Community Engagement
Residency Programs and Community Concerts
We are pleased to have expanded our Community Engagement Program this year to three weeks. Our Ensemble-in-Residence, Decoda, an affiliate ensemble of Carnegie Hall, worked with students at Fitch High School in Groton, Waterford Country School and with the adult participants at Vista Life Innovations. They also lead two one-week residencies at Cheshire Correctional Institute where the prisoners are offered life-changing experiences through the musical workshops led by the Decoda artists.
In addition to the residency programs, Decoda performed two FREE family concerts in Old Lyme at on Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library and at Saint Ann’s Church.
Join our mailing list to stay in the know about our upcoming concerts.Decoda spent a week with Waterford Country School, a nonprofit dedicated to educating at risk youth who have been un successful in traditional school settings. Our musical workshop was designed to foster trust and a sense of community and boost confidence through the vehicle of chamber music. We also returned to Fitch High School in Groton to work with their instrumental ensembles as well as their advanced theory and composition students. Our goal was to help them envision and experience the world of professional musicians/composers as they work with our Ensemble-in-Residence, Decoda. A highlight was when Decoda performed the student compositions to a live audience of friends, family, and community!
With our workshops over the past two years at Vista, a nonprofit creating community and pathways to independence for young adults with neurological disabilities, a true partnership has developed. Members of the Vista community now regularly attend MM main series concerts. In addition, staff from MM attend presentations by the Vista Community. Last season we were delighted to expand the scope of our creative workshops with their community and incorporate both music and the visual arts into the program.
Decoda, through their other long-term residencies with prisons, have been “inspired by the power of music to help with rehabilitation and anti-recidivism.” For a second time, MM offered this programming which “promotes self-expression in a creative space, strengthens citizenship within the prison community, and uses collaborative activities to foster social and analytical skills for success.”
Kitchings Family Foundation
George A. & Grace L. Long Foundation, Bank of America, N.A., Co-Trustee
Samuel Freeman Charitable Trust