Here's just a small sampling of cool music programs that you can support by donating to The Minstrel Foundation
Students at the Dixon Hall Music School
University Settlement Music School Concert March 7, 2020 (Emily Ding photos)
Programs
By supporting the Minstrel Foundation, you are helping to fund a range of music programs for youth in our inner city. These programs introduce children and teens to the wonders and joy of music, help them develop their talent, let them experience a world outside their own environment through music festivals, camps and other performances, and open doors for them to new opportunities in education and life. Also, as music lessons are usually given one student at a time, close relationships develop between student and teacher, giving our students the personal mentorship many are missing in their young lives. The Minstrel Foundation is providing support to the following organizations. As our resources increase, in the future we will also be helping more students of these inner city music programs with scholarships to further their music/arts post secondary education at a Conservatory or University.
Dixon Hall Music School
Since 1978 Dixon Hall Music School has been a “second home” to thousands of children and youth from the Regent Park and Moss Park neighbourhoods of Toronto. Here, they take one or more of 21 different instruments or classes on a weekly basis, speaking one of 18 different languages. Many have been with us for a decade or more, unlocking a world of music in a positive, safe and welcoming environment for as low as $3 per lesson.
We employ an individual approach to the students that stresses mentorship, friendship, non-judgment and support, an approach that has seen students go on to higher learning in a number of disciplines and careers in acting, performing and recording.
Our students speak of coming to Canada at a young age feeling overwhelmed and out of place, and that the Music School was (and is) the best part of their childhood. At a recent recital at our school, the mother of a student told another mom, “I’m not rich. But the Music School makes me feel culturally rich”.
University Settlement Music & Arts School
University Settlement House is the oldest community music school in the City of Toronto. It offers a fully subsidized music program throughout the whole year for inner city youth, the majority of which live in six social service housing complexes in its neighbourhood around the Art Gallery of Ontario west of Spadina Ave. All its music programs are offered at below market rates and approximately 35% of children and youth enrolled receive subsidies of up to 70% to participate in private lessons and group music classes.
The caliber of teaching is high. Each year students are invited to participate in music festivals, students achieve high marks on their RCM exams and many go on to university. In 2018 one student on financial assistance was awarded the ARCT Gold Medal for Theory - only one of these is awarded for the whole of Canada each year.
The Minstrel Foundation annual grant covers the subsidy for approximately 90 children from low income families who would not otherwise be able to participate in music lessons.
The Hammer Band
The Hammer Band provides free group violin instruction to children, from grades 4 - 8, in schools and community centres in the Greater Toronto Area to youth who would not otherwise have the opportunity to learn an instrument. The program consists of 30 weeks of instruction after school hours. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the 2020-2021 sessions are being conducted online. The program, initially known as “From Violence to Violins” was launched in 2007 by Moshe Hammer in response to Toronto’s “summer of the gun”. The program has now expanded to more than 1,100 students in 42 schools in at-risk neighbourhoods at Jane & Finch, Regent Park, St. James Town, East York, North York, Malvern, Brampton and Durham.
Humber College Community Music School
The Humber College Community Music School is an outreach program for children and youth aged 3 to 18. The program offers Saturday music classes from September to June through Humber College’s Music Department.
Formed in 1980, this unique program was originally established to offer children and youth an alternative form of music education to traditional classical lessons.
The School has established an international reputation as a leader in jazz education; built relationships and networks with local, regional, national and international organizations involved in music and music education; has helped thousands of students from across the GTA explore, develop and pursue their individual talent and aspirations with music; and has helped prepare some of Canada’s finest up and coming young artists for careers in the commercial / jazz performance field.
Regent Park School of Music
The Minstrel Foundation founded the Regent Park School of Music in May 1999. With the ongoing support of the Minstrel Foundation which has now exceeded $300,000, the school has flourished. RPSM offers group ensemble and private lessons in a variety of instruments taught by 53 teachers. The Foundation initiated the popular IPad ensemble classes in 2013 and each year funds this program which teaches music composition and computer skills. The school began in the basement of St. Paul’s Basilica on Queen Street. Today it has its own premise within the Daniel Spectrum Centre in the heart of Regent Park and has satellite locations in the Jane/Finch and Parkdale neighbourhoods.
Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus
The CCOC is one of Toronto’s musical traditions, in operation for over 35 years. There are currently 200 children aged 5-19 in its ruby, apprentice, principal and youth choruses. While some children go on to musical careers, the CCOC’s mission is “to foster a lifelong enjoyment of the arts in children by introducing them to the magic of live opera, both as performers and as members of our audiences.” Members of the CCOC present a yearly opera and perform in many concerts and musical events.