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Creating Systemic Change

Equity Arc’s membership is built of passionate supporters of our mission across the broad spectrum of classical music.

Through collaboration with the robust network of our members who provide programs and opportunities along all stages of the developmental bridge, we can ensure that aspiring BIPOC musicians are supported throughout their musical journey and that equity, inclusion, and diversity are embedded in the future of our field.

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“As students graduate from programs like ours and continue their musical training in college and beyond, Equity Arc’s work of affecting systemic change in the organizations and institutions across the field will be desperately needed.”

Adrienne Thompson,Vice President for Enrollment & Student Services, Merit School of Music

Current Members

Individual Members

Zachary Allen
Michael Angell*+
Karen and Mark Belding
Walter Bitner
Jasmin Bolaños-Merlos
Jennifer Bowman+
Brittney Burgess
Abra Bush*+
Mark Churchill+
Dr. Roque Diaz
Katherine Drago Luellen+
Addison Ellis-Otovo
Aidyn Ellis-Otovo
Evelyn Eskin
Lorie Estanislao
Mateo Estanislao
Teagan Faran
Susan Feder
Anjoli Ferrara-Clayton+
Mark Gillespie+
Ashleigh Gordon
Charlie Grode+
Patricia Harden
Io Hernandez
Javier Irizarry
Beverly Joseph
Jenny Snyder Kozoroz*+
Emilia Lacy
Solomon Leonard
Jonathan Martin+
Emily Liao Master+
Maria Mathieson+
Anthony Mazzocchi+
Elena Miller
Shahid Osuna
Xavier Rodriguez
Earl Ross
Ian Saunders+
Zachary Schwartz
Edgar L. Smith Jr.+
Jeffery Tribble Jr. J.D.+
Diego Turner
Maya Uchino-Garcia
Stefanie Wakeman+
Jim Walker
Wren Williams
Christopher Wingert
Eytan Wurman
Damon Zavala

* Founding member
+ Board Member

Active Program, Founding Member

Astral is a nonprofit intensive mentoring program that focuses on developing the early careers of extraordinary classical musicians. Since its founding in 1992, Astral has specialized in identifying high-caliber and independent-thinking musicians with the potential to be artistic leaders, building the future of classical music.

Active Program

As one of the longest-running, year-round musical education diversity programs, the Talent Development Program (TDP) provides 25 young Black/ African American and Hispanic/ Latinx musicians with the highest level of musical training each school year. More than 100 TDP Fellows have gone on to attend top music schools and conservatories across the country. This strong education foundation has led to careers in orchestra, teaching and performance. With the vision of seeing the musicians of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra reflect the diversity of the Atlanta community, the Talent Development Program’s purpose is to identify and support talented fellows who are members of those populations currently underrepresented in the field of classical music. The ultimate mission of the program is to develop musically gifted and motivated music students for acceptance into top-tier conservatory, college or university music programs in preparation for careers as professional musicians.

Active Program, Founding Member

Music, like all art, engages the mind and the heart. Bard College Conservatory of Music’s mission is to provide the best possible preparation for those dedicated to a life immersed in the creation and performance of music. The Bard Conservatory offers unparalleled musical opportunities for its students in a just, inclusive, and diverse community.

Active Program

The mission of the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras (BYSO) is to encourage musical excellence in a professional and supportive environment by providing the highest quality orchestra training and performance opportunities to qualified musicians, grades K-12, and making its programs accessible to underserved communities through financial assistance and outreach.

BYSO is one of the most prestigious, comprehensive, and remarkable youth orchestras in the nation. Our programmatic scope includes three full symphonic orchestras, two young string training orchestras, six chamber orchestras, a preparatory wind ensemble, a chamber music program, and our Intensive Community Program (ICP), a nationally recognized training program that provides rigorous instruction to students from underrepresented communities.

ICP addresses financial and cultural accessibility barriers preventing students from Boston and underrepresented communities from participating in classical music opportunities. ICP aims to serve students of color including African American, Latin, Caribbean, and other populations historically underrepresented in classical music.

