Celebrate Music in Our Schools During the Month of March

Throughout the month of March, New Bedford Public Schools will celebrate Music in Our Schools Month, designated by the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) and Youth Art Month, a program of the National Art Education Association (NAEA).

Schools across the city will play host to events that promote the integration of arts into the curriculum:

March 3 – Music in Our Schools Month kicked off with the Young People’s Concert, a visit by all Grade 3 students to the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, part of a longtime partnership between the symphony and the schools. Musicians from the symphony have spent time at city schools and now third-graders attended the symphony perform. As part of arts integration, this concert featured themes that tie in to curriculum, such as contrast in literature, and students’ work will be featured in a display that is part of the production. The concert is supported by the New Bedford Cultural Council, the New Bedford Education Foundation and the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra.

March 5 – Casimir Pulaski Elementary School, the city’s visual and performing arts magnet school, will host its monthly Display of Learning. This month, Grade 1 will display their arts-integrated learning, with a theme of Change: in the community, in the seasons, and in ourselves.

March 9 through March 20 – Pulaski will also be home to an artist-in-residence, Rick Morin. Through the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s STARS Residency Grant, Mr. Morin, a percussionist, will work with students in Grades 3, 4 and 5, culminating in an event at the end of his stay.

March 10 – New Bedford High School will have its Jazz and Show Choir Extravaganza at 7 p.m. The All-City Middle School Jazz Band and Junior Show Choir will perform, as well as the New Bedford High School Jazz Band, small combos and NBHS Show Choirs. Tickets are $3 for students and senior citizens and $5 for adults.

March 12 – Students in Grades 6, 7 and 8 who participate in band and chorus will visit New Bedford High for the Annual Middle School Music Visiting Day. Middle school students will enjoy an engaging concert by top NBHS bands and Show Choir, as well as have the opportunity to see the school firsthand and talk directly with high school students about the opportunities at New Bedford High.

Month-long events – In addition to multiple student art exhibits throughout the schools, New Bedford students have participated in writing new verses of lyrics to a city anthem by Dawn Blake Souza, “New Bedford, My Home by the Sea.” Entries will be accepted through the month of March, with a vote later in the spring by the school community for a final submission.

“The world of art and music is an important opportunity for all of our children to experience,” said Superintendent Pia Durkin. “Through the arts, children are given new ways of expressing themselves and honing their creativity. Music in Our Schools Month and Youth Art Month in New Bedford will also tie in seamlessly with what our students are learning in their classrooms every day.”

Director of Fine Arts Kerri Quinlan-Zhou said, “Music in Our Schools Month and Youth Art Month presents a fantastic opportunity to highlight the creativity that is regularly occurring in our schools through classroom instruction and over 160 events annually.”