Miami Gardens Music Alliance

 
 

Ultimately we seek for all youth to get access to the power of music. Toward that end, this year, 8 organizations and 13 schools are working in partnership to reach all youth in the city of Miami Gardens from early learners through high school. Our goals are for students to gain academic and social-emotional benefits, for the involved organizations to learn from one another and increase their impact through collaboration, and to refine a potential prototype worth scaling to reach more youth in future years.

 

The Organizations

Achieve Miami will offer after-school music programming for grades 2 – 5 that includes voice, band, percussion and general music instruction.

Arts For Learning will offer in-class professional development and coaching programs that provide support for pre-k, kindergarten and first grade teachers on music strategies to help children thrive while simultaneously delivering music instruction to students.

Guitars Over Guns will offer after-school programming two days a week at each school site with instrument offerings that include vocals, keyboard, rap, music production, drums, and guitar.

Miami Music Project will offer an after-school music education and social development program for 1st - 6th grade students. They provide instruction on violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute, clarinet, clarinet, and oboe. In addition to instrumental learning, all students also receive choir and rhythm ensemble.

Young Musicians Unite will be providing 13 schools an in-school music program from grades 5 – 12 with genres ranging from rock ensembles to jazz band, drumline, music technology, beginning band, and keyboard/choir classes. They will also provide specialized after-school programming for advanced performing jazz combos and rock ensembles.

Save The Music Foundation will expand their programming to provide instruments to all the schools in the music alliance, including culturally-relevant musical instruments, band, string, or mariachi instruments, and music stands. 

Interlochen Center for the Arts will partner with Alliance organizations to provide opportunities for transformative, pre-college training and development in music through their Traverse City, MI programs.

 

Teeny Violini is a mobile, music-based educational program provider that works with early learning centers (ELC), serving students from Pre-K to 12th grade and afterschool programs.

Children’s Voice Chorus offers three main entry points: Three levels of the Choir Performance Program engage students ages 8-18 through choral ensembles with weekly rehearsals. Kindermusik, for children ages 5-7, develops musical fundamentals holistically through movement, rhythm games, and age-appropriate singing in highly accessible group classes.

 
 

The Impact

8 nonprofit music education organizations facilitated learning in 13 Schools, 65% of students play an instrument every week, 263 Classrooms, 1,650 Instruments Donated, 175 Performances, and 21,472 Community Members Impacted

Over the last 3 years, these 7 nonprofit organizations worked together to create:

  • Music programming at all schools.

  • Orientations for music teachers and staff.

  • Youth Music Festival(s) for parents and communities.

  • A cohort of committed principals.

  • Data collection to measure both social-emotional and academic benefits for students.

  • A Community PTSA aligning government, community leaders, parents, and educators.

The future

In the next five years, Music Access Miami will:

  • Miami Gardens Music Alliance (MGMA) will expand Music Access in Miami Gardens: This may include adding new music organizations, larger class sizes to accommodate more children, more performances, enrolling kids in music classes in competitions.

  • Music Access Network will expand programming and engage organizations through mixers, mini-grants, and explore partnership opportunities to collaborate with the Alliance or other music programs/organizations. Over 80 organizations are currently part of the network.

  • Music Access Systems provides leadership and organizational programming, including management of other collaborative systems, professional development, acquiring the means to advocate for or write legislation, data sharing, and more. The goal is to invest in transparent systems that develop leadership, build organizational capacity, and allow program leaders across organizations to collaborate.

  • South Dade Music Alliance is launching in 2024. The Alliance intends to work with 16 schools within the South Dade area to offer music programs to an overpopulated system with little music education.