Youth Outreach

The Old Town School of Folk Music values music and cultural expressions as a birthright for everyone regardless of age, ability, or background. Throughout the year, our faculty can be found singing and dancing with hundreds of public school students across the city, exploring the concepts of rhythm and movement to disabled children in special care facilities, entertaining young patients at the Comer Children's Hospital and sharing our Wiggleworms¨ program with our community partners in North Lawndale.

Global Roots: An Exploration of Music & Cultural Expressions has remained the core of our public school arts initiatives since 1994. Global Roots encompasses a broad range of curriculum approaches that cater to the specific needs of each partnering school. 1,300 students and their teachers across 16 schools discover music and dance traditions from around the world, such as Latin drumming, songwriting, Slavic folk songs, blues, rock-n-roll, and African, Mexican, tap, and breakdancing. These cultural experiences are then integrated and reinforced into the day-to-day language arts and social sciences curricula.

For over six years, the Wiggleworms in Residence program has included year-round music instruction for over 400 children (ages birth to 5) at the Carole Robertson Center for Learning's three facilities in and around Lawndale, teacher training and support in music to 84 faculty, and enrichment activities for parents.

The Field Trip Concert Series produces a variety of culturally specific educational performances, serving 9,000 students and teachers traveling to the Old Town School's acclaimed concert hall from across 56 different zip codes every year. Our field trip performances target state and national learning standards for a valuable and unique learning opportunity. A field trip at the Old Town School is often a childÕs first experience with a live performance.

The Old Town School also provides financial aid support to over 300 children and their families for group classes and private instruction to bridge more young artists to our talented faculty. The SchoolÕs financial aid budget has more than tripled over the last five years to meet increasing demand. These programs are made possible by the generous support from Polk Bros. Foundation, Kraft Foods, Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, Irving Harris Foundation, Jerome S. & Grace H. Murray Foundation, The Thomas J. & Nancy B. Campbell Charitable Foundation, Donna Brown, and Members of the Old Town School of Folk Music. Help support our student financial aid and youth outreach programs by making a Membership donation or other gift to the Old Town School!