CREATEOne interactive, 7-professional-musician popular music concert and educational presentation, at 3 continuation high schools that provide inspiration for at-risk youth in the Los Angeles area.
Saturday Night Bath will produce & perform one, interactive, 2-hour concert (6-hours total including clinics) at 3-schools providing access to live music performance, & history for at-risk-students. The band performs old and composing blues songs with the students. The proposed sites are: Stoney Point (Chatsworth), Eagle Tree (Carson), and Odyssey (South Gate). Should scheduling conflicts occur, Santana (La Puente), Frida Kahlo, (E Los Angeles) McAlister/Westside (pregnant teens), and Optimist Home (Pasadena), would be alternates.
In which areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?
San Gabriel Valley
San Fernando Valley
South Bay
In what stage of innovation is this project?
Expand existing program
What is the need you’re responding to?
We go directly into the classroom or small courtyards. Selections include original as well as traditional Blues compositions of the 1900's. Material describes current life in LA. Three educational prompts are mailed. Students are coached and encouraged to join the ensemble with instrumental accompaniment on rock & roll or “free-style” or “flow” Rap. Signs are held up so that the names can be remembered; those who remember 10-things that we talk about win a harmonica;
We will reach approximately 300 “last-chance” students. They are in dire need of our care and inspiration. The program directly affects the lives of the students and their families, by bringing art, communication, and camaraderie in school to those who are at risk of falling prey to negative situations.
Classroom as well as neighborhood art alliances and friendships arise. These include singing, poetry, instrumental and poetry appreciation, and amateur performing groups
Why is this project important to the work of your organization?
Since 1986 we have performed 550-concerts in schools and detention facilities connecting with over 41,000 at-risk youth, essentially one-at-a-time. Opportunities to perform and compose simple songs are strongly encouraged. During each concert, music is paused in order to describe the origins of the musical instruments, the elemental mechanics, the inventors, and some famous contemporary players.
The LA County Arts Commission became our first sponsor in 1986. The Musicians Union Local #47 (LA) and the Recording Industries Music Performance Fund (NY) continue to give us annual co-sponsor allocations that cover 35% of our musician’s concert wages. We received 3-year Cal Arts Council (CAC) Multi-Cultural Entry Level grants in 1995, ’98 and 2001, and an Impact grant in 2004; their Exemplary Arts Education Partnership Grant greatly expanded our separate acoustic lecture visits. The City of LA Department of Cultural Affairs has funded our program since 1991.
Approximately how many people will be impacted by this proposal?
Direct Impact: 325
Indirect Impact: 900
Please describe the broader impact of your proposal.
The impact of this grant will inspire, motivate, and educate young people by direct contact with musicians and live popular music. Referrals will be systematically updated and sent in the ensuing months. We will also give a file of our 38-page Music History/Theory Handbook to each school; there are simple and innovative extensions to our program within.
We provide a type of popular therapeutic music, which affects peers and families’ lives and their views of the future. Students who perform with SNB become celebrities. Resultant interest in music, role models, poetry, language, dance and movement are clearly apparent. We perform a vital program of fostering art as well as social harmony and productivity in our young student’s lives.
Please explain how you will define and measure success for your project.
3-questionnaires are given to the Principals to be returned to SNB. They simply ask: a) the music styles perceived, and the instrument names that are remembered, b) the % increase in social, verbal, student, and song interactions, and c) for a 2/3-page essay describing what was remembered from the lecture and/or concert. After analysis of the data, they will be forwarded to the sponsoring organization. They show us what musical concepts are understood and favored, and then we adjust the concert set lists accordingly. Students and staff complete them in their own hand, giving much thought to the process. Melodies, lyrics, instruments, and artists that they may not have been aware of are now “in the mix”. In the past, drawings of instruments & musical notes, names of songs and raps/poetry appear with the answers. Three weeks after the concert we also mail our follow-up Creative Student Tracking (CST) survey that asks about performer-students and their art study plans, along with a printed referral list. We give written referral letters of recommendation accordingly.
Which of the CREATE metrics will your submission impact?
Arts establishments, instillations, and exhibitions
Global cultural and economic influence (“soft power”)
Are there any other LA2050 goal categories that your proposal will impact?
LA is the best place to PLAY
LA is the best place to CONNECT
Which of LA2050’s resources will be of the most value to you?
Access to the LA2050 community
Communications support
Strategy assistance and implementation