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“This is the most important thing I could possibly do,” – Cellist Yo-Yo Ma to FOX , on his visit to a Detroit elementary school. A day after performing with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra,Yo-Yo Ma joined former New York City Ballet principal dancer Damian Woetzel to spend the day with local students at a school for an “arts strike.”

Ma and Woetzel worked with the students on April 10 to create a new work, which they performed on stage at the school later that day as part of an event to bring professional artists to engage with communities.  Dancer Charles “Lil Buck” Riley, Galician bagpipe star  Cristina Pato and Sphinx Organization’s Aaron Dworkin also participated in the event convened by the Aspen Institute Arts Program and funded by Knight Foundation. Credit: Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Ma told the Detroit News that the events are meant to spur children’s imaginations, so that they may become better problem solvers.

“Collaborate and trust to build imagination — that is what we so desperately need in this country — so we can talk together and work together and do what Detroit is doing with itself with all the committed citizens and people that are so passionate about the city,” Ma told the News. “That is what we get from being in this school and the community — the possibilities.”

Read more in the News or watch the video above from My Fox Detroit.