Youth Program
CMW applies an innovative approach to arts education that highlights the relationship between music and social change. Our primary goals are to facilitate young people’s paths toward critical awareness of their lives and empower them to use music as a tool to imagine and achieve new possibilities for themselves.
In designing CMW, founder Sebastian Ruth was influenced by philosophers Paulo Freire and Maxine Greene, who wrote that education must lead individuals to critical awareness of the world around them, develop a capacity to change that world and encourage young people to see new possibilities for themselves.
We are sometimes asked if this is a music program or a civic engagement program. Our answer, quite simply, is yes.
Instrument lessons are at the heart of CMW. Resident musicians teach individual and group lessons in violin, viola, and cello during after-school hours. One afternoon a week, all students participate in studio classes and play in ensembles with their peers at All-Play Day. CMW students are also offered the opportunity to sign up for supplemental classes that further explore improvisation, ear training, composition, and more. Teens in the program are eligible for Phase II, a leadership development program in which they engage in discussions about social justice, develop a close-knit peer group through music, and work together to create relevant performance events in their community.
CMW’s Daily Orchestra Program is based on the internationally acclaimed model of El Sistema, Venezuela’s national network of after-school youth orchestras. The Daily Orchestra Program provides children with the opportunity to learn to play instruments in an ensemble setting after school each day. Every Monday through Friday during the school year, participants are engaged in an intensive curriculum, which includes ensemble rehearsals, private lessons, practice help from mentors, and educational workshops with visiting artists. There are two orchestras that comprise the Daily Orchestra Program, a younger group and The Youth Alliance, an intensive chamber music experience for middle school and high school students. Daily Orchestra Program meets at Harry Kizirian Elementary School in Providence.
Throughout the year, students perform for a diverse community of parents, neighbors, supporters, and musicians. Performance Parties bring the whole community together and include a potluck meal, while a regular CMW Open Mic provides a more intimate performance opportunity. Students in the Daily Orchestra’s Youth Alliance rehearse several times a week and give frequent performances in both traditional and alternative venues throughout Providence.