Efterklang + gifted students from PS.859 = Efterkids! Feb 23rd in NYC
We are so super excited about this project. On Tuesday we will perform two of our songs together with kids from the Special Music School on strings in a very special way – If you want to go this special event you can! Just send an email to rsvpnyc@4ad.com
FROM 4AD in New York
We are very pleased to announce a VERY exciting record release party/performance for Efterklang’s 4AD debut album, Magic Chairs. It’s a multimedia extravaganza, and open to anyone with RSVP.
On Tuesday February 23rd from 5-7pm at the Clark Studio Theater in Manhattan, an 8 piece orchestra, made up of kids from PS. 859, a public school for musically gifted children from grades K-8 (aka The Special Music School) will perform Efterklang songs in tandem with a filmed performance of the band. The band will be projected on a 20-foot high screen behind the kids. We call this collaboration Efterkids! With this performance, 4AD and Efterklang hope to raise awareness for the overall issue of music education in schools.
From 5-6pm we will have a listening party for Magic Chairs with complimentary beer and wine, and the performance will begin at 6pm.
DATE: Tuesday February 23rd
LOCATION: Clark Studio Theater is part of Lincoln Center, located in the Rose Building, 7th Floor, at West 65th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. INFO
TIME: 5-7pm
WHO: anyone, space permitting
RSVP: rsvpnyc@4ad.com
As a fund-raising effort, 4AD will be filming the performance and producing a special 4AD Session (www.4ad.com/sessions/) that will go live online in March. The Efterkids 4AD Session will be heavily promoted and visitors will be asked to make a donation to the Special Music School in order to view the session. Materials will also be made available for other schools to create their own performance and videos of Efterkids.
The proceeds from this campaign will go toward raising money for much need computer equipment and other supplies for the school, and in addition, 4AD will be making a donation to the school.
ABOUT PS.859 – THE SPECIAL MUSIC SCHOOL
The Special Music School (SMS) is a unique model for how publicly funded arts education can work.
SMS was founded in 1996 as a public/private partnership between the New York City Department of Education and the Kaufman Center, a not-for-profit, multi-arts organization. Its students have benefitted greatly from an integrated approach to curriculum, receiving rigorous musical training and academic guidance in a holistic context that emphasizes creative thinking and problem solving.
THE NEED FOR MUSIC EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS
Producing future generations of musicians and adults who appreciate art is vital to our social fabric.
Beyond creating art, a recent Conference Board Report revealed that 74 percent of employers agree that creativity is increasingly important in U.S. workplaces. In addition, teamwork and critical thinking ranked in the five most important skills for new workforce entrants, yet more than half of these employers stated that entrants exhibited deficiencies in these skills. Ensuring that students have the opportunity to study a musical instrument helps resolve this deficit.
As other nations have looked to the United States education system as a model, and are including arts education in their curricula, many American schools are cutting these same programs. Without music programs in our public schools our children and our culture are weakened.
