UniSound Mini-Grant Winner Spotlight: Yahweh RYSE
As mentioned in our previous blog post, UniSound awarded four $500 Mini-Grants to four awesome organizations that are doing some amazing work in their communities! UniSound asked each applicant to share their favorite moment of their organization having an impact on a young person, or group of people during the 2018-2019 season. Often we forget that these organizations are not only providing young musicians with a superb music education, but they also help shape young people into confident, strong, and kind individuals, while providing them with a supportive atmosphere of friends, teachers, and colleagues.
Our first featured winner is Yahweh RYSE, an organization whose vision for the leadership development and character formation of young people is accomplished through a commitment to the fusion of rigorous ministry and professional high-quality fine arts training. If this moment from their season doesn’t fully capture Yahweh RYSE’s vision, we don’t know what does!
“Last year, while preparing to cast our 2018 production, there was 1 particular student who we knew would be great for a role but did not have much musical background, nor a theater background. We knew that perhaps getting him some exposure to those things would help to get him into the role. Initially, he was very doubtful and unsure if this was something he could do though it was something he wanted to do. After working with him several weekends out of the last quarter of the year, he not only performed well on the drums with the rest of his student group, but he did a wonderful job as the main character of our production! His growth was astronomical and we as a staff felt his self-confidence soar so much that it inspired us all. He was able to nail down his part, in spite of a very busy football season, and learn some great life lessons as he really studied how he related to the character. We even watched him coach some of his fellow cast-mates in their roles, it was amazing! Now, he is one of the first to sign up for another audition to play a lead role AND he has been doing more drum recitals and performances! Even if our students do not pursue the arts full time, we always strive to help them grow in confidence and in leadership, and his growth in both areas encouraged us to keep going forward!”
It is always amazing to see how a student can recognize their own innate potential, even if it takes a little nudge from instructors (or peers!).
Check back in the following weeks for more Mini-Grant Winner Spotlights!
What is UniSound?
Our mission is to create a more accessible, sustainable, and equitable youth music ecosystem in the greater Pittsburgh area through building an alliance of organizations that provide music education and performance opportunities for youth. UniSound is a program of Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestras but is ultimately a collaborative project of more than 35 (and growing!) Pittsburgh area organizations that share a common trait of providing opportunities for children and/or teens to create music out-of-school time. UniSound aims to strengthen organizations by providing professional development opportunities and mini-grants to support work that our organizations are already doing, to connect organizations with musical families with the use of the online directory and shared marketing initiatives, and hopes to provide a voice for organizations to speak up in important conversations, policies, and initiatives in our region. For more info about UniSound, click HERE.
