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| | | Silk Road Connect students will perform with the Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma and friends for SummerStage's opening night
| © TODD ROSENBERG, JENNIFER TAYLOR
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We are thrilled to announce a one-of-a-kind event that will shine a spotlight on the sixth-grade students in our Silk Road Connect pilot program in New York City—a free, public performance in Central Park, no less. On June 7, 2011, at 6:30 PM, around 450 students and their teachers will take the stage with Yo-Yo Ma, the Silk Road Ensemble, the chamber orchestra The Knights, and surprise special guests to kick off the City Parks Foundation's SummerStage season with an evening of music, dance, art and stories called "Night at the Caravanserai: Tales of Wonder."
Damian Woetzel, longtime principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, is directing the production, which will invite the audience to an imaginary caravanserai, a roadside inn along the Silk Road where travelers are gathering for a festival of the stars. Silk Road Ensemble cellist Mike Block will direct music for the event. As Silk Road Connect Lead Teaching Artist, he has been active throughout the year in all four of our pilot schools: Edward Bleeker JHS 185 in Queens, Frederick Douglass Academy III in the Bronx, Granville T. Woods MS 584 in Brooklyn, and PS/MS 161 Pedro Albizu Campos School in Harlem.
Silk Road Connect uses arts integration to inspire passion-driven learning in the classroom and beyond. Collaboration among teachers and visiting teaching artists prepares students to connect multiple aspects of their lives and studies.
Our two-year pilot program through the NYC Department of Education (DOE) will conclude this year; however, Silk Road Connect will remain active in New York City and will continue to offer professional development support for arts integration to DOE teachers. In addition, we are planning a Silk Road Connect summer institute at Harvard University in 2012, which will be open to educators and teaching artists regardless of their location.
Students in the program last year took part in a performance celebrating their year of learning called "Connect Live!" with Yo-Yo and the Ensemble at the American Museum of Natural History. This year's event will give students the chance to perform with even more professional musicians and guest artists and to invite their families, friends and neighbors to take part in the experience. This
performance is supported in part by Hyosung Corporation, Ford
Foundation, MetLife Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
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