Active Program, Founding Member

Brevard Music Center stands as one of this country’s premier summer training programs and festivals. In a rigorous and empowering program of instruction and professional performance, students and faculty create a powerful sense of community. Passion, commitment, and excellence are signatures of Brevard’s summer programs.

Active Program

The Cali School of Music at Montclair State University aims to create dynamic and comprehensive pathways to higher education and careers in music for talented student musicians from underrepresented backgrounds. The Cali Pathways Project is determined to overcome the barriers that can prevent underserved students from realizing their full musical potential, allowing them to pursue a career in music if they so choose. By providing a suitable instrument, access to high-level instruction, extra-curricular opportunities, and more, all at no cost – students from underserved backgrounds will benefit from the mentorship of Cali School faculty & alumni to receive all that the School of Music has to offer. Starting in their freshman year of high school, access to these resources and instruction will prepare students for the demands of higher education, with the hope that the Pathways Project can serve to cultivate a diverse student cohort for the Cali School of Music.

Active Program

Each season, the wide-ranging education and social impact programs of Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute connect hundreds of thousands of young people, families, educators, students, aspiring artists, administrators, and New Yorkers of all ages. These creative experiences nurture the finest musical talent at all levels and harness the power of the arts to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives.

Active Program, Founding Member

Born out of the desire to foster cultural curiosity, Castle of our Skins is a concert and educational series dedicated to celebrating Black artistry through music. From classrooms to concert halls, Castle of our Skins invites exploration into Black heritage and culture, spotlighting both unsung and celebrated figures of past and present.

Active Program

Cellists for Change is a purpose-driven 501(c)(3) nonprofit that empowers youth through music by nurturing self-expression, cultivating belonging, and developing individual and collective agency. CFC aspires to build a more equitable, inclusive, and connected world by investing in young people while making diversity-centered paradigm shifts within the classical music sphere. Cellists for Change works to achieve our mission and purpose through three programs: Local Youth Scholarship program provides comprehensive, equitable and inspiring music instruction to Black, Latine and Indigenous youth in the greater Boulder, Colorado area; Growing Cello Repertoire program supports the commission and youth premieres of new pieces that amplify and celebrate the voices of Composers of Color, women, and LGBTQIA+ artists; and Music Transcends Borders program nurtures an international collaborative partnership with Escuela de Cuerdas, a school of music and artistic cultural center in the Western Highlands of Guatemala.

Active Program

The nation’s fourth oldest chamber music presenter, Chamber Music Cincinnati features the finest international chamber music ensembles and soloists—both established and emerging—to build current and future chamber music audiences and artists. For more than a decade, Black and Brown artists have been represented in their series. During the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, all of their guest U.S. ensembles have had at least one Black or Brown member and performed at least one work by a Black or Brown composer.

All of their visiting artists coach students in the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra-sponsored Nouveau and Diversity Fellows programs for pre-college and conservatory music students of color. They also work with students at public schools that have both robust and under-funded music programs. CMC presents educational programs to help people of all backgrounds appreciate the contribution of Black composers and instrumentalists past and present.

Active Program, Founding Member

Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative identifies and develops gifted and motivated orchestral students from underrepresented backgrounds for acceptance into top-tier conservatory, college, or university classical music programs in preparation for careers as professional musicians. Musicians are provided with comprehensive supports to succeed.

Active Program

Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras’ mission is to inspire and cultivate personal excellence through music. After more than 75 years of music-making, CYSO continues to shape generations of young leaders and musicians. Students collaborate and create in a learning environment like no other, developing fundamental skills including leadership, self-confidence, teamwork, and resilience. We are committed to educating, encouraging, and empowering each young musician so that they may pursue personal excellence both on and off the stage.

Active Program, Founding Member

One of America’s finest and most versatile ensembles, the internationally acclaimed CSO attracts the best musicians, artists and conductors to Cincinnati. The CSO is passionately committed to music education and to building meaningful diversity and inclusion in the field. The CSO serves as NIMAN’s Incubator Organization.

