social justice activism though cultural producing, hosted the yearly Black Lives Matter at School NYC Teen Council, testified to NYC City Council, helping direct over $22 million dollars of funding towards restorative justice programs and produced a yearly youth-led citywide Youth Participatory Action Research “Peace and Justice Conference”. —

Education

• The City University of New York

  Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Urban Education

• Manhattan School of Music

  Masters in Jazz Studies , Music

• Brooklyn College

  Advanced Certificate in Music Education , Music Teacher Education

• Manhattan School of Music

  Masters in Jazz Arts

• University of New Orleans

  Bachelor's in Jazz Studies , Music

• University of New Orleans

  Bacehelor's in Jazz Studies , Music

  2000

• Teachers College, Columbia University

  Ed.D. in Music Education , Education