Remember when your favorite school days were field trips? And what better than a field to The Lincoln Center! During the 2018-2019 season, we connected 4,622 students and community members with world-class professional artists at eight different educational events. These included:
Elementary, middle, and high school field trips to Lincoln Center presentations with ArcAttack, Journey to Oz, and Shaun Boothe’s Unauthorized Biography Series
Dance masterclasses at CSU with PUSH Physical Theatre, Les Ballets Trockadero and Aspen Sante Fe Ballet dance companies
Classical Convergence Music Performance masterclasses at CSU with Atos Trio, International Contemporary Ensemble, Borromeo String Quartet and Collectif9
Strings lecture- demonstration at Boltz Middle School with Collectif9
Thanks to our arts education outreach program that utilizes The Lincoln Center’s season of nationally touring performers, local students connect directly with international artists who joyfully share their expertise and experience. Classroom visits and field trips deepen engagement of young people in arts and culture, create empathy and understanding, as well as inspire potential careers in the arts.
A field trip to The Lincoln Center brings together professional artists, educators, students, City staff and volunteers to experience meaningful, educational, and unforgettable moments. This season, these included ArcAttack’s giant Tesla coil playing music for 1,100 middle school students and Shaun Boothe’s biography presentations connecting 2,000 middle and high school students to the touching life stories of Muhammad Ali, Malala Yousafzai and Bob Marley. One student from Preston Middle School summarized best, “I really loved the part where he rapped the biographies and it made learning about history really fun. Overall, it was the best field trip I have ever been on.”
Our most recent outreach event brought the dynamic string ensemble Collectif9 to Boltz Middle School for an unforgettable lecture-demonstration featuring four professional string players from the Montreal, Quebec area. They played folk, classical, and contemporary pieces—such as an arrangement by Phillip Glass—for 30 6th grade violin students. Interactive coaching, charismatic stories, and new exposure to masterful artistry energizes the classroom. According to Boltz orchestra teacher Melissa Claeys, “Collectif9 was fun, engaging and very personable with my students. They performed music that they knew my kids would like to hear, and even though they were ‘professionals’ they did not hesitate to be real with my students, making it a great environment in the classroom.”
There are so many meaningful, touching, and educational moments that happen during our Arts Education and Community Outreach programs. There is magic in connecting highly accomplished performers with students of all ages. From the intense, individual attention of the master teacher in the dance studio to the astonished faces of students seeing the Lincoln Center Performance Hall for the very first time, we are so pleased and proud to have a strong and ever-growing outreach program here at The Lincoln Center.
You can help us continue our education and outreach efforts by supporting the Lincoln Center Support League with your time, talent, or treasure. For more information about the Lincoln Center Support League and the programs we sponsor: www.lincolncentersupportleague.org or email us at info@lincolncentersupportleague.org