The Cleveland Classical Guitar Society was recently featured in a radio story that highlighted the tremendous success of their education programs. We got a chance to speak with their executive director, Erik Mann, who offered some insights into his organization's achievements.
"When I took a chance on heading Cleveland Classical Guitar Society in 2009, we had no education program. Cleveland has the second-highest child poverty rate in the nation, and most inner-city schools offer no opportunity to learn a musical instrument. The Cleveland arts scene is amazing, but most of the big arts organizations haven't dedicated themselves to serving the city school kids on a continuing basis, and in a deep way.
In 2012, we launched our education program, and modeled it after Austin Classical Guitar. We struggled the first few years to find our feet and to get the right teachers and school partners.
Now, we serve more than 200 kids each year in the Cleveland schools. This past year alone, we've hired our first Director of Education, started a program at Cleveland School for the Arts, begun individual lessons for 28 students, and had over 50 student performances at some of Cleveland's most prestigious venues. We're providing deep, ongoing engagement year to year. In a recent survey, 71% of students said they're more engaged in school because of guitar class. One of our students began guitar less than two years ago, and has already performed with Les Frères Méduses, gotten a fellowship to Cleveland School of Music, and been accepted to Interlochen Fine Arts Camp.
I want us to be working toward college connections and employment for our students. We're partnering with an organization this summer to do a 5-week program where high school students get paid to learn guitar and career development skills. I want to do more of this - paying students to perform and teach, so they can see what it's like to earn an income.
So much of what we do is influenced by Austin Classical Guitar. We've personalized our programs to Cleveland, and to particular students we work with, but ACG remains that model of high attainment."
From all of us at ACG, thank you for continuing to inspire us every day. We hope you can join us this summer for our annual Teacher Training Summit, either July 26-28 in St. Louis, or August 2-4 in Austin.