{"id":2293,"date":"2015-07-27T13:58:08","date_gmt":"2015-07-27T20:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/?p=2293"},"modified":"2015-09-09T11:18:21","modified_gmt":"2015-09-09T18:18:21","slug":"u-s-nonprofit-brings-classical-guitar-to-new-audiences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/u-s-nonprofit-brings-classical-guitar-to-new-audiences\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Nonprofit Brings Classical Guitar to New Audiences"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"1_DSC1213-copy-1200x900_c[1]\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Three top young guitarists\u2014Americans Adam Levin<\/strong> and Matthew Rohde<\/strong>, and Australian Scott Borg<\/strong>\u2014have banded together to form the Kithara Project<\/strong>, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that aims to bring classical guitar to underserved communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mission is to bring the magic of the guitar through partnerships, performances, workshops, and residencies to communities in the U.S. and abroad that don\u2019t otherwise have access to live music or music education,\u201d Matt Rohde says. \u201cThese might include schools in many cases, rural communities, juvenile justice centers or marginalized communities and, of course, the connective tissue of our work is the classical guitar, which is a uniquely universal, versatile instrument and is a great medium for the kind of work that we believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n

In its inaugural 2015-16 season, the Kithara Project has decided to focus on two of its flagship programs\u2014the first at Fiorentino Community Center, a Boston, Massachusetts-based community center, which opened July 21.<\/p>\n

\u201c[It\u2019s built] to hold a variety of activities, but they didn\u2019t have any music,\u201d Levin says of the facility, where Kithara held a successful pilot program before its opening. \u201cIt includes a broad population of people from different backgrounds with limited resources, so we thought it was very neutral ground to build our first flagship program.\u201d The second, a program based in Yuguelito, Mexico, where Rohde first had the pleasure of visiting last year while on tour with the state department, called \u201cEmpezamos Juntos\u201d or \u201cLet\u2019s Start Together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a marginalized community at the heart of Mexico City that lacks access to running water, among other things,\u201d Rohde says of the town. \u201cIn partnership with a local Mexican non-governmental organization, a university, and a radio station, we\u2019re going to be launching the program.\u201d The launch is scheduled for September 1, when Rohde and Levin will deliver at least a dozen guitars and offer a series of workshops and performances. To sustain the program, the project plans to partner with local guitarists and have them return on a weekly basis to teach classes.<\/p>\n

Levin and Rohde backgrounds span wider than classical-guitar performance\u2014Levin holds an undergraduate degree in psychology and Rohde pursued a graduate degree in international relations, which he credits as allowing him to find a \u201cmeeting point between international relations, global affairs, and music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collectively, the founders recognized an opportunity to use the classical guitar as a gateway to address larger issues. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about the relevance of Mexico in relation to the US,\u201d Adam Levin says, \u201cso in some ways we\u2019re bringing in our interest in the political climate there and our neighbors [through classical guitar].\u201d<\/p>\n

The Kithara Project, which has no relation to the fine Texas-based Kithara Duo, plans to partner with various public and charter schools and collaborate with community organizations to make music more accessible to more students. Concerts and residencies in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York City, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, are also planned for the future.<\/p>\n

“We want to challenge people to rethink the guitar,\u201d Scott Borg adds. \u201cWhat it means to be a performer; what it means to be an audience member; how the performer [interacts] with the audience and [makes] them active participants in the music-making process. Furthermore, what role can the guitar play in everyday lives.”<\/p>\n

Among the programs Kithara has launched are Master Guitar-in-Residence, in which a well-established guitarists share conservatory-level teaching and coaching at elementary, middle, and high schools for a week; Introductory Musical Programs for teaching students the basics of classical music; In-School Visiting Artists who will perform and offer lecture-demonstration programs; and Webcast Student concerts. For more information, visit kitharaproject.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three top young guitarists\u2014Americans Adam Levin and Matthew Rohde, and Australian Scott Borg\u2014have banded together to form the Kithara Project, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that aims to bring classical guitar to underserved communities. \u201cThe mission is to bring the magic of the guitar through partnerships, performances, workshops, and residencies to communities in the U.S. and abroad that don\u2019t otherwise have access to live music or music education,\u201d Matt Rohde says. \u201cThese might include schools in many cases, rural communities, juvenile […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":2294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/1_DSC1213-copy-1200x900_c1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}