Students compete for university scholarships with their talent at a Panamanian inter-school festival while transforming their communities and developing life skills
- More than 4,000 Panamanian students have participated in TalenPro, an inter-school festival that blends artistic talent with real social impact.
- Finalists don’t just sing, dance, or create audiovisuals: they lead student brigades that transform schools and communities.
- The model opens doors to higher education, promotes inclusion, and strengthens life skills.
Dayana Batista can’t help but smile when asked about her time at TalenPro. “I feel like from that moment on, I became a totally different person,” says this young Panamanian singer, winner of the 2018 edition of the inter-school festival that’s demonstrating how arts education can open doors to higher education in Panama.
Months earlier, Dayana was at Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) headquarters to showcase her talent at an event where Latin American and Caribbean policymakers analyzed how to strengthen socioemotional skills in the region’s students. There, she shared the lessons from her experience: “At Talenpro I learned to manage my emotions much better, to understand that in life things can be difficult but not impossible, and that you have to dream big. If you truly commit to something and persist, you will achieve it.”
TalenPro is an initiative of the Fundación Puertas Abiertas (Open Doors Foundation), founded by singer-songwriter, producer, and philanthropist Erika Ender (FUNPAEE), and represents an innovative hybrid model in the region: a first-tier inter-school festival focused on music, dance, and audiovisual arts, aimed at young people in their fifth and sixth years of secondary education. The program combines artistic talent development with volunteering through Student Brigades that execute community social impact projects.
The 2025 edition of TalenPro concluded on October 19 in Panama City with a gala featuring top-tier artists that was broadcast on national television. This ninth edition featured 38 finalists from the country’s three zones and completed 12 social service projects in primary schools, directly benefiting 3,249 children from vulnerable areas of the country.
The finalists not only demonstrated artistic excellence but also presented community projects that directly impacted their environments, from creating school gardens to renovating cafeterias in educational centers.
Since its founding, TalenPro has mobilized more than 4,000 young Panamanians. Dayana is one of the voices that best represents the program’s transformative impact.
In a context where 36% of young people in Latin America and the Caribbean don’t complete secondary education, and where only 19% of those who graduate acquire the skills needed to thrive in the workforce, initiatives like TalenPro stand out for keeping young people motivated and committed to their development.
Additionally, the region is rich in talent, but young people often lack opportunities to develop careers in creative industries, which in turn need trained human capital to take off. In this sense, this initiative has the potential to propel young people to grow and develop in these areas.
What Is TalenPro and How Does It Work?
TalenPro is an Inter-School Festival developed by FUNPAEE with the IDB, Panama’s Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Culture, IFARHU, and representatives from the private sector. It combines top-tier artistic competition with the development of community social impact projects. In 2023, this initiative won the Guinness World Record as the World’s Largest Social/Global Development Competition.
Aimed at students in their fifth and sixth years of secondary education, the festival encompasses four categories: best performer, best song, best dance group, and best audiovisual. Each participant represents their school and region of the country, but the competition transcends the stage: together with a Student Brigade made up of classmates from their school and guided by a faculty advisor, each contestant develops and implements a social project in their community.
The Differentiating Component: Student Brigades for Social Impact
The Student Brigades are TalenPro’s social backbone. Each finalist forms and leads a team of 50 volunteers from their school, under the guidance of a faculty advisor. Together, they design, plan, and execute a community project that addresses a concrete need in their environment: from improving public spaces to initiatives in education, health, or environmental sustainability.
Some examples of these brigades’ impact include:
- Rehabilitation of educational spaces in rural communities, where students restored classrooms and created safe recreational areas for children.
- Rehabilitation of inclusion classrooms, where children with special needs are served within schools.
- Rehabilitation of sports courts.
- Establishment of gardens and poultry farming in multidimensional poverty communities.
The brigades’ impact is evaluated through a combination of quantitative and qualitative indicators: student participation, achievement of objectives and results, and finally, personal and socioemotional development. The artistic component and social impact carry equal weight.
This formula makes TalenPro an initiative where young people learn that art acquires its maximum meaning when placed in service of community transformation. The artistic competition thus becomes a vehicle for fostering values of solidarity, empathy, and civic participation.
As they prepare their presentations, young people learn discipline, emotional expression, and teamwork. As they develop their social projects, they apply those same skills in real contexts, strengthening their sense of belonging and purpose.
The Importance of Promoting Artistic Talent and Socioemotional Skills Development
The orange economy, led by artists, musicians, designers, and other creative innovators, is a key driver of social and economic development in Latin America. However, many young people in the region, especially those from marginalized communities—such as Indigenous Peoples and Afro-descendant populations—face significant barriers that prevent them from fully participating in this emerging sector.
Although Panama is rich in cultural diversity and has a vibrant arts scene, the lack of access to educational and training opportunities prevents these young people from leveraging their creative potential.
Additionally, there is a persistent perception that investments in culture and art are secondary to urgent social and economic challenges, which limits investment in the creative economy and perpetuates its elitism.
On the other hand, international evidence demonstrates that music education can play an important role in childhood and youth development. Music offers a creative outlet for emotions, a bridge between people, and a way to experience the power of perseverance.
Panama’s orange economy presents enormous potential to drive development. For this emerging sector to be accessible to all, a shift in approach is needed that combines educational policies, training programs, and support for emerging artists.
Lessons Learned and Scalability of Music and Arts Education Projects
The IDB has been supporting projects for years that prepare children and young people in the region for careers in the music industry and initiatives that allow them to develop their creative talent. Within this framework, it supports TalenPro’s work through its Skills for Life Initiative.
This and other projects developed in the region yield several lessons learned, fundamental to scaling impact:
- Meet participants in their territories. One of the findings from these projects is that recruiting beneficiaries can be challenging. A lesson learned to mitigate the risk of not having participation of Indigenous and Afro-descendant youth is to reach those territories, announce and recruit in their community areas, and form alliances with local organizations. Additionally, it’s fundamental to design inclusion mechanisms from the start. That’s why the IDB supports this edition of TalenPro focused on ensuring that young people from these communities can showcase their artistic talent and access university scholarships. A FUNPAEE team visited schools in all areas of Panama, including Indigenous territories.
- Go beyond technical skills. TalenPro is much more than a talent competition. Special emphasis is placed on developing fundamental skills for young people to thrive in this 21st century. This aligns with evidence accumulated by the IDB that alongside the development of technical skills, it’s fundamental to promote the development of others such as teamwork, empathy, self-confidence, and socioemotional management. This is fundamental for the comprehensive growth of girls, boys, and young people.
- Involve young people in activity design. Another lesson learned from this type of project is that it’s key to involve children and adolescents in the design of activities. Giving them space to express their ideas contributes to them feeling valued and committed to the project.
Want to know more about the potential of music education and life skills development in the region? Visit our website here.
Note: Erika Ender is a Panamanian-American singer, songwriter, and producer, recognized as one of the most influential authors in Latin music. She is the co-writer of the global hit “Despacito” and the founder of TalenPro.