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Someone recently asked me, “Who inspires you?” My most honest answer is Newark parents, especially those who have seen their share of troubles in Newark and yet decided to stay and make the city a better place for the next generation. This summer, I had the privilege to work alongside parents and students to spread hope through music. I am thankful for all of you who supported us in making this summer possible. I hope you can feel some of the joy we shared through this newsletter!
Jee-Hoon Krska, Executive Director
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A Successful Summer with Keys
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That's a wrap! Summer has ended, and we are sad to see it go, but what a time we had. We had so many amazing students this Summer. With more locations to teach, we hit our goal of reaching over 150 students across the city of Newark! We had students from ages 2 to 17 years old, most of who had never played piano before, become excited to come in and practice. We watched them push through challenges and blossom right before our eyes.
Not only did we play a ton of piano, but we also incorporated art projects, games, and other fun activities. We discovered that not only did our students have musical abilities, but they were also artistic. Throughout the six weeks, our students learned to play the William Tell Overture and other beautiful solo pieces. We even found a way to merge step dance and chanting with William Tell Overture (check out a video of one of the performances below).
You can hear them saying, "Newark, the city I live in. Newark, the city I love. Newark, the city I believe in. If you're proud, say Newark stand up," a chant full of hope and belief for the city of Newark.
By the end of the program, we had nine performances. Our students powered through and did an amazing job each time. We were able to have each of our students display what they learned in front of an excited audience, and some of them also had the opportunity to put on a wonderful production of Lion King Jr. with our partner ACCA Creates. This Summer goes down in the books for sure!
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Compared to last year, Keys 2 Success grew in every aspect. We added one more location to our teaching sites, taught 50 more students, hosted eight more performances around Newark, and held 220 more classes - that's a 12-fold increase!
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New Podcast Release: An Interview with Marcia Heard
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We were fortunate enough to interview the talented Dr. Marcia Heard, a trusted board member and the founder of ACCA creates, one of our Newark partners which has been instrumental in helping Keys 2 Success gain roots and grow our reach in Newark. In this podcast episode of Behind the Success, Dr. Heard, a passionate dancer, discusses the importance of the arts in a community. Our teachers work closely with the organization to give all children a chance to discover their passion for the arts. For us, it is heartwarming to see the joy art brings to children, especially seeing their smiling faces. Listen to this episode to learn about Dr. Heard's personal journey into the arts and what drives her to tirelessly make arts accessible to as many children as possible in Newark.
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Since we have brought in so many new students and increased the number of teaching sites, we are greatly in need of more keyboards. We use these keyboards for in-person and at-home practice, as well as for performances, so you can see how necessary they are to our program.
If you have any digital keyboards that you would like to donate to our students, please contact us at (908) 883-0887.
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