Outreach: Connecting with Community

Festival 10

Keowee For Kids! Fun, interactive mini-concerts for the younger crowd

• Friday, June 18, 11am: West Asheville Library

  942 Haywood Road, Asheville 28806  250-4750

• Friday, June 18, 4pm: TRAC Gallery, 269 Oak Ave, Spruce Pine 28777    828-682-7215
• Saturday, June 19, 12pm: The HOP Ice cream parlor

  640 Merrimon Avenue #103, Asheville 28804 ‎ 254-2224‎

  **Admission free with donations encouraged

Since launching Keowee For Kids! during festival 2004, KCM has been committed to bringing chamber music to young audiences. Our festival offerings began as entertaining mini-concerts introducing young listeners to chamber music and instruments through story and sound and have grown to year-round residencies with diverse performances. Our youth outreach is highly interactive and tailored primarily for ages 5-15.

cARTwheels

In September 2008, KCM was one of nine professional touring companies --and the first chamber music group—to participate in North Carolina Arts Council’s cARTwheels touring program.  

   

In a performance entitled Fandango, Tango, Huapango, Keowee Chamber Music partnered with Cuarteto la Catrina and Charlotte Salsa Dance to bring the vibrancy of Latin music, art, dance, and culture to elementary school children across the state. Since January 2009, the ensemble has performed for more than 10,000 children across NC. Keowee for Kids! We even created an interactive exploration!

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KCM began extending its offerings beyond the summer festival with educational residencies in fall 2006. All of the following projects resulted in the children making music alongside the professional musicians.

KCM musicians have collaborated with the Asheville-Buncombe Library System, the NC Center for Creative Retirement, the Boys and Girls Club, The Hop Ice Cream Parlor and others to produce children's programming. Buncombe County Television (BCTV) produced a DVD of Mole Music, a KEOWEE for KIDS! festival concert in 2006 and children's concerts from festival 2009. Both these performances have been re-broadcast numerous times.

Residencies:

• November 2006 - Music of South America, a three-day residency with sixth-graders of Evergreen Community Charter School, Asheville, sponsored by the Asheville Chamber Music Series
• May 2007 – Latin Music residency with second graders at Bell Elementary, a Title I school in Asheville, sponsored by the Lake Eden Arts Festival in Schools & Streets (LEAF SS) Keowee was the first chamber music group to perform at the LEAF.
• September 2007 - Stargazers, interactive concert for children with Downs Syndrome and their families) at YMCA Camp Greenville, funded by an Accessibility Grant from the SC Arts Commission
• September - October 2007 - Exploring Chamber Music, a three-week outreach project with underserved audiences of seniors, YWCA afterschoolers and homeless men, music of Latin America, Baroque and Classical eras and living composers, funded by a Grassroots Grant from the Asheville Area Arts Council
• October 2007 - Music of South America, weekly guitar and percussion workshops (for five weeks) culminating in a three-day intensive large ensemble residency with the sixth-graders of Evergreen Community Charter School, Asheville, sponsored by the Asheville Chamber Music Series
• May 2008 - Three-day workshop at the Reid Center, Asheville, sponsored by the Lake Eden Arts Festival in Schools & Streets (LEAF SS). The residency culminated in a joint performance youth and professionals at LEAF.
• July & August 2008, 2009, 2010 - Music instruction and performances at Foothills Equestrian Nature Center (FENCE) Summer Camps

Other Community Outreach

• Asheville Jewish Community Center Day club

• Beth Israel

• Room at the Inn, emergency shelter for homeless women

• Asheville Sister Cities

• Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce

• German Heritage Circle

• CAFE Caring Artists for Evergreen

• Temple Beth Ha Tephila

• Western Carolina Rescue Ministry

• WCQS Performance Studio Concerts

• Annual concert at St. Matthias, Asheville