With the help of generous donors and corporate sponsors, OrchKids was able to send 47 students to outside summer programs around the country in 2017 – the highest number in the program’s history. Southwest Airlines increased the number of donated travel vouchers to 40 this year, which allowed our OrchKids to attend the following programs:

• Interlochen Summer Arts Camp: This year, 22 OrchKids students attended this prestigious summer camp. Located in beautiful northern Michigan, the Interlochen Arts Camp offers summer arts programs for grades 3-12. Each summer over 2,500 students from all over the world come to Interlochen to study music, visual arts, theatre, film, dance and creative writing.

• LA Philharmonic’s Take a Stand Festival: Five students participated in this competitive, seven-day national youth orchestra camp for students from El Sistema programs across the United States, which featured a final performance led by LA Phil Music Director Gustavo Dudamel.
• Camp Encore/Coda: Two OrchKids students traveled to Maine to experience this incredible small, selective camp of only 130 students. Camp Encore/Coda is located in in Sweden, Maine and embraces the study of multiple genres of music (e.g. classical, jazz, rock, pop) under the guidance of highly sought-after teachers in the beautiful, inspirational surroundings of a 67-acre wooded campus.
• Alpine Brass Band Academy:  Two OrchKids students earned the privilege to attend this ten-day camp in Stams, Austria for students 10-18 years old. The Academy focuses on British Brass Band music, solo literature and New Orleans Brass. These same two students also attended Sistema England Young Leaders Camp, a 10 day camp located at Trinity College that focuses on orchestral repertoire, mentoring and leadership skills.

• Ithaca College Summer Music Academy:  Three OrchKids students attended this two-week residential, pre-college experience for high school students. The Summer Music Academy offers a rich variety of music courses, as well as non-music courses, taught by Ithaca College faculty and top music educators from across the country.
• Archipelago Project: Nine OrchKids students attended the Archipelago Project, a ten-day camp in Traverse City, Michigan that allows students to compose their own compositions, work collaboratively with other students from around the country and create new, creative musical arrangements.
• Peabody Preparatory’s Allegro Strings: Six students attended this camp in Towson, MD. Allegro Strings provides a week of intensive music and enrichment classes. Group classes provide the opportunity to refine ensemble skills, perform for others, review and polish known songs and learn new songs outside of the Suzuki repertoire.
• Peabody Preparatory’s Composition and Improvisation Camp: 40 students participated in a one week camp at Peabody’s downtown campus with a culminating performance at the R.F. Lewis African American History Museum.