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VOCALESSENCE WITNESS SCHOOL PROGRAM CELEBRATING AFRICAN AMERICAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO FINE ARTSNOW AVAILABLE TO ALL STUDENTS, EVERYWHERE

Twin Cities choral organization’s WITNESS program expands online educational offerings

MINNEAPOLIS — September 17, 2020—Each year through its VocalEssence WITNESS School Program—one of the nation’s premier initiatives celebrating the contributions of African Americans to our shared American heritage through concerts, recordings, and comprehensive educational programs—nationally renowned choral organization VocalEssence offers opportunities for schools to learn from VocalEssence Teaching Artists as part of the organization’s deep commitment to anti-racism and to the advancement of inclusion, access, and equity. 

This year, the  VocalEssence WITNESS School  Program  has expanded to offer more opportunities for students and teachers in grades 3-12 to learn about the contributions African Americans have made, and are making, to the fine arts by studying Black culture, with Black artists. Each year at partner schools in the Twin Cities for 30 years, VocalEssence Teaching Artists have created a one-of-a-kind integrative academic experience for students—combining the study of Black culture with art, music, social studies, literature, character building, and other areas of school curriculum.

This year, in the face of exceptional need, VocalEssence WITNESS video workshops and lessons will be available free to schools and students anywhere and everywhere, whether they are online, in school, or homeschooling. 

“This has been a year of flux for the arts, and for education,” says VocalEssence associate conductor G. Phillip Shoultz, III. “But within that crisis, there’s opportunity – to expand our horizons and reach students we never would otherwise with our longstanding VocalEssence WITNESS program. Music is a way to advance social change, and VocalEssence is working to respond to the moment and move anti-racist dialogue to the mainstream. And thanks to online education becoming the norm for many for the time being, that means the only limitation on who we can reach is internet access.”

Each teaching artist will choose a movement of social change and explore how art has contributed to that change. “The theme this year is an exploration of what it means to be a witness—and how we can all be the change we want to see in the world,” add Shoultz. “In the past, teachers were given curriculum to follow for our WITNESS program. Now our online programming includes workshop videos and lesson plans—available to all schools, as well as homeschooled students.”

“So many children don’t have access to regular music education. Even before the pandemic, arts budgets were being cut and many schools don’t offer music anymore,” says Ginger Commodore, Twin Cities performer, and VocalEssence Teaching Artist. “WITNESS can help fill the gap for kids everywhere and provide great resources for them, and their parents, who are home and missing out on vibrant arts classes.”

For more information, and to register, please email engage@vocalessence.org. Schools also have the option to pay for live Zoom sessions with VocalEssence Teaching Artists.

This year’s Young People’s Concert (YPC), premiering in the spring of 2021, will be a digital concert experience offered free to all participating schools. The concert will then be available, on demand, for the rest of the school year.

VocalEssence Teaching Artist workshop videos and lesson plans, as well as the Spring YPC concert, will be housed in a new VocalEssence WITNESS online portal on the organization’s new website, now in development.

As an additional educational offering, VocalEssence will be bundling Philip Brunelle’s daily “Musical Moments” videos, making them available for schools, choirs, and other outlets for music education. In each episode of the series, Brunelle highlights a different composer, doing a deep dive on the work and life of both well-known and more obscure composers from all periods, including contemporary figures. Brunelle concludes each installment with a brief performance of a selected work.

VocalEssence, called “one of the irreplaceable music ensembles of our time” by Dana Gioia, past chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts—and the choral ensemble that Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones says “sings magnificently”—impacts thousands of students, singers, and composers each year through its initiative programs, contests, and support for innovative art. VocalEssence was founded in 1969 and has debuted more than 250 commissions and world premieres. For more information, visit vocalessence.org

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