El Sistema New Jersey Alliance to hold summer camp
The second annual El Sistema New Jersey Alliance summer camp will take place at the Princeton-Blairstown Center in Blairstown, August 17–19. One hundred students from across New Jersey will participate, representing the six Alliance programs: NJSO CHAMPS (Newark), Paterson Music Project (Paterson), Union City Music Project (Union City), Sonic Explorations (Orange), Trenton Music Makers (Trenton) and Sister Cities Girlchoir (Camden and Philadelphia). In addition to music rehearsals led by teaching artists from each program, students will participate in camp and teambuilding activities such as hiking, adventure courses and campfire s’mores and sing-alongs. On the final day of camp, the students will perform a concert for parents and friends.
The Alliance piloted the camp, made possible in part by a grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, last summer. CHAMPS teaching artist Theresa Kemp said the shared experience left a lasting mark on the students: “It was really amazing to see the kids face challenges [from rope courses to learning new music quickly] and have to work through them as a team. [It’s] about finding a different part of yourself and connecting with other musicians. We’re trying to express to them that when you’re a musician, you’re a part of a community that is so much bigger than yourself, than your school, than New Jersey. It may sound cliché, but music really is the universal language.”
Young musicians from the Alliance programs have come together for multiple joint performances and events since the Alliance was founded in 2014; CHAMPS cellist Precious K. said her favorite part of last year’s camp was spending three days connecting with her peers: “Now that we’ve spent time with people from the other programs and gotten to know them, I know we have similarities so we can bond.”
El Sistema expert and author Tricia Tunstall said bringing students from different programs across the state together creates a new sense of identity. At last year’s camp, she said, “all the principles we talk about in El Sistema teaching just [came] alive spontaneously. It created this beautiful situation where kids [who didn’t previously know each other] are naturally drawn to help each other and play music together.”
This is the first year the Trenton Music Makers will participate in the camp, and the first year Sonic Explorations students will stay overnight. Orange Public Schools Supervisor of Visual and Performing Arts Donna Sinisgalli says, “We are excited that our students will have the opportunity to experience intensive musical instruction with students from the other programs in the Alliance and at the same time enjoy outdoor-nature activities.”
The programs of the Alliance are united around the idea of social change through music and inspired by the vision of Venezuela’s El Sistema, which brings intensive music education to children with little or no access to arts education. The Alliance’s mission is to provide collaborative instruction and performance opportunities for students, offer professional development training to teachers and empower participating families to come together in a statewide musical community. The Alliance has presented annual Fiddle-and-Fa-La-La-Fest showcase performances at NJPAC in Newark and free concerts in each program’s local community throughout the season.
» Read the full press release to learn more about each Alliance program.
The NJSO gratefully acknowledges the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation and League of American Orchestras, The Thomas and Agnes Carvel Foundation, Leavens Foundation, The Harold I. & Faye B. Liss Foundation, TD Charitable Foundation and Verizon for their generous support of NJSO CHAMPS.