Active Program, Founding Member

One of the premier conservatories in the country, The Cleveland Institute of Music believes a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment leads to excellence in educating musicians and accomplishing the CIM mission and vision. The Institute’s diverse talent tapestry uniquely positions CIM as the future of classical music.

Active Program, Founding Member

The Colburn School’s all-scholarship model attracts the highest level of talent from around the world. It is home to many programs that seek to address systemic access barriers to world-class musical training and provides students equitable opportunities to develop excellence on their instrument.

Active Program

The Columbus Symphony Academy is an intensive musical training program designed for serious and passionate student musicians in grades 7-12 who identify as part of the Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color (BIPOC) community and have the desire to pursue music at the highest level. The Academy will provide these young musicians with the essential musical experiences that will prepare them for success in a professional performance career in classical music.

Active Program

Credo develops young musicians — musically, personally, and spiritually — to prepare them for lives of music and service.

Active Program

The mission of DYAO is to expose young musicians and audiences to the joy and beauty of symphonic music, pursuing excellence through exceptional orchestral training, unique & diverse performance opportunities, and new pathways to symphonic experiences. Ultimately, DYAO seeks to cultivate the next generation of musicians who will reimagine the future of symphonic music in our community.

The Musical Pathways program launched in 2021 expands the assistance provided to students and families. DYAO assists students and families with obtaining or renting instruments, instrument maintenance and supplies, private lessons, concert attire, transportation, technology, and more.

Active Program

The Eastman School of Music is one of the professional schools of the University of Rochester. Our faculty and students are devoted to the pursuit of the highest level of musical artistry. For 100 years, Eastman has celebrated four key pillars: artistry, scholarship, leadership and community.

Active Program

E4HH’s mission is to illuminate pathways to lifelong learning, provide educational enrichment and celebrate academic achievement with families of Georgia.
We strive to provide enriching opportunities for homeschool students and bridge the gap in enrichment for traditional students through rewarding and fulfilling experiences while honoring their diverse needs & values.

Active Program

Ensemble Connect is a two-year fellowship program for extraordinary professional classical musicians
residing in the US that prepares them for careers combining musical excellence with teaching,
community engagement, advocacy, entrepreneurship, and leadership. It offers top-quality performance
opportunities, intensive professional development, and partnerships throughout the fellowship with
New York City public schools.

Active Program

The Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies (GTCYS) opens doors to music learning for students of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds. Established in 1972, GTCYS serves more than 1,000 students ages 7-18 through our Harmony strings instruction program, Launch Lessons, 10 school-year orchestras, and summer camps. GTCYS awards nearly $200,000 in need-based tuition and lesson assistance annually. Students perform 25 free concerts at Twin Cities schools, homeless shelters, and senior care centers, plus formal ticketed concerts at professional venues like Orchestra Hall. GTCYS reaches more than 17,000 children and adults through educational activities and performances annually and has served more than 16,000 alumni in its 50-year history.
GTCYS’ Pathway Musicians Program, founded in 2023, nurtures the growth and talents of Black/African American and Latinx/Hispanic music students through a comprehensive, personalized support system. With up to $6,000 of annual financial assistance per student and mentoring from a professional musician, this program helps students reach their fullest musical potential within GTCYS and beyond. Pathway scholarships are renewable each year through high school graduation. This new program addresses racial disparities in the classical music field and to create opportunities for youth underrepresented in GTCYS.
Learn more at www.gtcys.org.

