On January 30th, 2020, we celebrated the 2020 Doing Good Graduation! Doing Good is a 30-session intensive after-school entrepreneurial program that provides guidance to high school musicians who want to positively impact their communities. The unique curriculum challenges students to view their curiosity about the world as a window through which they can see the needs, gaps, and opportunities they are best equipped to address.
The evening was headlined by the students presenting their community-service projects to their friends, family, and the Project 440 family. This year’s projects included:
New Melodies
Makayla Bevans, Jacob Lubira, Danayah Randoloph, Skylar Walter
Mission: New Melodies is a non-profit organization that is giving children diagnosed with mental illness an artistic outlet. Much of the diagnosed youth today result in their entire lives being turned upside down. In activities, if you are diagnosed, sometimes you can’t participate. When they get singled out it then pushes the person further away from interacting with others. However, in art, there are very little guidelines and rules. Those diagnosed don’t have to worry about being singled out. The program will not only stretch the boundaries but it will show the children and society that these diagnosed are more capable than a statistic might say.
Generation Music Plus
Aviva Bock, Louis Dong, Sebastian Gonzales, Naomi Luko, Mateusz Pater, Kintan Silvany
Mission: Generation Music educates underrepresented youth in classical music with a series of interactive workshops and lessons which is completely taught by young people from their musical knowledge. Through our interactive workshops and lessons, students no matter their background, will have access to music education.
Environmental Emphasis
Christine Lao, Iyana Muhammad, Ariadna Rosas
Mission: Our mission is to educate young people about the mistreatment of the environment due to these large conglomerates. We hope that with learning this info about these companies the youth can stop or lessen their shopping at these conglomerates. We want them to find other alternatives with their shopping or use recycled material to help with our mission to help the environment.
Youth Engagement
Kevin Arthur, Chrystie Jean-Baptiste, Jaida Lazarus, James Morton, Christopher Rodriguez
Mission: Our introduction of music to the youth will allow them to find passion and identity through the art form. We aim to prevent the youth from spending their time dangerously in their community by providing them with opportunities through music so that they can grow as individuals. As a result, this will foster a greater sense of community and encourage positive behavior.
We could not have asked for a better group of dedicated students to kick off 2020 with. Congratulations, we can’t wait to see what you all accomplish!
We want to send special thanks to our Program Director and Teaching Artist, Susanna Loewy, Teaching Artist Nozomi Imamura, and the Curtis Institute for Music for sharing their space with us.
