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Updates from Music Education Partnership Grant Partners

Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate was in residence in Seattle the week prior to his commission engaging with public school children about composition and the music of Chickasaw culture.

The Indianapolis Symphonic Choir presented the world premiere of Toward A Secret Sky by Augusta Read Thomas on April 28. Thomas was commissioned by the choir in 2020 as part of the organization’s mission to create and perform new choral masterworks. The work features text by the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi and is paired with Francis Poulenc’s Gloria

On March 29, singers of the Los Angeles Master Chorale sang alongside students from Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, California for the premiere of Stonewall: The Oratorio. The work, created for the Chorale’s Oratorio Project education program and arranged and orchestrated by Saunder Choi, tells the story of the Stonewall Inn and celebrates the civil rights demonstrations from 1969 that ignited the gay rights movement. u

In2022, Chorus America’s Music Education Partnership Grants program distributed over $900,000 in grants to fund projects designed to increase access to choral music and promote non-arts learning and cultural literacy while upholding the principles of access, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Twenty projects received awards to support collaborations during the 2022–23 school year to community organizations and schools across the United States and Canada. We are thrilled to share updates and photos from some of our grant partners in our Grantee Spotlight series.

Grand Vision Foundation

The Grand Vision Foundation (pictured above) in San Pedro, California received an award to support its Roots Music Program (RoMP). Implemented at eight schools and growing, RoMP teaches elementary school students music basics and teamwork and encourages empathy. The semester-long program gives fourth graders the opportunity to explore foundational music concepts through a multicultural lens, engage with professional performing artists and present a performance of international music.

Desert Sounds

Desert Sounds (pictured below) from Mesa, Arizona is utilizing funds from their Music Education Partnership Grant to support the singing skills of about 100 students with the support of newly hired vocal instructors. Desert Sounds enthusiastically shared with Chorus America that students are coming out of their shells, including a shy student who has participated in the program for four years and performed their first solo in March.

Students are also learning and growing their appreciation for Mariachi music. In late 2022, the organization worked with fellow Chorus America grantee Bi-National Arts Institute to perform Mariachi music at the border between the sister cities of Naco, Arizona (USA) and Naco, Sonora (Mexico).

To see more photos and read updates from our Grant Partners, check out our Grantee Spotlight Series on our High Notes Blog and social media accounts!

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