Active Program

The Houston Symphony is a full-time orchestra that presents a full complement of concert, community, education, touring, and recording activities. It has an operating budget of $34.325 million and offers more than 130 concerts annually. Launched in Fall 2022, DeLUXE Kids in Harmony with the Houston Symphony, in partnership with AFA is an intensive after-school program that provides music education without barriers and social development for 3rd-5th grade students. It is a community-based program, based in the Fifth Ward Cultural Arts District/DeLUXE Theater. The students receive a minimum of 4 ½ hours of instruction each week, led by a Symphony Community-Embedded Musician and supported by other Symphony musicians and AFA teaching artists. Students attend Symphony concerts and perform monthly in the Fifth Ward and the Symphony’s home, Jones Hall. The vision of the program is to build a community of compassionate youth who know who they are, know where they came from, can envision themselves on any stage in the world, and are prepared to be on those stages. The initiative exposes students to a wide range of stages, performances, and performers while also guiding students in the discipline of performance preparation and the magic of performing.

Active Program, Founding Member

INTEMPO offers children the opportunity to express themselves artistically through traditional and classical music . We are committed to connecting the dots between intercultural music education and its influence on the socioemotional and intellectual development of children. We offer a repertoire that reflects the diversity of our students’ cultures and communities.

Active Program, Founding Member

A global destination for artists and arts enthusiasts, Interlochen Center for the Arts nurtures creativity through five dynamic platforms. Since 1928, Interlochen’s mission to inspire people worldwide through excellence in the arts and education has produced generations of purposeful creative lives. At Interlochen, we are united through the universal language of the arts.

Active Program

As one of the world’s premier music schools, the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music offers a breadth and depth of musical training, education, and performance opportunity unparalleled in university music study. Approximately 1,600 students from 50 U.S. states and more than 55 countries study in a conservatory atmosphere—amidst the academic resources of a major research university—with 175 full-time faculty experts. Offering over 1,100 performances annually, including five operas, one musical, and three ballets, the Jacobs School of Music plays a leading role in educating musicians, dancers, scholars, composers, music educators, and audio engineers around the globe.

Active Program

Kaufman Music Center is the best destination for learning and listening to music in New York City. Their school offers world-class education in music, dance, and theater to people of all ages and experience levels, and their intimate performance hall allows unparalleled access to today’s most compelling artists. Kaufman helps people express themselves through music and welcome them into a community that’s working to build a more beautiful world through the arts. Kaufman’s new Pathways program is filling vital gaps in New York City’s musical ecosystem by creating avenues for students from under-resourced communities to receive the significant and life-changing benefits of intensive music education, which research overwhelmingly links to success in high school, higher education and beyond. By removing obstacles that can exclude children without financial means from sustained, long-term music study, we’re empowering them to pursue careers in music – and creating opportunities that will change the field. Now in its pilot phase, the Pathways program (administered by Kaufman Music Center’s Lucy Moses School) will serve 10 students during the 2023-24 school year and add an additional 10 each year up to a total of 50.”

Active Program

Levine Music, the Washington DC region’s preeminent center for music education, is a welcoming community where children and adults find lifelong inspiration and joy through learning, performing, listening to, and participating with others in music. Levine’s core values – excellence and opportunity – infuse everything we do. Their distinguished faculty offer a broad and well-rounded curriculum that provides a strong musical foundation for students of different ages, abilities, and interests. Levine Music strives to make their education available to everyone. Hundreds of students receive substantial scholarship assistance; many hundreds more receive free instruction through fully-funded in-school programs.

Active Program

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s mission is to enrich and connect our community through intimate and transformative musical experiences which exemplify and foster artistic excellence, education and innovation.

Active Program

Luzerne Music Center aims to provide world-class music instruction to gifted young musicians in a summer camp environment, regardless of their financial circumstances. Luzerne values courage, resiliency, empathy, compassion, teamwork, kindness, and diversity. Luzerne believes in supporting and uplifting others.

Supporting Organization

MacPhail Center for Music is a non-profit community music organization. The Mission of MacPhail Center for Music is to transform lives and strengthen communities through inspirational music learning experiences.

Supporting Organization

Manhattan School of Music is one of the world’s premier music conservatories for classical music, jazz, and musical theatre.

