This new after-school program is based on our StudentVoices, New York State certified "exemplary, research-based, promising practice" student leadership design, consistently delivering lasting and measurable benefit. That certification from www.sharingsuccess.org is shared with less that 1% of all after-school & career education programs being funded in New York State. Thanks fot visiting.

Music&Media - career coaching, after-school

2010 series # 1 - www.theValleyCenter.com - Wednesdays 4:30 - 6:00

JAN 13 - Launch with Lead Trainers Anthony Casuccio, Linda Appleby & Bob James

JAN 20 - DOUG YEOMANS, Buffalo Music Hall of Fame www.dougyeomans.com

JAN 27 - LANA HERGERT, Buffalo Music Awards – multiple winner www.bestofwny.com
BlackWidowBand website www.BlackWidowBand.net

FEB 03 - LEE RON ZYDECO, Buffalo Music Hall of Fame www.leeron.com

FEB 10 - GRACE STUMBERG, Music in Action & Villa Maria College www.GraceStumberg.com

FEB 24 - JOSEPH WOOTEN, Hands of Soul

MAR 03 - JOYCE WILSON NIXON, Buffalo Music Hall of Fame www.buffalomusic.org
MAR 10 - FIELD TRIP to Villa Maria College www.villa.edu
MAR 17 - MIKE VARGOVICH, tunes4food www.myspace.com/thegenericbrand
MAR 19 - Mohawk Place event for FOOD BANK OF WNY • 8pm  www.foodbankwny.org
MAR 24 - FREE HENRY! www.freehenryband.com
MAR 31 - DAVE CONSTANTINO • BuffaloMusicHallofFame + www.daveconstantino.com

APR 14 - NELSON STARR, Buffalo Music Hal lof Fame www.nelsonstarr.com
APR 21 - JAX DELUCA, Squeaky Wheel Media www.squeaky.org
APR 28 - FIELD TRIP to www.GCRAudio.com

MAY 05 - TIM O’SHEI, Business First www.buffalo.bizjournals.com & www.livestarringyou.com
MAY 12 - THE HEADERS www.buffalomusic.org   www.theheaders.com
MAY 19 - CEPA Gallery – artist tba   www.cepagallery.org
MAY 26 -…………………..tba

JUNE 02 - Final event production planning - M&M team & trainers only
JUNE 09 - Open community “M&M Jam-Wrap-tunes4food event at the Valley Center

PROGRAM GOAL:
Increase student dedication to education & professional career development.

PARTICIPANT OUTCOMES / MEASURABLE OBJECTIVES:

01. Attend weekly lessons, occasional industry field trips, and bond with a team and career mentors.

02. Explore a range of careers in music, media and related professions.

03. Learn & apply new skills in the design and delivery of a final project & community event.

04. Draft a basic career education plan.

PARTICIPANTS ARE 15 – high school students participating after-school.

TRAINERS ARE a collective of music, media and education professionals, coordinated, NY State-certified “promising practice” in leadership & career development.

SERIES #1 SITE IS the Valley Center @ Valley Community Association, 93 Leddy Street, Buffalo, NY 14210

STRUCTURE & TIMELINE
20 - 90 minute weekly interactive, skill-building sessions mix upfront lesson, media & dialog PLUS visiting artist workshop.

JANUARY 5, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Greater Buffalo media professionals
to lead after-school career training

Buffalo, New York

Teens are most at risk of making poor choices between the weekday hours of 3-6 pm. In response, schools and youth centers have developed a variety of after-school programs, the best practices of which blend academics, recreation and socialization as productive ways to fill those less supervised hours.

Engaging kids is challenging when competing with the world of seductive media saturated with pop icons behaving badly. Programs need to be equally provocative, meaningful and push the creative edge.

Buffalo, New York is leading with a new model.

The newly organizedPlay it forward partnership”, described as  ‘A WNY collective of teaching artists & organizations empowering students with the love, lessons and legacy of careers in the creative arts’ has booked an impressive series of top talent to teach students about unique and emerging professions in the media industry, while stressing the value of post-high school education.

Beginning on January 13, the weekly, 20-session after school-program, Music & Media – career coaching, after-school (“M&M” program) will work with a team of 15 high school students attending The Valley Center in South Buffalo.

