Grand Vision’s Roots of Music Program (RoMP) has been awarded a $50,000 Music Education Partnership Grant from Chorus America. RoMP was 1 of 21 chosen out of several programs representing different regions throughout the US and Canada. RoMP was selected because of the program’s ability to increase access to music education and promote learning and cultural literacy with an emphasis on access, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Chorus America’s criteria for funding applications were guided by core values of community co-creation, cross-cultural exchange, and the dismantling of historic and systemic racism.
RoMP is a semester-long, standards-based curriculum provided for fourth graders. The program consists of a semester of in-school lessons, three professional concert field trip performances (presented virtually in 2021-22), and a culminating student choral concert.
A core feature of Grand Vision’s RoMP program is teaching foundational music concepts through a lens of world music. The unique curriculum and concert field trips feature music, instrumentation and songs from around the world. Grand Vision’s teaching artists leas students in in-school lessons and professional bands: ADAAWE – Women of Voice and Drum; the Honey Whiskey Trio, Americana folk singers; and Cambalache, traditional music of Veracruz anchor the program with live, interactive educational concerts.
RoMP gets kids singing, creating and moving to music – and at the same time, it opens the door to learning about geography, global history and cultural sensitivity through diverse music traditions.
I loved the field trips because I got to learn about the past. I also liked how my class and I got to learn the paths of other people.
They loved a Latino group for representing their culture. Through your curriculum we are able to ensure that our students are taught the Common Core Standards for 4th grade in the Arts (Music) in a comprehensible, enjoyable manner that allows them to connect with the material.
About Chorus America’s Music Education Partnership Grants
Through a new funding opportunity, Chorus America’s inaugural Music Education Partnerships Grants program provides funding of over $1 million to 22 community organizations working to increase access to choral music education and promote non-arts learning and cultural literacy. The projects funded in the 2022-23 school year also uphold the principles of access, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
