ABOUT OUR INREACH PROGRAMS
Black Pearl's education and community engagement activities are unique because they offer audiences unprecedented and direct access to the musicians and conductor.
These award-winning programs were created by Maestro Johnson who believes that giving audiences – regardless of their level of knowledge- the opportunity to reach into an art form for a more direct experience, is the best way to engage them. This “Inreach” philosophy informs all of Black Pearl’s concert, educational and community engagement activities. The goal is to transform the perception of artists and institutions from being gatekeepers of a creative product into being facilitators of the creative process.
Through groundbreaking educational programs and collaborative partnerships with the city's most prominent education and cultural institutions, Black Pearl has become a nationally-recognized leader in building audiences for classical music by enchanting newcomers and aficionados alike. Black Pearl is proof that when the arts engage the community, the community will enthusiastically participate in the arts. As an acknowledgement of its groundbreaking work, the Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra is the only organization ever to win three Knight Foundation Arts Challenge grants.
Open Rehearsal with iConduct!
Unlike a polished performance where you see the results of our hard work, open rehearsals offer school students a glimpse into how musicians think, how a conductor communicates her vision, and how a team of talented people with individual ideas comes together to accomplish a unified goal.
Open Rehearsals with iConduct!™ not only open the door to working Black Pearl rehearsals it invites them on stage with Maestro Jeri Lynne Johnson to have a mini conducting lesson with the musicians.
This highly adaptable and portable program can be integrated with school curricula and is ideal for classroom activities, school assemblies and as special group activities at community centers.
Orchestrating Youth Leadership
The art of conducting teaches you that you have no right to ask those things of others, if you do not first demand them from your self.
Recognizing the value of this important life lesson for youth, Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra Founder Jeri Lynne Johnson developed Orchestrating Youth Leadership as a workshop for middle- and high-school students to master “executive functioning” skills (such as impulse and emotional control, flexible thinking, planning and prioritizing) by learning the art of conducting.
Since 2009, this after school program has worked with hundreds of young people grown to be a successful and established core educational program offered at a number of public schools, community and youth service organizations across Philadelphia.
Corporate Workshops
Using the conductor’s podium as a heuristic device, Orchestrating Leadership offers a distinctive method to help executives and employees develop a more authoritative, versatile, creative, authentic and holistic approach to leadership.
Orchestrating Leadership is also an engaging platform for facilitating the creative process in your organization to unearth and demonstrate new strategies to address a wide range of technical, operational and cultural challenges faced by organizations.
For more information on this program and how Maestro Johnson and Black Pearl can help your organization tap into and capitalize upon your creativity, click here.
Black Pearl Inreach Programs
Our ability to provide these FREE high quality programs to youth in under served communities across Philadelphia is made possible through the generous support of people like you! If you would like to support our concert programming and innovative education work, you can make a secure online donation here!