Active Program, Founding Member

Merit School of Music is dedicated to helping young people transform their lives by removing barriers to high-quality music education, with more than 80% of students participating at a reduced or no cost. Merit enables motivated students, regardless of economic circumstance, to develop their talent and to use music as a springboard for achieving their full personal potential.

Active Program

The mission of Music and Mindfulness is to provide a pathway for musically talented high school students to have a musical career and/or future. This 10 day summer learning program is designed for 40 students and is completely free of charge for invited students. The program expands beyond music to dance, meditation and yoga to train students in skills “off stage.” Faculty are top notch professional musicians many of whom are members of major symphony orchestras including, National Symphony, Philadelphia and Baltimore Orchestras and even The President’s Own Marine Band and Orchestra. The program is hosted at Graves Mountain Lodge and Farm in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

Active Program

Musical Mentors Collaborative is a nationally based non-profit that addresses inequity in music education by matching under-resourced communities with Musical Mentors to create powerful experiences through meaningful relationships.

Active Program

The Nashville Symphony’s Accelerando initiative is an intensive music education program designed to prepare gifted young students of diverse ethnic backgrounds for pursuing music at the collegiate level and beyond. Accelerando seeks to create professional opportunities for musicians from ethnic communities underrepresented in today’s orchestras by providing them with instruction, mentorship, performance experiences and assistance with applying to music schools. With access to the resources of a major American orchestra, these students will be able to realize their full potential and will form the next generation of orchestra musicians.

Active Program, Founding Member

The University of Maryland’s National Orchestral Institute + Festival brings together aspiring orchestral musicians from across the country for a month of dynamic music-making and professional exploration at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center and in the College Park, MD community. Through a partnership with Naxos records, the NOI+F Orchestra recorded an album of American music that was released in more than 40 countries worldwide and earned a Grammy nomination.

Supporting Organization

The National Repertory Orchestra is a preeminent intensive summer music festival developing diverse, thoughtful and socially conscious musicians through experiential learning.

Active Program

New England Conservatory (NEC) an independent, not-for-profit institution, is recognized internationally as a leader among music schools, educating and training musicians of all ages from around the world. With music students representing more than 40 countries, NEC cultivates a diverse, dynamic community for students, providing them with performance opportunities and high-caliber training by 225 internationally-esteemed artist-teachers and scholars. NEC pushes the boundaries of making and teaching music through college-level musical training in classical, jazz and Contemporary Improvisation.

Supporting Organization

The New England Music Camp was founded by Dr. Paul E. Wiggin and his wife Nina in 1937 as a non-profit educational institution dedicated to the cultivation and refinement of musical skills in young people. Central to this philosophy is the support and development of the physical, emotional, and social well-being of young musicians. For over 80 years, we have proudly supported a rich family environment with an emphasis on teaching the “whole person”.

NEMC offers six different programs during our summer season which include our 4-week Core camp, and 2-week Chamber Music Intensive, Jazz Intensive, Musical Theater Intensive, Composition Intensive, and Prelude Strings and Band Camp.

Active Program

The New Jersey Symphony will redefine what it means to be a nationally leading, relevant orchestra in the 21st century. The mission of the New Jersey Symphony is to connect with the people and diverse communities of New Jersey through the power of live symphonic music to inspire, entertain and educate. Through adventurous performances, hands-on educational experiences, and robust community programming, they encourage everyone to enjoy the power and creativity of orchestral music in all its forms. Across genres and venues, for audiences of all walks of life, we strive to bring music that’s meaningful to you, to you.

As NJ Symphony embarks upon its second century of music-making, they are renewing our deeply rooted commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion by championing new, and often local, artists; engaging audiences for whom the inspiring depth and breadth of classical music will be new; and incorporating the broadest possible representation in all aspects of our organization—all to better reflect and serve our vibrant communities.

Our expansive educational offerings—including youth orchestras, masterclasses, and virtual learning opportunities—will build the next generation of listeners and musicians and help students grow, both musically and personally. And Nj Symphony will continue to seek new ways to connect with all New Jerseyans, through programs that resonate with a variety of cultural and musical backgrounds, as well as digital innovations that make the orchestra accessible to anyone, anywhere, anytime.

