Community & Education
Wholeheartedly dedicated to educational outreach, the NSA has developed a number of music education opportunities for both children and adults. The NSA’s various K-12 educational programs, managed by the board’s Educational Outreach committee, have been expanded and re-imagined to be a multi-pronged effort that touches 9,000 students of all ages.
Schools with an arts-rich environment offer opportunities for students to develop positive attitudes toward the arts and toward school. The NSA augments the public schools’ minimal arts offerings through our "Concerts in the Schools" program every March, bringing live performances (classical, jazz, baroque, ethno-acoustic) into Nashua’s 14 public elementary schools. These are interactive lecture-demonstration-performances, allowing students to answer and ask questions and to participate in the music-making at every opportunity.
Our exciting and innovative "Ripple Effect" project with Nashua’s high schools began in April of 2006, and has continued to develop. The project - which continues this season - integrates the efforts of student poets and visual artists, professional composers, designers, and performers to show the interconnectivity of the art forms. Student poetry is set to music and performed by the orchestra and/or chorus; student artists respond visually to the poetry, all the student work is compiled in a commemorative booklet.
Several of our performances each season are preceded by "Pizza Dress Rehearsals" where up to 70 students/parents learn about the orchestra, get to meet our soloist, and attend a portion of the dress rehearsal - all for just $5 (including pizza!). For all of our concerts, we make available our new "Pulse!" program book, designed by our Educational Outreach committee to make the music more accessible for young people.
Add to the above efforts our Children’s Youth Concerts and our Symphony Chorus, and you’ll see that the NSA has undertaken a truly comprehensive effort to deepen the general public’s understanding of the arts.