NMS Photo
NMS students perform at The Space
For the 16th consecutive year, Neighborhood Music School held a fundraising “Performathon,” proceeds from which will go into the organization’s financial-aid coffers. While the event took place March 29 through April 1, Alice-Anne Harwood, the school’s development director, said donations will be collected through April 16.
About 500 student performers of all ages participated in the annual event, which, for the first time, featured presentations outside Neighborhood Music School’s Audubon Street facility.
On the afternoon of April 1, four ensembles — a parent’s bluegrass group, a faculty and adult-student ragtime band, a student jazz combo, and a staff member’s folk-music duo — performed at the Jewish Community Center of Greater New Haven. That evening, student-led rock bands performed at The Space in Hamden.
(Click here to view a slideshow of images of student performances at The Space.)
The annual “Performathon raises about 15 percent to 20 percent of our total financial-aid budget of about $225,000,” Harwood said, but it “doesn’t account for any requests for more, which we have.”
A typical request, she said, would be a city school asking to get involved with the organization’s Instrumental Impact program, “which provides financial scholarships to those who are musically inclined and could not otherwise afford to take private lessons” and is “run in partnership with New Haven Public Schools,” according to the Neighborhood Music School website.
About 350 Neighborhood Music School students — roughly 25 percent of those enrolled — receive some kind of financial aid, Harwood said. Last year’s “Performathon,” she said, generated close to $35,000. Those funds are raised by the students, who seek “sponsorships” from family and friends as they might for a walkathon.
“This is students helping other students,” Harwood said, explaining that the annual “Performathon” is representative of the organization’s mission, as described on its website, “to provide the highest quality instruction in music and dance and to make it accessible to people of all ages, backgrounds, economic means and levels of ability.”
The organization’s goal this year is to raise the same as it did last year — about $35,000.
Neighborhood Music School will continue collecting donations through its “Performathon” Web page until April 16. For more information, contact Neighborhood Music School development associate Dustin Kreidler at (203) 624‑5189 x. 15 or dkreidler@neighborhoodmusicschool.org.