Active Program

The New World Symphony (NWS) College Track Mentorship Program (CTMP) will serve up to ten young classical instrumental musicians (grades 8-12) from backgrounds underrepresented and underserved in classical music. The goal is to provide each student in this program with the skills and resources necessary to apply and be admitted to the college/conservatory music program of their choice. The students chosen for the College Track Mentorship Program are each matched with a Fellow who provides 20-25 lessons per season and assists the student in selecting and acquiring a new instrument and accessories as needed. NWS staff and Fellows work with each student on college preparedness and in their senior year, the college application process. The program helps each student apply for five available festival scholarships each summer, and the students will participate in an end-of-year recital at the New World Center to celebrate their accomplishments.

Active Program, Founding Member

Founded in 1865 and situated amid the intellectual and creative vitality of Oberlin College, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music is the oldest continuously operating conservatory in America and the only major music school dedicated primarily to the education of undergraduate musicians. Oberlin opens a world of possibilities: mentorship from esteemed faculty, exposure to transformative programs and visiting artists, and countless opportunities to perform.

Active Program

OrchKids uses music as a vehicle for students to develop musical and social skills that are transferable to all areas of their lives including creativity, self-expression, and teamwork. Marin Alsop, Music Director Laureate of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and OrchKids Founding Director, shaped OrchKids into the cornerstone of the BSO’s community engagement efforts across the city with her artistic leadership and direction. OrchKids was founded in 2008 with 30 students at one elementary school with seed funding from Marin Alsop and Founding Donors Rheda Becker and Robert E. Meyerhoff. OrchKids has served thousands of children from Pre-K through 12th grade during and after school. In collaboration with several community partners, OrchKids provides music education, instruments, academic assistance, meals, mental health resources, connection to social services, as well as performance and mentorship opportunities—all at no cost to students and their families. OrchKids is an acknowledged leader in the El Sistema movement throughout the world.

Active Program

Launched in 2013, PMP provides tuition-free afterschool programming for over 500 students in Paterson, NJ. PMP strives to empower students and build life skills through music education, while focusing on culturally relevant pedagogy and centering youth voice. Students study a primary instrument and participate in ensemble practice, instrumental sectionals, private lessons, and performances. High school students in PMP also have the opportunity to participate in the Youth Leader program, which includes paid positions for students to assist with teaching, site management and mentorship.

Active Program

The PMAY Artists’ Initiative supports 5th-12th graders from communities that are underrepresented on the symphony orchestra stage and those who encounter hardships to realize their musical potential and ultimately pursue their dream of becoming professional classical musicians. The PMAY Artists’ Initiative’s long term goal is to increase diversity in America’s professional musical landscape, promoting equity, vibrancy, and sustainability.

Active Program, Founding Member

Founded in 2011 by Stanford Thompson and Carole Haas Gravagno, Play On Philly (POP) provides children from underserved communities in Philadelphia a transformative music education experience that develops and inspires the behaviors and personal skills needed for a successful life. Our tuition-free, intensive program is a vehicle for both healthy self-expression and achievement, and social and academic development. We strive to engage the entire community, in Philadelphia and beyond.

Active Program

As Philadelphia’s premier merit-based program for financially challenged young, aspiring musicians, the Primavera Fund provides individualized, focused support, resources, mentoring, and access to the best educational opportunities in Philadelphia and beyond. The Directors and staff work closely with every Primavera Artist’s parents, private instructors, youth orchestra, summer camp, and chamber music directors to make sure that students are afforded every opportunity for growth.

Active Program

Project STEP (String Training Education Program) recognizes that certain racial and ethnic minorities are vastly underrepresented in classical music. Their mission is to address this imbalance by identifying musically talented underrepresented students from Boston and surrounding communities, providing them with comprehensive music and string instrument instruction. Project STEP sets the highest standards for disciplined study and performance, and offer a platform for students interested in pursuing classical music careers as well as other courses of study.

