Apple & Eve

Essay for Warren-Prescott School

Warren-Prescott is a Boston Public School in Charlestown, MA.  This gem of a school lies in the heart of a very diverse community, and the school reflects and celebrates that diversity. Scheduling during school doesn’t allow for electives or music ensembles, so after school programming has become a huge component for the music program. With the lack of budget, the music program receives 100% of it’s funding through grants, parent donations, and participation fees for after school programs. If awarded the mash-up prize, a music scholarship fund would be created so that all students, regardless of economic status, could participate.

Essay for Traverse City Middle School

The Traverse City West Middle School Choirs are applying for the “Fruitables Mash-up” grant to fund curriculum development and collaboration opportunities with area music professionals.   Student collaboration with outside composers, arrangers and music educators rarely takes place in public schools. It happens even less frequently that these music professionals are able to work for years hand in hand with students to develop curriculum and materials.

If selected, the Traverse City West Middle School Choirs would set up multiple Collaborator in Residence programs, where music professionals would join us as clinicians, observers and teachers to help build curriculum that fosters rigor and relevance in the classroom, while creating significant student interest and participation.  These programs would be used long after the collaborators time in the classroom had passed.  The curriculum would be made available to other school music programs.

Traverse City is in severe economic straits.  Our school district is one of the lowest funded districts per student in the State of Michigan.  We are also facing a 7 million dollar shortfall for the 2011-2012 school year.  We must pursue all opportunities to bring the finest offerings to our students regardless of the turmoil surrounding our economic outlook.

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