From Adrienne Gagnon, Education Director at Providence CityArts for Youth:

CityArts is currently searching for an Afterschool and Family Coordinator to help run their after-school programs smoothly and build positive relationships with youth and families. This is a part-time, year-round position. Here is the full job posting. Please forward it to anyone you know who is looking for work in youth development and arts education. The deadline to apply is September 12.

From Annette Mozzoni, Music School Director at the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School:

The Music School is seeking a Community Partnerships Manager to identify, cultivate and sustain strategic partnerships among arts, education and community-based organizations in order to advance arts in education and community building; plan and implement community education programs; identify and promote diverse and exemplary youth work in music focusing on quality programs for students across Rhode Island with specialized focus on work with students in urban areas. Learn more here.

In mid-August, CMW welcomed our first-ever Family Engagement Coordinator, Akina Ramos. Akina comes to us through the AmeriCorps VISTA national service program, which means that, before starting work for us, she had to swear an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States! [Pictured: the oath was administered by Vincent Marzullo, Rhode Island's fantastic Director of the National Service Program.]

Akina brings a wealth of energy and optimism to this position, and is already hard at work getting to know CMW parents, adjusting our family volunteering system, and learning about the program. As a mother of five, Akina has first-hand knowledge of the many demands on parental time, and of the importance of volunteering! Three of her children are in a singing group called C3; we hope to have them appear at a CMW event before long.

Akina grew up in the West End, and is a proud graduate of William D'Abate Elementary School. She worked at Brown University and at Citizens Bank before coming to CMW. We're thrilled to welcome her, and we look forward to introducing her to everyone at the first Community Day later this month.

-Chloe Kline, Education Director

CMW warmly welcomes EmmaLee Holmes-Hicks, violin, to Providence as a new member of CMW's two-year Fellowship Program ('11-'13).

EmmaLee (known as Emmy) received her doctoral degree from SUNY Stony Brook, studying violin with Phil Setzer, Soovin Kim and Philippe Graffin. She completed her undergraduate work with honors at the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with Stephen Rose and Annie Fullard. As a chamber player, she has enjoyed the fine coaching of both the Emerson and Cavani String Quartets, and she has served as faculty at summer music festivals such as Birch Creek and the Allegheny Music Festival.

When not playing classical violin, Emmy is well-versed in old-time fiddle music. She has played lead fiddle with the Rusty Pickup String Band since she was ten years old, and she won the Illinois State Fair fiddle championship as a teenager.

What drew you to Community MusicWorks?

After spending many years in music school and focusing lots of energy on improving my own playing and my knowledge of music, I have been yearning for an outlet where I could use these skills to help a community and also to expand my horizons beyond the enclosed community of a music school. At times in my education, I felt a strong pull to leave the confines of the conservatory to put my knowledge to work in the broader world. But I always found ways of serving others within the academic world and so I stayed the course.

When I finished my doctorate, I finally had the time to devote to larger endeavors. I made some attempts to initiate my own mission of change. But I felt deficient in the skills or resources needed to make more than a tiny splash. When I found out about the Fellowship position at CMW, I was elated and I immediately applied. This seemed the perfect fit: a musical organization that worked to bring transformation and change to a community suffering from lack of opportunity.

CMW warmly welcomes Ealaín McMullin, violin, as a member of the '11-'13 class of our two-year Fellowship Program.

Ealaín (pronounced AH-leen) was first introduced to chamber music though concerts given by the Apple Hill Chamber Players near her home in Donegal, Ireland. This began a long connection with the Apple Hill Summer Festival in New Hampshire. For the 05-06 school year, Ealaín was an Apple Hill “Playing for Peace” scholar at Keene State College, enabling her to study with members of the Apple Hill String Quartet. This association led to studies at the Boston Conservatory, where she was a member of the Bricolage String Quartet, the  Conservatory's honors ensemble. A graduate of Trinity College, Dublin and the Boston Conservatory, Ealaín's teachers have included Michael D’Arcy, Elise Kuder, Mike Kelley and Lenny Matczynski.

What drew you to Community MusicWorks?

I was drawn to CMW because I think programs of this kind send a very progressive and important message about music and about classical music in particular. In both its programming and its educational values, it strikes me as an organization which strives to open up chamber music to new audiences.

The holistic educational principles adopted by CMW are also very appealing to me. I feel very fortunate to have had musical mentors in my life that opened up new perspectives for me personally. I think that CMW understands the value and importance of this mentoring relationship.