Supporting Organization

At the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, we’re advancing a new model of music education that sets students up for a rewarding career in music and a path of lifelong learning. With our partnerships with artist-management companies Opus 3 and Askonas Holt and record label Pentatone, and our faculty, facilities, and position at the heart of the San Francisco music scene, there is no music school with a comparable ability to prepare—and define—the 21st-century musician.

Active Program

Segundo Barrio Children’s Chorus is Houston’s First and Only Bilingual children’s choir which provides tuition free access to music education, performance opportunities, and transformative arts and culture experiences to children and families from Houston’s historic Second Ward and the greater East End District. Our members represent some of Houston’s most underserved and under resourced communities. Utilizing the canons of traditional, folk, and classical Spanish language songs, we empower our members while celebrating the culture and language of our community. Besides choral studies, our students receive instruction in guitar and piano.

Supporting Organization

The Sewanee Summer Music Festival is an artistic incubator where intellectually curious and talented young musicians work closely with dedicated artist-faculty in an intense yet supportive environment

Active Program

Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music cultivates the mastery of musical performance, combining a conservatory experience with the educational opportunities of a leading research university. Guided by the belief that talent manifests along unique paths, we limit our student body to 290 uniquely gifted young musicians.

Shepherd gives each music major access to world class teachers—all accomplished artists in their own right—dedicated to cultivating talent and professional success. Their faculty is known for their individualized instruction and for equipping musicians with the skills and experience necessary to develop their own esteemed careers.”

Active Program

Conservatory level undergraduate and graduate musical programs in a rigorous liberal arts university. Degrees offered include music performance, composition, education, and therapy.

Supporting Organization

Todd Rundgren’s Spirit of Harmony is a national organization that advocates for music education for children, particularly in public schools. Its mission is to work with individual music programs to assist them in building a sustainable network of local support, based on the measurable data that makes the case for the importance of music education in the neurological, social, academic, economic, and of course artistic, development of youth.

Spirit of Harmony forges meaningful partnerships among music programs, school districts, corporations, and other music education non-profits, engaging supporters and music fans to become involved in working with music education programs nationally and in their communities. They believe in providing opportunities for personal development and self-expression through music, regardless of socioeconomic status, geographic location, or ability. Working in harmony with their partners and stakeholders, Spirit of Harmony’s goal is to develop and nurture strategic relationships that enhance the success of all.

Supporting Organization

The Cleveland Orchestra inspires and enriches lives by creating extraordinary musical experiences at the highest level of artistic excellence.

Supporting Organization

The Gainesville Orchestra’s mission to entertain, enrich and educate a diverse and broad-based audience through the presentation of quality programs in traditional and contemporary repertoire is as pertinent today as it was in their first season, 35+ years ago. The orchestra possesses a history of collaboration with local businesses, organizations and arts groups in the presentation of events, including the Historic Haile Homestead, Habitat for Humanity, Florida Museum of Natural History, Harn Museum, Hippodrome State Theater, Dance Alive!, Alachua County School Board, Santa Fe College (formerly Community College) and First Presbyterian Church. In 1989 GCO made a commitment to education by creating the Youth Concert Series, resulting in a Family Concert as part of the regular concert season with an additional special performance of this concert at the University of Florida’s Phillips Center for Performing Arts for the schoolchildren of Alachua County and surrounding counties.

Active Program, Founding Member

The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University comprises both the degree-granting Peabody Conservatory and the community-facing Peabody Preparatory, empowering musicians and dancers from diverse backgrounds to create and perform at the highest level. Building on its rich history as America’s first conservatory, Peabody extends the power of the performing arts and robust artistic training throughout the greater Baltimore community and around the world.