 The new program has the attention of education leaders in Albany.

“The status-quo approaches to motivating students to learn and grow need to be replaced”, states Dr. Felicia Watson, Director of New York State’s 21st CCLC State-wide Technical Assistance Center that provides professional development to over 500 after-school sites in NYS, collectively funded by $120,000,000 each year.

“For years Bob James [of Student Voices] has been a source of pioneering new ‘best-practice' models of just how to move past the tired and old with something that is alive, real and student-centered. At the top of the new decade, this new media career coaching program seems perfectly perched to serve both our kids and organizations - a creative community-wide approach!”

The Buffalo Music Hall of Fame will also coordinate the growing partnership which includes, the Arts Council of Buffalo, the MINE group from GCR Audio (Music Industry Network Events), Squeaky Wheel, Linda Appleby’s Buffalo Select Chorus, Buffalo’s Business First, many of the “tunes4food” musicians, local media businesses and several others.

“Performers make great teachers”, states Anthony Casuccio, Vice President of the Hall of Fame. “This is a perfect opportunity for the talent and life stories of our inductees to inspire and inform kids about careers options in the arts industry.”

Working artists set to share their career stories and perform for the students include guitarist, Doug Yeomans; band leader, Joyce Wilson Nixon; Free Henry!, Lee Ron Zydeco, Nelson Starr, Tim O’Shei, Managing Editor from Business First, filmmaker Jax Deluca, and songwriter, Grace Stumberg.

Designing the project with local talent and resources helps control costs, keeping the program affordable and expandable to additional sites.

 “The Valley Center is proud to be the first site for this – like a private concert series. Kids are excited”, states Brian Pilarski, youth director at the Valley Community Association. “It will be great to watch this evolve.”

The “M&M” idea grew out of the 2 recent “tunes4foodFood Bank of Western New York benefit events that united students and veteran artists in a community service setting – raising over 14,000 pounds of food. James, who is a state-certified student leadership trainer, organized that collaboration as a next step in an 11-year effort that started with a “musicians-united” safe school benefit & awareness raising CD. Entitled, “War is Over”, the CD was released on April 9, 1999, 2 weeks before the Columbine High School tragedy captured the nation’s attention.

The new program’s first series will wrap on June 9th, with a large event open to the community.

www.playitforwardpartnership.org                     www.tunes4food.org

http://nyscenterforschoolsafety.org                    www.thevalleycenter.com

artist WORKSHOP guidelines

Welcome to our team of teaching artists bringing after-school workshops to Greater Buffalo high school students.

Our Goal is to both inspire and inform youth about the professional living careers in and around music & media industries – directing them toward college or other post-high school career skills education.

Your artist workshop will run approximately 50 minutes in length, and follow a 40 minute interactive lesson given by one of our LEAD TRAINERS (Anthony, Linda or Bob). Feel free to follow the suggested agenda or to sequence your workshop to fit your personal story. Audience engagement is key. Covering these basic points will help us reach our required educational objectives.

 Suggested ARTIST workshop AGENDA:

INTRODUCTION {5 minutes} & OPENING SHORT SONG or VIDEO

TELL YOUR STORY 10-15 min.}

• Demo what you do now; tell why and how got you started; where you are now and going next.

• what were key steps + PEOPLE + education that helped along the way;
who inspired you at the start & who inspires you now;

• what were lessons you learned along the way about art, goals, business & life.

SHOW YOUR STUFF {10-15 min.}

• Play a few songs live or show a short film & tell their stories. SHOW THE STUDENTS ABOUT THE MECHANICS of your art – songwriting, performing, producing, screenwriting, filming & post-production, photography +++ client and business management.

Q & A {10 min.}

The students will have questions based on their training. Make sure to cover the role of education in career development.

PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION {5 min.)

Giving CDs or samples is great and our budget  can cover costs of $2. per unit if needed.

THIS AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAM IS NEW but based on an educational model, certified "quality" by NYS + decades of shared history of our presenters. We expect lots of interest from ARTISTS READY TO PRESENT. So… please be patient in our getting back to you with questions, details & a booking. Thanx, bobjames1@aol.com 

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