The Blog Spot

Visiting Sounds Academy

Jackie and Emily spent some quality time visiting The Sounds Academy in Phoenix this week. Visiting and learning from other organizations is a great way for us to expand our knowledge on best teaching and organizational practices. 

The directors visited strings classes, guitar lessons, and piano harmony classes, and had a sit down with the organization’s founder and teachers to learn more about what goes into running this particular program. 

Thank you so much Sounds Academy for showing us your program!

What a night! 

Our goal for the Second Annual Soirée was to raise $43,000, and you helped us reach it! And because we were able to meet our goal, we will be able to start a new class of ukulele students in January. 

All of the money raised through ticket sales, silent auction proceeds, and your donations will allow us to purchase supplies and instruments for our students, as well as allow us to pay our teachers a sustainable salary. We couldn’t be more grateful to you, our community. 

Thank you to the musicians who performed, Alejandro Briceño, Yonathan Gavidia, Abelardo Bolaño, and Saul Bolaño. Shout out to all of our teachers, staff, and volunteers, for pulling off the work of a team of 20 in just a few hours! 

And a very special thank you to all of the parents of Global Arts, for supporting the students, bringing them to the event on a school night, and being the incredible people that you are.

Stay tuned for more information about next year’s Soirée!

TV Scoring with Chris Westlake

We recently had a very special visit from composer Chris Westlake. Chris visited our third year classes, and walked us through the process for creating music for the animated TV show ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks.’

After showing clips from the show without music, he walked us through his practice for how to create soundscapes to capture the mood, character, and action in a scene through music. It was so cool! 

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit us Chris, what a special opportunity for our program! 

Countdown to Soirée! 

We can’t believe that on Thursday, October 12th, we will be celebrating with our incredible community at the beautiful Maxwell House of Pasadena! This will be a special moment to acknowledge everything the Global Arts community has accomplished over the last year, and to see our community of supporters, students, faculty, staff, and volunteers all in one place.

Here is a little bit of what to expect at the Soirée this year: 

Silent Auction 

We have an incredible assortment of silent auction items for you to bid on this year, such as museum passes, travel packages, gift certificates, and so much more!

The auction will run online, and will open Tuesday, October 10th at 9:00 AM, and close on Thursday at 9:00 PM. Can’t attend the Soirée in person? 

No problem! You can still participate in the silent auction, we just ask that you refrain from bidding on hard to ship items, which are denoted with an asterisk. 

Live Music and Dance 

We can’t wait for you to hear these incredible musicians at the Soirée! 

Guitarist Alejandro Briceño will be performing on the patio for the cocktail hour, and Yonathan Gavidia, cajón and percussion, Abelardo Bolaño, vocals and guitar, and Saul Bolano, keyboard, will bring the energy to the dance floor and perform in the final hours of the Soirée! Not only that, but we will have performances by Global Arts’ VERY OWN student performers from the violin, winds, and brass classes. Make sure your wear your dancing shoes!

Tasty Food and Drink

What’s a party without food and drink? Throughout the evening light Hors D’oeuvres will be served, thanks to our caterers at Four Cafe. There will also be delicious wines, beers, as well as an assortment of nonalcoholic beverages.

Low Ticket Alert! 

We are just 3 days out from the event of the season, and we only have 8 tickets left for purchase! Buy your tickets today and support music education for all. All the proceeds from ticket sales and silent auction go towards creating free and sustainable music programming for our students in Pico Union.

Silent Auction Sneak Peak

The Global Arts Soirée will have an incredible assortment of silent auction goodies to bid on. 

Auction Items Include:

• • • Museum passes to LA landmarks such as The Broad, Skirball Cultural Center, Natural History Museum and more.
    • Gift cards to unique bakeries, restaurants, gyms, and shops.
    • Travel packages to far off places.
    • Experiences in LA from wine country to Legoland.
    • Dinner at home with a private chef. 
    • Music lessons for beginner and advanced students alike. 
    • Global Arts t-shirts and water bottles!

To make it even sweeter,  all of the proceeds from the auction will go towards keeping our program free and sustainable! Check out the link to see all the auction items and to purchase your Soirée tickets today!!

