Our Resume

Number Served

Partnership with Kenwood Elementary School

Kick-off with Former Indiana First Lady, Judy O’Bannon at Kenwood Elementary School; hand papermaking; traditional bookmaking; (7) field trips to Columbia College Chicago, School of Books and Paper Arts; field trip to Governor’s Mansion for Reading Day and audience with Judy O’Bannon to review 2nd grade books; culminating event included formal exhibition with all 600 books; guest appearance from juror (professional book artist), distribution of prizes; live jazz music; all open to the public; public display of select group of books at two locations during summer 2001

Partnership with Northwest Family Services

Weekly preschool music sessions concentrate singing traditional children’s songs to the accompaniment of a piano that we own which is stored on site; local musician directs children ages 3-5 years of age by incorporating small percussion instruments into program; focus on working together as a group, making props and concentrating on diction of lyrics so that there is an emphasis on language; guest musicians occasionally bring other instruments for "show and tell"; concerts held seasonally; performances are open to the public.

Create “Me Books” with festival goers to include photography, printmaking, story writing of author to produce a capsule of the moment; Hopscotch Around the World with hand drawn diagrams from 5 countries with directions for play in the respective countries; participants received a tee-shirt after playing in each country.

Partnership with Irving Elementary School, Hammond 

Media included: Story writing, gardening, sculpture, book making, drawing, printmaking., and photography—In depth study of our hands to realize the physical and spiritual nature of their capability for the present and into the future; over the course of six months, our volunteers and board members individually dipped hands in wax (one hand of each participant), printed hundreds of students and adults hand prints, planted 1500 marigold seeds, took hundreds of student & adult photographs, folded and stitched over 500 books composed of stories and illustrations detailing the action and reactions of using their hands, listened to countless personal stories, encouraged the entire school site to think and plan for their futures;

Community business volunteers lectured and demonstrated their occupations and answered questions in school wide assemblies; culminating event for public review was a formal exhibition of all completed work which displayed about 600 single plaster cast hands and hand bound books as well as blooming pots of marigolds; music teacher wrote a “Hand Song” with the students and performed it at the closing, June 5, 2003.

Partnership with Neighborhoods Inc.

Created one-of-a-kind hand bound book: House by House/Page by Page; this accordion fold volume with pockets provided festival goers a chance to draw a picture in colored pencil of where they live and tell why they like their neighborhood; this project was designed to instill neighborhood pride by allowing children and adults the opportunity to express their ideas and create one work with people of communities in both Indiana and Illinois; “artists” were encouraged to see the completed book as it was on public display at the Hammond Public and Calumet City libraries in the fall of 2003.

Partnership with School City of Hammond 

Extend vocal opportunity to elementary students in grades two through five. Program to include children that enjoy singing and desire a more serious application of this learned skill; children are learning to read music, developing a unified sound and looking forward to their culminating concerts at local  Hammond venues; School City of Hammond provides in-kind bus service to insure consistent attendance; Parents of private school or home-schooled students provide their own transportation. The choir instructor is from the Merit School of Music in Chicago.

Kenwood Elementary School Band 

Partnership with School City of Hammond 

In addition, we have started an elementary band program at Kenwood School. Students meet with a professional and degreed band teacher twice weekly for group instruction.

Both choir and band instructors are from the Merit School of Music in Chicago. The school year ended with three concerts at the Towle Theater in Downtown Hammond. These were free of charge and open to families and the community. 

Total attendance at the final concerts was approximately 300.

14 - Band

Program offered to all continuing band students and open to new students as well.  Same instructor contracted for the group to provide consistency.

Music Program kick-off for band and choir students and their families held at the Hammond Public Library Main Branch. All families members are encouraged to renew or apply for a library card. Many people use library services on this day. Families enjoy an ice cream sundae after they sign up and pay registration fees for their classes.

Partnership with School City of Hammond, Hammond Public Library & Ophelia Steen Center Continue to serve 2nd through 5th graders for elementary choir program in the same fashion as previous year. As an additional feature, we began a middle/high school level choir. Students from all over the city were invited to participate. Parents provided transportation to the Hammond Public Library Main Branch for weekly instruction held each Monday afternoon for one hour. Both choirs performed at the Neighborhoods Inc. Donor Appreciation Party held in February 2005. 

Continue to build Kenwood School Band and creation of Morton Elementary Band. Both of these sites operate as ”pull out” programs so that students receive instruction during the school day.

Middle/High School and select bands students perform at Orchestra Hall for MeritFest 2005. Our students performed with Merit School Students in their outreach programs. This opportunity afforded our students a chance to perform with their peers in a professional, world renown venue. Elementary School Choir and remaining band students attended as audience members.

All choir students performed a few songs at each of the four banks in downtown Hammond. We began at First Federal and continued to Bank Calumet, Mercantile/Harris Bank, and concluded at Citizens Financial Services. The tour was covered by Channel 56 WYIN news.

Partnership with Purdue University Calumet 

Our programs officially ended with a single concert that was free and open to the public. All participating students in both band and choir performed with a grand finale of  “Blue Skies” which received a standing ovation by the audience.

This program, once again, offered students an opportunity to continue skill building and presented an opportunity for new students to begin learning an instrument while regular school is not in session. Instructor is from the Merit School of Music, Chicago.

Through a generous contribution from the George Uzelac & Associates, Inc. Fund of the Legacy Foundation, all of the students in our programs were invited to attend this outstanding performance. Many parent chaperones and some community supporters were presented with this opportunity. The day began with an introduction to theater etiquette given by Jeff Casey, Managing Director of the Towle Theater, Hammond.

After the performance and bus ride back to the Hammond Public Library, young theater goers shared a pizza dinner and talked about their favorite parts of the musical. Many students and adults recorded their thoughts and memories on cards which were then recreated into a thank you box for the donor.

Music Program kick-off for band and choir students and their families was held at the Hammond Public Library Main Branch. All families members were encouraged to renew or apply for a library card. Many people used library services on this day. Families enjoyed an ice cream sundae after they signed up and paid registration fees for their classes.  Free books were distributed to students courtesy of Hammond Reads.  Personal journals were donated and distributed to the students by Barbara Hargrove.