The Score | Dallas Symphony Expands Education Programs in Southern Dallas

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra recently announced an initiative that will provide instruments and instruction to children in schools and after-school programs in Southern Dallas, an area that has been afflicted by poverty. The DSO’s program launched in December with an instrument “playground” at Southwest Center Mall introducing children to the instruments of the orchestra, with follow-up up event in January at South Dallas Cultural Center. The DSO is conducting instrument drives that will provide hundreds of instruments to students by June 2019. The free music program will include lessons multiple times per week as part of school and existing after-school programs, with educational partners helping the DSO to develop curriculum and train teaching artists. As part of the initiative, DSO musicians will perform concerts and collaborate with artists in the community. The program is expected to expand in 2020 with weekly or twice-weekly music education for children from 3 to 5 years old. The program joins the orchestra’s ongoing music education programs, which include Symphony Yes! interactive music performances by DSO musicians in schools, and Young Strings, whose participants are students in grades 2 to 12 from disadvantaged neighborhoods.