El Sistema Conference

This week, Global Arts’ directors Emily and Jackie are in Venezuela representing Global Arts at Congreso Mundial El Sistema (El Sistema’s World Conference). They will be there for a week attending workshops, visiting núcleos, seeing concerts, and working side by side with similar programs from around the world. We can’t wait to hear about what they see and learn! 

Back to School! 

On Wednesday, Global Arts returns to campus to begin another musical school year at Camino Nuevo, and there is a lot to be excited about! 

We are welcoming a brand new class of viola students led by Ashley Frith, we had all sixteen slots fill up within one hour! This fall we will also host more performers and guests on campus who will work with and perform for our students. We are planning a visit to the Grammy Museum as well as other musical venues in LA. Additionally, the teaching staff will be taking part in more professional development experiences with new organizations. In September, Jackie and Emily will travel to Venezuela to attend a conference with other educators, and in October, the entire teaching team will travel to Phoenix, AZ for a week of professional development.   

We are so excited for this fall and everything it has to offer!

Hollywood Bowl Night

Global Arts’ families, staff, and faculty gathered under the stars to see an incredible concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Chris Thile wowed the audience with virtuosic mandolin playing, and Appalachian Spring rang out as crickets chirped in the background. It was magical to gather together in such a historical musical environment, and spend time with each other. 

Thank you LA Phil, for providing tickets, we had a great night!

Second Annual Global Arts Soirée

Join us for a joyful celebration on Thursday, October 12th at the beautiful Maxwell House of Pasadena! We will enjoy an evening of lively music, drinks, light fare, a silent auction, and wonderful conversation in support of music education in the Pico Union Neighborhood. Come celebrate everything the Global Arts community has accomplished over the last year and support our effort to raise funds for the new school year.

Dwight Stuart Youth Fund

Global Arts was recently awarded a grant from the Dwight Stuart Youth Fund! The DSYF’s mission is to support organizations in Los Angeles that provide direct services and experiences to underserved children and youth so that they may gain values, skills, and confidence to achieve their potential. By awarding Global Arts an operational grant, DSYF is allowing us to be better able to serve our communities by creating sustainable salaries for Global Arts staff and faculty. Thank you DSYF!!

Summer Camp Recap

We just wrapped our summer program. This was our first time offering summer classes at Camino Nuevo, and while it flew by, we were wowed by just how much learning we could fit into four weeks. 

Here are some highlights: 

Improvisation 101: Each Tuesday, students participated in improvisation class. The focus of the class was to give students the opportunity to get in touch with their own unique musical voice, while having the opportunity to play alongside students in other classes. Students created new pieces of music, played theater games, and explored new sounds on their instruments!

Masterclass: We were lucky to host four outstanding performances and masterclasses this summer. Micah Wright, Erm Navarro, Michelle Elliott Rearick, and Olivia and Dale Breidenthal visited and performed, and students from the winds, brass, and violin classes got the opportunity to play for them. This was the first time many of our students experienced a masterclass!

Community Workshops: On Thursdays, Global Arts held weekly Community Workshops for students. Classes consisted of acting with Angelo Pagan, composition with Oskar Cartaya, dancing with Natalie Avakian, and an exciting crafting day with Remainders Creative Reuse, and our own parent coordinator Viviana! These workshops provided students an opportunity to explore other outlets for creativity, while building strong friendships and connections among students.

Summer Programming Begins

We are one week into our summer programming, and what a week it has been! 

On Tuesday, students learned the basics of improvisation, including skills required to think on their feet, be creative, and play and work together as a group. Games are pulled from popular theater games that have been adapted for musical settings.

On Wednesday, Micah Wright, a clarinetist, performed for the students on a variety of instruments, and led our first masterclass at Global Arts. Four students from the winds class took turns performing and getting feedback from Micah, while the other students created a supportive environment. We have three more masterclasses scheduled throughout the summer, giving each instrument group a chance to be in the spotlight!

Thursday, students worked with Grammy-nominated performing artist Oskar Cartaya to create a brand new piece of music. This was especially meaningful, as this was the first time students played together in a large ensemble. The piece was called “Art from the Heart,” and featured each instrument family. You can see the full performance on our Instagram page!

Staff Planning Week

In June, Global Arts staff came together for a week of professional development and fall planning. The staff spent time creating core values for the organization, setting goals, and mapping out professional development sessions for the next school year.

