Project Inspirare seeks to provide door-opening classical musical experiences through many creative initiatives. Each initiative is designed to create connections between the Ohio University School of Music and the community of Athens, Ohio to immerse and engage all individuals of the community with the arts. These programs are rich collaborations that represent deep and lasting levels of partnerships through involvement and consistency. With the exception of the movie theater partnership, all initiatives are designed with limited funding in mind.
Initiative 1: Public School Performances
Initiative 1: Public School Performances
- MTNA chapter members make a trip to an area public school during a class period to play a brief, interactive concert for the class.
- Each piece is introduced by the performer in a fun, creative way, including background on the composer, the title and type of piece it is, and what the students can listen for during the performance.
- After the performance, the students and performer discuss what the students heard.
- Exciting, engaging concerts are selected.
- Area public school students are invited to attend the concert and are paired with an MTNA member as their concert buddy.
- Before the concert, MTNA members present the program to the students, giving interesting background and introductions to each piece.
- Students experience the concert with their concert buddy.
- Afterwards, the student-buddy pairs discuss the concert in a fun social setting.
- Designed to make concerts possible for families with young children who wouldn't be able to attend otherwise.
- Often, the cost and difficulty of finding childcare in addition to purchasing concert tickets makes it practically and financially impossible for families with young children to attend concerts.
- As part of the family concert experience, parents and older children attend the concert while MTNA members provide an interactive musical experience for younger children.
- Children of all ages are able to have engaging musical experiences, and parents can model participation in the arts.
- A grant-funded initiative which seeks to place classical music in the ears of an entire grade of elementary or middle school students.
- iPods are pre-loaded with a playlist of classical music.
- Listening is integrated across the curriculum to correlate with history, literature, art, mathematics, and science topics.
- Listening is integrated throughout the school day; for example, students, might be allowed to listen while doing in-class math homework, or working on an art project.
- As part of this project, we hope to collect data on the effect of regular classical music listening on test scores, creativity, behavior, and motivation.
- Inspired by Pizza Hut's Book It! program, this initiative motivates students to listen to classical music regularly.
- Students are assigned to do a certain amount of listening over a one-month period by their teachers. If they successfully achieve their listening goals, they receive a certificate for a free ice cream cone at a local ice cream shop.
- Successful participants are publicly recognized at a classical music concert and are entered into a drawing for the opportunity to win classical recordings donated by sponsoring ensembles.
- Initiative 6: Front and Center
- Free, monthly concerts for families, involving a range of instruments and genres
- Presented by college students and other members of the community
- Allows opportunities for involvement from audience
Initiative 7: Piano Upkeep Fund- A fundraising initiative to help maintain various pianos in the community venues
- Funded by suggested donations from various performances at esteemed community venues. Such as: Donkey Coffee, Central Venue and Arts/WEST
Initiative 8: Public School Engagement- Strategically curated and powerfully music and arts presentations in our local public schools
- Fun and interactive repertoire
- Outreach programs inspired by Cleveland Orchestra’s PNC Grow Up Great campaign and their “At Home” residency program in various neighborhoods of the Cleveland area
Initiative 9: Music at the Movies- Fostering an environment where young people and families can experience classical music without the restraints of concert hall etiquette
- Made possible by partnerships with a local cinema, The Athena and The Athens Community Music School
