Non-Profit Group Brings Together NYC Public School Students

by Angelina Chavez | 04/26/2013 | 4:43pm

Non-Profit Group Brings Together NYC Public School Students

Over 200 public schools students across NYC are coming together for an electrified rock symphony performance.

The Electrify Your Music Foundation is holding its first major fundraising event.

The so-called 5-Borough Youth Rock Symphony Concert kicks off Friday at the Brooklyn Technical High School Theater.

Mark Wood heads the non-profit group. He says the funds raised at the event will help bring music programs to the city’s underfunded public schools.

“I’ve witnessed truly the struggle that the greatest city in the world goes through with their arts program. With the show tonight [Friday] it’s important that we share with the communities that we cannot lay down and be pushed aside as the city of the world,” Wood said.

Wood, an Emmy-Award winning composer and electric violinist says music programs are a vital part of the educational experience.

“It’s an augmented experience. It teaches kids to work with kids who are different than they are. Different colors, different religions and different political standings. They all play together with a smile on their face,” Wood said.

Among the seven participating schools are Bronx’s Celia Cruz High School and Queen’s Bayside High School.The student orchestra, along with Mark Wood will perform arrangements of the music of Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and Vivaldi.

The Electrify Your Music Foundation was founded on the success of Woods Electrify Your Strings! curriculum which has already been brought into hundreds of public schools across the country over the past 12 years. That curriculum was develped after Wood witnessed a major defecit in music and art programs after traveling across the United States and around the world.

For more information on the foundation click here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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