The goal of the week was to determine the strengths of each staff member, and find ways to utilize each unique perspective and set of experiences moving forward. We are excited about our line of up PD sessions happening this fall, led by each staff member. We feel it is important to capitalize on what strengths each Teaching Artist brings to our classrooms each day!

Volunteer Spotlight

We are so lucky to have two incredible volunteers like Viviana and Dean to keep our organization running smoothly! Thanks to their hard work, we have been able to grow so much this year. 

Vivana has been working with parents to help shape the program to fit their needs and vision. She leads parent workshops and informational meetings, and will also be teaching a painting class this summer for our students! 

Dean has been supporting us with all of our student and mentorship needs. He works with student mentors to show them the best way to be effective leaders in the classroom, and helps with the many moving parts in day to day programming.

We are so grateful for you both!

Summer Programming

We are excited to share that we are bringing summer programming to our students at Camino Nuevo Charter Academy for the first time! Coming together in the summer provides more opportunities for students to grow as musicians and learn more skills on their instrument.

Programming will run from mid-June to mid-July, and involve ensemble playing, improvisation classes, as well as special guest visitors and performers! 

We can’t wait!

Spring Concert Review: A Beautiful Gathering

This year’s Spring Concert was a phenomenal coming together of students, faculty, staff, families, and friends. This was our first time holding the concert indoors, and the concert felt more formal and momentous as a result. 

Students performed repertoire that ranged from movie soundtracks to Irish polkas, jazz improvisation to familiar favorites. Teaching artist Ashley Frith sang “Dos Oruguitas,” and “I Lava You,” beautifully with a strong accompaniment from the ukulele classes. In addition to being excellent performers, the students were excellent audience members too, really listening and focusing on each class’s performance. 

In just a few short years, Global Arts students have learned how to make music together, work as an ensemble, and perform with thoughtfulness. 

Student mentors were also honored for spending their time assisting the beginner classes! Having eight second year students help out with stage crew, assist first year students, and lead by example was very impactful. 

The whole community came together to share food and laughter after the performance. We are so grateful to our parent coordinator Viviana for organizing parent volunteers and the potluck, it really felt like a meaningful gathering because of you! 

Check out a recording of the livestream on Instagram if you missed it!

Visit from Zimmitti Music Group

In our final Library Concert of the school year, musicians from the Zimmitti Music Group came for a visit. 

Music contractor Whitney Martin talked to students about how movies and TV shows are scored, and showed the students video footage from the scoring stages of Hollywood!

The students were then treated to performances of arrangements of music from Super Mario Brothers, Encanto, and West Side Story, first by a brass quintet, then a string quartet. 

These musicians have worked on sound tracks for some of the biggest films and TV shows, we were so lucky that they could visit us! 

This is a wrap on our first semester of hosting live music for Global Arts students on campus. We can’t wait to see what the fall will bring.

Pico Union Library Performance 

Last weekend, students of Global Arts gathered at the Pico Union Library for another awesome opportunity to perform for the community. The Library was hosting a Resource Fair,which brought together local community organizations, Los Angeles poets, and people from all over Pico Union. Our ukulele, winds, brass, and violin students played the songs they are preparing for the Global Arts Spring Concert, and the audience loved their performance! Afterwards the students and teachers were treated to tacos and aguas frescas. 

Thank you for having us Pico Union Library, we can’t wait to do it again.

Spring Concert Live Stream: Save The Date

Our students are working hard to prepare for the spring concert! We will be live streaming the concert on our Instagram page for those who would like to see the progress our students have made this year. Be sure to follow us @globalartsla, then make some popcorn, and tune in May 19th at 4pm!

Library Concert Series Update

Last week, Global Arts welcomed Jeff DesRosier (brother of Global Arts Associate Director, Jackie) to the library for a live music experience. He and teaching artist Kate Outterbridge played upbeat Irish songs and tunes, and our students were so excited to hear a new style of music.

Many students were interested to hear about the communal culture of Irish music, and learned about the different time signatures and dances that are commonly heard in the genre. It was also meaningful for the violin students to see their teacher in a formal performance setting, and see what she can do! 

We love seeing our students embody new genres in these concerts, stay tuned for more updates about future performances!

