Symphony Orchestra on Tour
On April 25th, 2024, CAMP’s Symphony Orchestra students are touring a student-created musical storytime program accompanying the book Greta and the Giants by Zoë Tucker (based on the environmental activist Greta Thunberg). Over the course of the year, they've composed new music, created props, and put together a program to tour to four elementary schools on the West Side: Chicago West Side Christian School, Kipp One Primary, Polaris Charter Academy, and Beidler Elementary School.
CAMP in Austin Weekly News
In May 2023, CAMP’s Chamber and Symphony Orchestra students worked on preparing an arrangement of Lizzo’s “Better in Color,” a hip-hop anthem about equal love of all races. As luck would have it, Lizzo was scheduled to perform in Chicago the next day! Students worked together to create a video asking her to come sing with them. The story was picked up by local paper Austin Weekly News. Read the article here!
CAMP Case Study
CAMP is honored to be included in the new book Global Perspectives on Youth Arts Programs by Dr. Frances Howard of Nottingham Trent University. The book analyzes different aspects of international arts programs and CAMP serves as the sole American case study. Pick up a copy today!
block club chi article
In preparation for CAMP’s spring fundraiser in April 2021, Block Club Chicago released an article detailing our programming. Read the article here.
show chi love
CAMP students were invited to play as a pep band during Show Chi Love, Breakthrough’s NBA All Stars festival. Watch a video of their performance!
2018 Student interviews
Listen to why students of Chicago Arts and Music Project think music matters. Click here.
ABC7 news story
Watch Chicago Arts and Music Project’s feature on ABC 7! Thanks to their coverage, our registration has more than tripled for the 2019-20 school year. Click here for the full story.
TEDx Talk by Lindsay Fredrickson
Listen to Executive Director Lindsay Fredrickson give a TEDx Talk at DePaul University about how El Sistema is changing the face of the American orchestra. Click here.
Music Inc. Collaboration
Chicago Arts and Music Project is all about community engagement and partnerships. This spring, CAMP students partnered with students from MUSIC Inc., a local El Sistema music program in Chicago’s Lawndale neighborhood. Together, students from both program composed a new piece, rehearsed Samba La Bamba, and performed their own unique repertoire. We can’t wait to work with them again!
DePaul University Side by Side
CAMP students had the opportunity to participate in a side-by-side rehearsal with the DePaul University Concert Orchestra. They brought their own repertoire, How Far I’ll Go and Samba La Bamba, and worked with college students in sectionals and a full orchestra rehearsal. Click here for a video of the rehearsal.
Scapi Magazine podcast
Listen to an interview with director Lindsay Fredrickson for Scapi Magazine as she talks all about Chicago Arts and Music Project, El Sistema in America, and stories about current students enrolled in orchestra. Click here to listen to the episode.
voyage chicago: meet lindsay fredrickson
VoyageChicago interviewed Executive Director, Lindsay Fredrickson, about her work with Chicago Arts and Music Project and her journey as a musician. For a link to the article, click here.
el sistema in honduras
Executive Director, Lindsay Fredrickson, wrote an article featured in the El Sistema USA newsletter about her experience as a teaching fellow in Honduras. To read the full article, click here.
MTNA COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT GRANT
Chicago Arts and Music Project is the proud recipient of the Music Teachers National Association Community Engagement Grant. They will offer $750 to purchase music stands for our December concert. For more information about MTNA, visit their website.
alfred music
We would like to say a huge "Thank you!" to Alfred Music, who has been gracious enough to donate most or all of this upcoming year's repertoire! For more information about products available at Alfred Music, visit their website.
Hungry for music
Chicago Arts and Music Project is so grateful to our friends at Hungry for Music for agreeing to donate 8-12 violins to the orchestra this September! To learn more about their incredible organization, visit their website.
Holiday instrument Drive
A huge shout out to all of the wonderful people that helped build a collection of 40 instruments and $2,000 in donations during the holiday instrument drive! This was certainly not an easy feat and relied heavily on word-of-mouth connections and social media shares from all of you. Thank you for all of the effort put towards providing free orchestral education to children living in Chicago's west side. It would never have been possible without all of your tremendous support.
Congressman Steve King vs. A Young Teacher: A Choice for All of Us
"I opened up my Facebook this week and was confronted with two posts that I thought said a lot about where we are as Americans today. The first post in my timeline was someone quoting a tweet by Iowa Congressman Steve King. Mr. King’s uplifting message of the day was this: “Diversity is not our strength.” He then appears to quote the Hungarian Prime Minster saying, “Mixing cultures will not lead to a higher quality of life but a lower one.” So basically Mr. King is reminding us that he’s a racist. To his credit, he’s a racist who continually gets elected to congress by the fine people of Northwest Iowa.
"The next post in my Facebook feed was from a young woman named Lindsay Fredrickson. In the interest of full disclosure, Lindsay was a former student of mine. Lindsay’s post was drawing attention to her work collecting instruments and donations for the Chicago Arts Project. Lindsay has chosen to dedicate her considerable talent and energy to putting instruments and music education in the hands and hearts of young people who are seriously at-risk (https://www.facebook.com/chicagoartsproject/). Lindsay is part of a movement known as El Sistema (that name right there has Steve King puckering up) where young people achieve life goals through the rewards of musical instruction."
.....Read more!