UniSound Mini-Grant Winner Spotlight: The Junior Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh
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.
On the surface, youth music programs offer young musicians a chance to fully immerse themselves in their passion, providing skilled education and strengthening their musical skills. However, many of these programs become a second home to these young people, sharing with them an environment full of new friends with a similar passion, and supportive and encouraging staff. The Junior Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh shares the following heartwarming moment from their past season:
“The most impactful moment of the Junior Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh’s (JMCP) 2018-2019 season was the presentation of the Barbara Cass Award for Excellence. The Barbara Cass Award is based on a singer’s merit, drive, conduct at rehearsal, preparedness, etc., and is voted on by the students in the JMCP. This year, our winner was Mollie Landman, a four-year senior in the JMCP. She had been having a particularly difficult year in her personal life, and to see the overwhelming support for her and her musicianship from her fellow singers was truly inspiring. On their voting forms, students described her as “a rock,” “hardworking, enthusiastic, kind,” “always focused and accurate,” and “always been a leader and someone I can look to.” Mollie is truly the embodiment of what the Barbara Cass Award means to the JMCP, and it was a proud moment to present it to her. For more on Mollie, follow this link: https://gma.abc/2O5AvzJ.”
A huge congratulations to Mollie on winning the Barbara Cass Award! It is absolutely amazing to see the support provided to her by her JMCP family.
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.
