Giving all kids a chance to play.
How We Learn
At Music Haven, young musicians study with and are mentored by our resident musicians from first, second, or third grade until they graduate from high school. At the heart of our model is the relationship between teacher and student, and the relationships between the young musicians, themselves. Through music, they build community, develop resilience and self-confidence, and experience collective struggle and success.
With the resident musicians at the heart of a rich and ever-expanding variety of educational programming, workshop offerings, and performances throughout the region, each of our students and his or her family is part of a vibrant community of musicians.
More Than Music
Students come by school bus each afternoon from more than 25 different schools throughout the city to our 7000 sf programming space. They have access to practice rooms, rehearsal studios, and performance space, as well as classrooms for music theory, improvisation, and homework help.
They are each taught one-on-one by a member of our resident professional string quartet and are mentored by the same teacher over many years. The deep, long-term relationships we develop with our students and their families make it possible for us to make a lot more than music.
Our Space
If you stop by on a Friday afternoon, you will hear it before you even open the door. The discerning ear will pick out a little Britten, some Twinkle, perhaps some solfege coming from Music Theory class, accented by the sound of snacks and the zipping of backpacks. Open the door and you will see it all: life and love and a glorious mess of beautiful young faces and instrument cases in a light-filled expanse of music-making that fills an entire converted factory floor. This place in which A.C. Gilbert once manufactured “Erector Set” toys — introduced in 1913 as “Educational, Instructive, and Amusing” — is filled with young people engaged in variations on that same theme. They are making much more than music, and the space we call home is more than classrooms and rehearsal spaces. It is a true haven.
The services, programming, and instruments Music Haven provides would cost a family approximately $7,500 per student, per year.
Our Community
A 2012 NEA study found that of the people in the US who attended at least one “benchmark activity” in the arts (professional live theater, concerts of classical music or jazz, and the ballet), 75% were white, and nearly 70% had a family income of more than $50,000 a year. The race and class imbalance is even greater when it comes to participation in the arts — especially instrumental music — due to the high cost of lessons, instruments and parental time and resources required for success.
These barriers to access not only deny those with the greatest need the many youth development benefits of participation in the arts, they also impact our artistic and cultural institutions for the long-term, foreclosing on the creation of diverse and growing audiences and leadership. Music Haven addresses economic and racial barriers to access in the arts, providing a safe and supportive space for music making and positive youth development in New Haven.