CicLAvia Recap

On Sunday, April 16th, Global Arts faculty, staff, and students spent the day soaking in the excitement of CicLAvia. The event closed down the streets of Pico Union to car traffic, and local organizations, pedestrians, and community members took over with bicycles, skates, scooters, and more. Global Arts set up a booth at the Pico Union hub, and were surrounded by wonderful organizations doing great work, like the LA Library, Pico Union Neighborhood Council, Metro, and Los Angeles Eco-Village!

Global Arts students serenaded the cyclists, and performed throughout the event, they were very much appreciated! The violin students performed solos and in pairs, and loved trying out the newest song they learned, Allegro. The winds and brass students had a lot of fun playing duets with their teachers, and even performed in front of the Metro Art Bus! 

Staff members met new friends, learned about other organizations in the neighborhood, and Ms. Kate and Ms. Viviana even tried out some roller skates. 

Thank you to all who visited us at our booth, we loved meeting you!

Global Arts Student’s Experience Live Music Again!

Last week, Alex Rosales García performed a riveting program for our young musicians at Global Arts. This was the second concert on our brand new Library Concert series, and the students had a blast! 

Alex demonstrated how the bassoon works, showed-off the bassoon’s many different sounds and styles, and shared moments from his life as a professional musician in Los Angeles. Many of our students expressed excitement and joy meeting Alex, and we are so happy we get to continue this series next month with a cello performance by Michelle Elliott Rearick. 

By bringing a professional musician to campus, our students are learning to engage meaningfully with live music, how to be active listeners, and are more and more inspired to be the best musicians they can be.

CicLAvia Save the Date, Come Say Hi in Pico Union!

We are so excited that CicLAvia will be taking place in Pico Union on April 16th. If you have never been to a CicLAvia event, you won’t want to miss this! 

Inspired by Bogotá’s weekly ciclovía, CicLAvia temporarily closes streets to car traffic and opens them to Angelenos to use as a public park. Free for all, CicLAvia connects communities to each other across an expansive city, creating a safe place to bike, walk, skate, roll, and dance through Los Angeles County.

Global Arts will be there from 9am- 2pm, so be sure to stop by our booth and say hello! We will have some special solo and group performances by our students, prizes, and you may even see some of our teachers in rollerblades if you are lucky!

Global Arts Wins D’Addario Foundation Award

We are happy to share that we have been awarded a grant of $2,000 by the D’Addario Foundation. D’Addario is also supplying our program with accessories for our students’ instruments, so that they can sound their best. 

D’Addario is committed to providing access to inclusive, engaging music education and annually supports over 200 non-profit organizations. Through monetary and product support, D’Addario serves those who are serving their communities! 

Thank you D’Addario for supporting our work!

The Library Concert Series Begins

Our brand new Library Concert Series started with a bang or rather, and oompah, with a visit from Dr. Blake Cooper. For many of our students, this was their first time seeing a live music performance, and most had never seen a tuba played before! Dr. Blake shared a wide variety of arrangements of songs, shared his experiences as a professional musician in Los Angeles, chatted about how to be an expert audience memeber, and even held a mini-clinic on breathing for our winds and brass players. Thank you Dr. Blake! We are looking forward to our next guest, Alex Rosales García, at the end of March! 

Global Arts at El Sistema Conference

In March, Jackie, our Associate Director and Brass Teaching Artist, presented two workshops on behalf of the Teaching Artists Teaching Institute at the El Sistema USA conference in Indianapolis. Her sessions focused on classroom management, non verbal communication, and how to effectively build rituals in the classroom.

Jackie worked with teachers and administrators from all over the United States and Canada! In addition to her workshops she enjoyed being able to connect with and learn from others in the music education field.

Welcome to our Newest Class!

In February we welcomed 14 new ukulele students to our program! These students are starting out on ukulele to learn music fundamentals, and will join the Winds and Brass class in the fall. This class is full of excitement and curiosity. They are currently learning F and C chords, as well as the song “Naranja Dulce”!

Awarded Gold Transparency

We’re excited to share that Global Arts as earned a 2-22 Gold Seal of Transparency with Guidestar and Candid! Now, you can support our work with more turst and confidence than ever. Click here to see our profile.