It’s a feast for the eyes and ears. It’s a celebration of the heart! Meet and put your hands together for the 20 high Greater Boston teen musicians and their four professional musician mentors on Saturday, January 21, 2012 from 7-9pm at City Year Headquarters, 287 Columbus Avenue, Boston, MA. For more information and to RSVP, contact: Rosena Cornet at 617-437-0707 x123.
For the past year, the young music makers and their mentors have participated in a series of leadership retreats and applied service projects developed by From the Top’s Center for the Development of Arts Leaders. The teens and their mentors were each required to spend 20 hours a month, collaborating in teams to design and implement projects at five Boston area community partner sites, collectively reaching hundreds of Massachusetts school children, elderly, and cancer patients.
The five projects completed by From the Top’s arts leaders between January 2011 and January 2012 are:
At the AstraZeneca Hope Lodge in Jamaica Plain, the From the Top’s arts leaders designed special performance events and other activities that involved residents and created community within an atmosphere of healing. They left Hope Lodge with a CD of music chosen by guests. Team members include: Kassie Eberle, Mentor; Keith Williams, 16, of Boston; Lillian Hexter, 17 of Boston; Molly Lowrie, 16, of Belmont; Ryan Shannon, 19, of Boulder, Colorado (NEC student); and Rachel Steinberg, 17, of Stoughton.
At the Conservatory Lab Charter School in Brighton, the From the Top team assisted with after school group instruction, and helped in laying the foundation for an outreach effort that aims to establish Somerville as an El Sistema model of music education site. In late October, they helped to plan and publicize a concert that introduced the idea of bringing the El Sistema nucleo to Somerville Public Schools. Team members include: Brian Kaufman, Mentor; Edalina Wang, 15, of Boston; Elizabeth O'Neill, 19, of Arlington, VA (NEC student); Graziella Oliveira, 16, of Somerville; Karolina Nunes, 21, of Somerville.
At Goddard House, Assisted Living in Brookline, team members used music as a means to engage residents who may be struggling with memory loss. The young musicians also executed a personal narrative project where they recorded resident stories and favorite musical pieces to build bridges between the residents and service staff, who come from different racial, economic and language backgrounds. Team members include: Michael Dahlberg, Mentor; Dante Velasquez, 17, of Boston; John Carney, 17, of Boston; Madeline Bauer, 16, of Needham; Tiffany Cheng, 15, of Cambridge; William Hess, 14, of Milton.
At Chittick Elementary School in Mattapan, From the Top arts leaders shadowed the Boston Public Quartet and aided in their after-school chamber music program called MusiConnects. The arts leaders also regularly visited two kindergarten classrooms to introduce children to all the major instrument families and build their interest in studying music later on. The team also planned and performed a benefit concert to support the after-school program at Chittick Elementary. Team Members include: Kassie Eberle, Mentor; Anna Deloi, 15, of Plaistow, NH; Nash Ryder, 16, of Arundel, ME.
At the Roland Hayes School of Music in Roxbury, From the Top arts leaders have worked to build an audience for the school's annual concert series and to raise awareness about the school as a city-wide resource for Boston students. Team Members include: Eric Ortiz, Mentor; Carson Lloyd, 16, of Duxbury; Clifton Williams, 19, of Washington, DC (Berklee School of Music student); Shiya Wang, 21, of Flushing, NY (Harvard University student); Yun-Jae Lee, 15, of Wayland.
From the Top’s Center for the Development of Arts Leaders is a new initiative and reflects From the Top’s long-term commitment to developing teen musicians as leaders who are active in giving back to their communities. Through this pilot effort in Boston, From the Top has expanded the footprint of its leadership programs and its local impact.
From the Top will recruit for its second class of arts leaders in spring 2012, and will begin a new year of leadership retreats and applied service projects in Fall 2012.
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