Last week, the National Endowment for the Arts wrote a spotlight of the St. Louis Classical Guitar Society program, "Guitar Horizons", which was the recipient of an FY18 NEA grant. Our colleagues in St. Louis are the force behind this musical initiative to heal a community stricken with anger, pain, and tumult following an act of violence in the late summer of 2014. We were fortunate enough to speak with Kevin Ginty and Bill Ash about the program, and want to share with you some of their words.
"Our mission is to strengthen communities through shared experiences in classical guitar performance and education. After the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Bill Ash, our former Executive Director and current Education Director, reached out to the Fine Arts Coordinator for Ferguson schools with an offer to send an experienced guitar teaching artist into the classroom. The Ferguson-Florissant School District agreed to pilot the program in two elementary schools, and it has continued to grow ever since. The first St. Louis Teacher Training in 2014 - with 30 registrants - got us off to a great start!
I (Bill) began weekly training sessions in late August 2014 to help interested classroom music teachers learn the curriculum. I found that the key is to have teachers we support motivated to teach the curriculum with good teaching procedures and classroom management skills, both of which will be addressed when we host this summer's 4th annual Teacher Training Summit.
In the next year, we're expanding into at least four more Title I schools, thanks to new support from the NEA. We'd like to begin at least one high school program to create the opportunity for vertical integration of guitar studies. Our vision is to be able to support any local school that wants the program.
We currently have a proposal submitted to the local Arts and Education Council to begin a new program this fall at the Clayton Detention Center. We envision it as the Austin Classical Guitar program with Jeremy Osborne at Gardner Betts Juvenile Justice Center.
NEA funding is so important for this project. Not only does it provide a direct source of income for school expansion, but it also provides a "seal of approval" when approaching other grant makers and individual donors to show that this project is recognized nationally."
What are your aspirations for guitar in your schools and community? We'd love to hear from you!