ArtistYear Blog

While I can’t control what is happening around the globe, I can choose to contribute positively in the ways I best know how to.

 Two months ago I told my students to “have a nice spring break.” Little did I know leaving the school that day that it would be the last time I would see their faces in person. Within a week, stay at home orders were placed and everyone’s lives changed in a split second. Immediately…

Josephine McDonald, actor and dancer, serving P.S. 273 in The Borough of Queens, shares her service year experiences through words and images here.

Sounds and images from our 55 ArtistYear AmeriCorps Fellows and their 11,000 students across Philadelphia, The Borough of Queens, and the Roaring Fork Valley. Thank you to our schools, principals, teachers, and community partners and sponsors for making this year possible!…

My name is Aqil Rogers, and this year I served at Harrity Upper, a middle school in West Philly. As many of you also know, I’m a designer by schooling and a metalsmith by trade. I came into the year aiming to show students all about the broader world of design that came from my schooling, and of…

Hello, my name is Mary Stickney, and I am an ArtistYear AmeriCorps Dance Fellow at Bregy Elementary School in South Philadelphia. I embarked on the ArtistYear journey thinking that it would be a perfect way to incorporate both my Dance and Elementary Education degrees from Drexel University. I was very interested in manifesting that through a service year.

Live from Tilden Middle School!…

A teaching-artist prepares for her year of service.

The Orientation and Training Institute (OTI) for my ArtistYear AmeriCorps service year was amazing! It was so wonderful to be around like-minded individuals who share the same passion for arts education. We were exposed to incredible arts leaders from across the country.  I had several major takeaways from training. First Todd Breyfogle, the Director of Seminars for the Aspen…

Bringing a school musical back to South Philadelphia High School featuring ArtistYear Fellow Alize Rozsnyai, students, teachers, and Curtis Institute of Music! Thanks to The Notebook’s reporter Dale Mezzacappa for her feature about returning a music program to South Philadelphia High School and the affect it has had on its students involved in the school musical. Edited by: Trenae Nuri…

Right from the start ArtistYear tested my ability to be flexible. I was surprised to be placed in West Philadelphia’s Powel Elementary School where teaching trumpet or other brass instruments––what I’ve spent years studying––wasn’t an option. My years of conservatory training had prepared me to play Beethoven or Mahler symphonies, I thought, and not to teach recorder classes…

“I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me – like food or water” – Ray Charles Where would I be without music? Growing…

Bringing life, bringing in people together One of my passions is to connect people from diverse backgrounds and different ages through music. I truly believe that music, as an universal language, can impart a fulfilling sense of unity among people. Having music as part of our voices to express ourselves will be especially powerful. There is so much ignorance and…

A reflection on music education at South Philadelphia High School I am frequently surprised to hear that the students I teach have disciplinary or scholastic issues of some sort in other classes – to me they bring their best, and I feel that I see their full potential, their joy of creation and learning, and their relentless motivation so…

My job at Cramp Elementary is teaching about 40 pre-kindergarten kids to play the violin, happily and in sync with each other. A 4-year-old beginner in the Suzuki method myself, this project has brought back old memories and given me a different perspective on my early music teachers. Mornings at Cramp, I get to have my own classroom…

Arts Today. The World Trade Center Memorial and Museum is an example of a powerful visual exhibit that thousands of people now visit every day, paying respect to those lives lost fifteen years ago and since. A friend of mine recently visited The WTC Memorial and Museum and shared her thoughts with me: The exhibit brought back the pain and loss she felt…

Recorder karate, nutcracker dancing and more from Caleb during his year of national service!…

“Now more than ever, every young person in America needs access to arts education and an opportunity to cultivate the next generation of citizen-artists,” said the Voice of God announcer at the Service Year Alliance event in New York City. The kick-off event was dedicated towards inspiring and realizing 1 million service year positions annually. The Voice of God statement…

ArtistYear Fellow Stas gives a sneak peak inside the new band program he is creating at South Philadelphia High School!…

This fall I will be pursuing my Master’s of Music in Harp Performance at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. In addition to a full tuition scholarship, I have been awarded a housing grant to live in the Twin Towers Retirement Village, where I will give monthly concerts to the residents as well as perform at Twin Towers Hospice.

One of the most memorable experiences I’ve had during my ArtistYear at Jefferson Hospital was this past February, when I played for a gentleman on the oncology floor. As I walked into the man’s room and began playing for him, it was clear he was absolutely enthralled by the music. He couldn’t get enough; I played for him for over…

A reflection of my experiences so far at South Philadelphia High School: And some fun extra clips:…

Together with Curtis Institute of Music, ArtistYear has a wonderful tradition of participating in a day of service on MLK Day. This year, we had a great day giving Vare-Washington Elementary a makeover and playing for all of the volunteers. Here are a few clips I took to share our experience!…

Hi everyone! I just had my first day at Moss Rehab in the Einstein Healthcare Network. It was a wonderful first day and I’m so excited to work more at this site. I hope you enjoy this short video where I introduce the project and describe what I’ll be doing: Moss Rehab Video Blog…

Through the red doors, past walls of peeling paint, up the stairs, I enter a vast room with a high, arched ceiling and light streaming through enormous, stained-glass windows. Birds fly through the archways and hop along the floor and under the rows of round tables with multicolored tablecloths and hand-painted chairs in bright colors and patterns. Let it be…

In September of this year, I had the honor and privilege of playing for a decorated U.S. government official, policy thought leader, acclaimed author, playwright, professor, and speaker. As a celebrated public figure, his résumé is an impressive collection of accolades, from Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia to around the globe. Today, this distinguished gentleman leads a very different life: he…

I loved every second of my degree at Curtis Institute of Music; it truly is a one-of-a-kind institution. In a sometimes cut-throat field, Curtis is a safe haven filled with caring and thoughtful individuals from colleagues to teachers to administration. Curtis is the ideal setting for growth and learning, providing an environment that is simultaneously incredibly demanding, and…

Hi everyone! I’m excited to share my project with you. For my service year I’m working in Jefferson Hospital and Moss Rehab in the Einstein Healthcare Network. I hope you enjoy my short video where I introduce my project and play the opening of Amazing Grace: Video Blog!  …

This September, ArtistYear 2015-16 kicked off with Orientation in Philadelphia.  As part of the two-day Orientation, Curtis ArtistYear Fellows, along with leadership from ArtistYear, Aspen Institute, Curtis Institute of Music and local community partners participated in a special mini-seminar from the Aspen Institute Seminars entitled “National Service, the Arts, and the Good Society.” Using readings from Aristotle to Le Guin,…

By Alexandra von der Embse…