Active Program

In the School of Music, performers, educators, scholars, and creators of music collaborate to achieve the highest levels of artistry while engaging local, regional, and global communities. They emphasize 1) Integrating the artistic, academic, performance, and education-based components of the music curriculum to develop musicianship, professionalism, and creative thinking; 2) Cultivating student-driven projects, chamber music and ensembles, scholarly enterprises, and other collaborative initiatives; 3) Engaging new technologies and a wide array of musical experiences to promote an entrepreneurial spirit in a changing musical landscape; 4) Connecting students with professional mentors, concert artists, and scholars; 5) Participating in and establishing cultural communities through innovative partnerships; Embracing intellectual, artistic, ethnic, and cultural diversity.

Supporting Organization

The Division of Classical Performance and Composition is built on a rich tradition of pairing legendary artist/faculty with extraordinary students of the highest caliber from across the globe. Programs include: Choral & Sacred Music, Classical Guitar, Composition, Keyboard Collaborative Arts, Keyboard Studies, Organ Studies, Strings, Vocal Arts & Opera, Winds & Percussion.

Active Program

Standing for Virtual Inclusion Artists, VIA seeks to engage musicians from communities remote and underrepresented in classical music through individual lessons, mentorship and group classes. The free two week-long program is tailored to string, woodwind and brass instrumentalists (grades 9-12) and taught by teaching artist faculty and guest artists. VIA’s curriculum is tailored for each student through one-on-one discussions about goals and aspirations with VIA’s teaching artists. In addition to a virtual first week, all students will culminate in Miami, FL at the New World Center (home of the New World Symphony) during the second week of the program for further opportunities in advancing instrumental skills, chamber music, and future path development.

Active Program

Voce Velata has a mission to amplify the voices of Black, Indigenous, People of Color and women composers through deep study and authentic performance. They realize this mission through two initiatives: a youth-led ensemble and music educator resources that support ongoing efforts in implementing anti-racist and culturally responsive teaching practices in classrooms.

Supporting Organization

Walker|West is a non-profit community music school that teaches instrumental and vocal music to students ages 0 to adult on Selby Ave in St. Paul, MN

Supporting Organization

Walnut Hill School for the Arts is an independent boarding and day high school offering an immersive and intensive educational experience designed for student artists in grades 9–12, with a PG year also available. We offer world-class training in dance; music; theater; visual art; and writing, film & media arts, complemented by an innovative college-prep academic curriculum. Located on a safe and classic New England campus, we are situated right outside the cultural hub of Boston.

The Walnut Hill Music Department is the only high school program linking a major conservatory, New England Conservatory (NEC), with an independent school. This partnership engages students in a diverse and comprehensive music curriculum delivered at both Walnut Hill and NEC. Students can major in an orchestral instrument, piano, voice, composition, or jazz. The curriculum is enhanced by innovative performance projects, master classes by dynamic guest artists, and the thoughtful integration of contemporary topics such as entrepreneurship and civic engagement. Walnut Hill’s proximity to Boston allows students to attend a wide variety of concerts by major ensembles and soloists at the city’s world-class concert halls. Our program—offered within an inspiring and creative community—prepares graduates to thrive in a conservatory, university, or college setting.

Active Program

Washington Musical Pathways Initiative is a talent development program for local student musicians in grades 8-12 who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color and want to pursue advanced study in music. Program elements are tailored to meet students’ needs to better prepare them for study at music conservatories or as music majors at four-year colleges and universities with the goal that it lead them to professional opportunities within classical music. WMPI provides musical and extra-musical supports (financial, instructional, academic, family, social-emotional, etc.) to support talented young musicians who have been historically excluded from classical music due to systemic racism.

Active Program

YOSA Rising Star Fellows is a unique program that provides intensive support to promising young Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Native American musicians residing within 50 miles of San Antonio, TX. The program’s goals are to establish a collaborative system that supports and advances musical excellence for young classical instrumental musicians of color, to develop and prepare young classical instrumental musicians of color to compete for acceptance to top music conservatories and university music programs, to diversify the talent pipeline for post-secondary classical instrumental music programs, and to create a more diverse musical community in San Antonio and nationwide.

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Formerly NIMAN: National Instrumentalist Mentoring and Advancement Network

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