Kentucky Symphony Orchestra
540 Linden Avenue, P.O. Box 72810
Newport, KY 41072
2022-23 Free Education Outreach Series
The 2022-23 Education/Outreach Series program includes:• “Getting to Know You” for grades 3-6 (September 20 & 21, 2022)• “Rags to Riches” Concerts for grades 6-12 (February 28, 2023)More than 45% of students in Greater Cincinnati are considered economically disadvantaged based on the number receiving free or reduced lunch, and rely on schools to provide the sum of their arts education and exposure to live arts. In order for children to experience the lifelong benefit of early exposure to the arts, and because teachers rely on KSO programs to help fill gaps in their schools’ music curriculum, the KSO will offer all Education/Outreach programs in-person (and live-stream) during the 2022-23 school year.
Program Goals:
Goals for the 2022-23 Education Outreach Series are:
1) To introduce and showcase symphonic music to students;
2) To provide learning opportunities free to students and schools;
3) To receive post-concert survey responses from greater than 80% of participating schools;
4) To be rated by teachers at or above 90th percentile;
5) To reach 4,150 participants including 3,800 students, of whom nearly 50% are economically disadvantaged, and 350 teacher/chaperones; and
6) To obtain survey responses indicating greater than 85% of participating students “learn new musical language and concepts,” have their “appreciation for the arts increase” and have access to high-quality musical educational experiences.
Program Results:
1) The “Getting to Know You” education program featured performances of symphonic music (e.g. pieces composed by Mozart, Rossini, Copland, Britten, and John Williams). The Rags to Riches program featured music by great jazz pioneers (e.g. W.C. Handy, Jelly Roll Morton, James Reese Europe, Fats Waller, Artie Matthews etc.) All programs were accompanied by Powerpoint presentations and included Question & Answer sessions offered for both virtual and in-person audiences. The result was a pairing of the musical “lessons” with visuals, a concert and open discussion, which kept students and teachers highly engaged.
2) All series programs were free to all students and their schools.
3) The KSO received positive feedback from both students and teachers as evidenced by survey responses: 59% of schools participating in the elementary programs and 55% of those participating in “Rags to Riches” responded to post-concert surveys making additional comments. A few students also wrote letters. It was more difficult to obtain survey results from teachers whose students participated virtually.
4) Overall, teachers rated the programs above the 90th percentile with an average score of 96.4% and a median score of 98.9% for the entire series. The elementary programs averaged a 96.5% with a median score of 100%, and the “Rags to Riches” program averaged 96.3% with a median score of 97.8%. Moreover, 100% of teachers found the presentation well-paced; 100% of teachers found the musical samples engaging; and 99% found the topics were well-suited to their students and the overall presentation very relevant. Teachers in both concerts found that appropriate time was allowed for questions and answers.
5) The program reached a total of 4,516 individual participants (4,069 students, 447 teachers/chaperones See attachment 4a.) An average of 47% of the students in public, private and parochial schools were considered economically disadvantaged because they either on free or reduced lunch or tuition assistance. Homeschooled students were not factored into this calculation. A total of 4,057 participants were from public, private and parochial schools (3,750 students and 307 teacher/chaperones). The percentage of homeschooled students attending was less than 10% of participants (319 students and 140 parent/chaperones).
Website:
http://www.kyso.org Amount: $35,000
Date: March 2023
