Kimmel Center Education Department Offers Free Curriculum-Based Performing Arts Classes for Grades 5-12, Beginning October 7
SEPTEMBER 17, 2009
Kimmel Center Education Department offers free, curriculum-based performing arts classes during the 2009/10 season from October 7, 2009 through May 20, 2010. These hands-on, interactive classes engage students with a focus on American culture through music, dance and theater arts, complete with a tour of the Kimmel Center. Through such fun-filled activities as singing, playing instruments, dancing, acting and composing, students can personally experience the arts by creating and performing.
For grades 5 – 8, 45-minute classes are offered on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 10am and Noon; for grades 9 – 12, 50-minute classes are offered on Wednesdays at 10am and Noon. Teachers and educators of all subjects are invited to register their students to attend any or all of the sessions. Classes are pre-scheduled on a first-come first-served basis.
Lessons range in topic from the Jazz Age, American Musical Theater, the Jazz Heritage of Philadelphia, Tin Pan Alley and the Harlem Renaissance to TSOP - The Sound of Philadelphia. All classes take place in the Kimmel Center's Merck Arts Education Center, and are taught by the Kimmel Center's teaching staff, as well as special guests. All classes are based on the National Arts Standards.
Schools that cannot afford transportation are offered the opportunity to experience the rich benefits of exposure to the arts via the Aetna-Kimmel Bus Program, now in its second year. The program provides opportunities for free bus services to the Kimmel Center’s curriculum-based classes, student matinees and other programs. Grants are awarded by assessment of need.
Educators are invited to learn more about various new and existing educational offerings and to meet the Kimmel Center’s exceptional education staff at annual Educators Open House Receptions, which include light refreshments, a tour of the Kimmel Center and complimentary tickets to a Kimmel Center Presents performance. Open houses for the 2009/10 season include: Friday, October 16, 2009 with a reception at 5:30pm followed by a performance by Philadelphia’s own jazz bassist Christian McBride and Friends at 8pm; and Sunday, November 1, 2009 with a reception at 1pm followed by a performance by classical piano superstar André Watts at 3pm. Reservations are offered on a first-come first-served basis.
For more information or to register for the curriculum-based classes, Educators Open House Reception or the Aetna-Kimmel Bus Program, please visit www.kimmelcenter.org/education or contact the Education Projects Coordinator at 215-670-2371.
Other Kimmel Center educational initiatives include the Kimmel Center Youth Jazz Ensemble, tuition-free Teen Summer Arts Camps and a subsidized ticket program offering $10 tickets to performances to schools, churches, social service groups and community organizations, among others. Visit www.kimmelcenter.org/education for more information.
The Kimmel Center's Education Department is sponsored by The Sidney Kimmel Foundation, The Barra Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, PNC Foundation, Wachovia Foundation, Citizens Bank Foundation, Comcast Foundation, Lincoln Financial Foundation, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania - Department of Community and Economic Development, Verizon Foundation, Inc., Aetna Foundation, The McClean Contributionship, JPMorgan, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel J. Savitz, Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation, Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation, The Presser Foundation, Boscia Family Foundation, Bank of America Charitable Foundation, Connelly Foundation, Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church, Ethel Sergeant Clark Smith Memorial Fund, GlaxoSmithKlike, The Kent Foundation, Sunoco Foundation, Dr. Richard M. Klein and Lomax Family Foundation.
EDUCATORS OPEN HOUSE RECEPTIONS
Friday, October 16, 2009
Reception/Presentation:
5:30pm | Merck Arts Education Center
Concert:
Christian McBride and Friends
8pm | Verizon Hall
Reception/Presentation:
1pm | Merck Arts Education Center
Concert:
André Watts
3pm | Verizon Hall
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