Program highlights achievements of immigrant children
New York City, NY (August 30, 2012) — The Vilcek Foundation today announced the award of a $10,000 grant to fund the production of music videos featuring immigrant students of Little Kids Rock music programs.
Little Kids Rock trains interested public school teachers to create or reinvigorate music programs that have been stripped from their schools due to budget cuts. Little Kids Rock provides all the necessary curricula, classroom materials, and instruments—at no cost to teachers, students, or schools. The curriculum is student-centered and based on the contemporary music of today, played on modern “rock band” instruments.
What began in 1992 as an idea in one classroom, with one teacher, is now 85,000 students and 850 teachers strong, and has become a nationwide educational reform movement geared toward changing the way music is taught in our public schools. “The musical movement started by Little Kids Rock is extremely influential,” said Rick Kinsel, Executive Director of the Vilcek Foundation, “and we are proud to team up with these innovators, as we firmly believe in the power of arts to enrich children’s lives, by helping them think creatively and then apply this mind-set to other aspects of their education and lives.”
Little Kids Rock’s largest and most well-established chapters are located in cities of with large populations of immigrants—New York, Los Angeles, Tampa, and Dallas. These four cities alone represent almost fifty thousand of the program’s current student body. “As children of immigrants, or newly arrived themselves, our young people are gaining entrée to their school communities and peer groups through the language of music,” said David Wish, Executive Director of Little Kids Rock. “In partnership with the Vilcek Foundation,” he said, “we seek to highlight their voices and experiences, as well as shine a light on the impact of Little Kids Rock’s educational reform movement.”
For more information about Little Kids Rock, please visit www.LittleKidsRock.org.