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. Help support our student financial aid and youth outreach programs by making a Membership donation or other gift to the Old Town School!
Artist-in-Residence Program
The Old Town School brings the joy and power of the arts to classrooms across the city by providing in-depth educational experiences for more than 1600 elementary school students across 17 Chicago Public School partners each year. Residencies span a variety of music and dance traditions, including Latin drumming, songwriting, instrument-making, tap dance and much more. These cultural experiences support the Illinois State Board of Education learning standards for the Fine Arts. CPS partner schools include: Coonley, Sabin, Pritzker, Carson, Murphy, Nixon, Montefiore, Portage Park, Hurley, Galileo, Locke, May, Walsh, Cooper, Sayre, New Field and Shoesmith. Artist-in-Residence is generously supported by the Polk Bros Foundation, Hot Topic Foundation, First Midwest Bank and Old Town School members.
Artist-in-Residence Program
Field Trips
The Field Trips 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 child's first experience with a live performance.


Field Trips




Wiggleworms In Residence
Wiggleworms in Residence includes year-round music instruction at the Carole Robertson Center for Learning in Lawndale since 2001. The program focuses on three main components: weekly music instruction for 360 young children (up to 5 years old), training and support for classroom teachers and enrichment activities for parents. Wiggleworms in Residence is generously supported by the Steans Family Foundation, Crown Family Philanthropies, Jubilation Fund at the Tides Foundation, Thanksgiving Fund, Chicago Tribune Foundation and Old Town School members.
Financial Aid
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 School's financial aid budget has more than tripled over the last five years to meet increasing demand.
Financial Aid | Membership

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