From the President & CEO
The first noun in our mission statement is access, the second is benefits, and music education comes third. Our mission requires us to be so much more than a free music school: We are an after-school provider, ensuring equitable access to high quality programming immediately after the bell rings. We are an education organization, with our program leading to gains in literacy, math and student engagement. We are a community institution, working with and empowering the families and communities we serve. Our students become so much more than musicians.
One of my favorite examples of our mission coming to life is the story of Bryce, a senior in our class of 2023. Bryce started as a seventh-grade tuba student in Fall 2018 at our Greater South Side site. Bryce grew steadily under Natalie Butler’s skilled baton, blossoming over time into a promising young musician. In those first years, he built community, confidence, and skill.
In March 2020, everything changed. During the pandemic, his amazing mother Bertina worked as a caregiver for elderly individuals, a job that required her to work outside the home in a historically challenging moment. Bryce worked hard to stay engaged, but his mental health slumped. Seeing that he needed a boost, we changed Bryce’s teacher to someone more adept at online instruction. With the encouragement and persistence of his mother and teachers, Bryce pushed through, entering the 2021-22 school year as TPMS’s first honors SLAM student from our Greater South Side site.
Bryce at the Gary Comer Youth Center, our Greater South Side site, in 2018
Bryce has grown at TPMS not only as a musician but as a determined learner and self-advocate. In the words of his teacher, “If he didn’t understand something, he would ask. And if he still didn’t, he’d ask me to explain it again and again until he did.” That growth mindset paid off: This year, Bryce was the only student at TPMS who advanced two music theory levels in a single year. This fall, Bryce enters Monmouth College on a music scholarship, scouted by a recruiter in the halls of TPMS. He hopes to study biology and become an ecologist.
Bryce’s senior photo
Bryce’s story illustrates our aspirations for our students fully realized. Because of our focus on eliminating all kinds of barriers to access, Bertina first found us in her own community and was able to circumvent the typical financial barriers to intensive music education for her son. Because of our focus on the benefits of a long-term journey, our faculty and staff never gave up on Bryce, doing everything we could to support his persistence. Bryce’s musical training helped lead him to his chosen postsecondary path, where he will build a career in STEM. We are so proud of Bryce, and we can’t wait to see where he goes from here.
In this annual report, you’ll learn more about what makes our school one-of-a-kind for students like Bryce. You’ll read about highlights from a tremendous year, including the breakthrough success of our new site at Hyde Park Academy High School. You’ll learn about our leading-edge use of student data to inform our programmatic decisions, and our exemplary artistic partnerships. What I hope is clear from our stories is a laser focus on our mission: access to the benefits of transformational music education, for every Bryce in Chicago.
In service,
Miriam Goldberg Owens
President and Chief Executive Officer, The People’s Music School
Mission & Programs
OUR MISSION is to deliver access to the benefits of high-quality, tuition-free music education. Through intensive instruction and performance, our students achieve excellence in music that transfers to other areas in life. They grow musically, socially, emotionally and intellectually, and develop a foundation of responsibility, self-esteem, resilience and purpose.
OUR PROGRAMS
The People’s Music School (TPMS) focuses our work where need is greatest, providing rigorous after-school music programming to 725 students who have financial barriers to access. TPMS’s original community school in Uptown has persisted for 47 years. Over time, we have added partnerships with public schools in Chicago’s underserved communities to expand student access and increase our portfolio of sites. Through the cultivation of musical learning and growth, our ultimate goal is to empower students with crucial life skills, support socio-emotional development, and provide transformational opportunities made possible through music education. By geographically working in the communities that we serve, TPMS also strengthens local communities and contributes to the transformation of Chicago’s under-resourced schools.
Most students receive four hours of instruction weekly, including instrumental instruction, ensemble instruction, music theory, and performance opportunities. This degree of intensive music education produces valuable life skills, such as growth mindset, resilience, and improved literacy and math skills. TPMS’s intensive after-school music education programs are designed to drive these benefits and to eliminate barriers to access, including financial, geographic, linguistic, and cultural barriers.
- Young students at The People’s Music School begin their musical journeys with General Music, a program that teaches the foundations of music designed for elementary students grades K-2.
- Music Theory curriculum at The People’s Music School trains students to think critically and apply new tools for creative self-expression. All students take a rigorous annual theory exam to assess progress.
- Lessons, both private and group, offer students the opportunity to refine their skills, nurture their creativity, and demonstrate musical excellence. All students participate in an annual solo jury assessment to assess their musical progression.
- Ensembles offer our students the opportunity to collaborate as young musicians, learn from their peers, and perform for live audiences. Every student has multiple opportunities to perform annually.
- Our Service, Leadership, Artistry, and Mentorship (SLAM) honors program gives advanced, older students the opportunity to build on their skills of discipline, teamwork, critical thinking and self-assurance and apply them as they face new challenges and experience new opportunities
Impact
- 725 students enrolled
- 21 instruments taught
- 90%+ BIPOC students
- 5,000+ hours of service provided by families
- 1,500+ individual donors supporting TPMS
- 65+ teaching artists
- 4 hours on average of weekly programming per student
- 2,900+ learning hours per year
- 100% high school graduation rate
- 100% have financial barriers to accessing music education
Highlights
Retention
The benefits of intensive music education are most pronounced in the context of a multi-year student journey. Our data shows that the longer students remain in our program, the deeper and more sustainable the impact, in particular given the learning disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in our student community. We use internal data and external research to inform program design and interventions necessary to support students in persisting in our program as long as possible, setting ourselves apart from typical after-school programming. Students that persist in our program through their senior year graduate high school and go on to attend college 100% of the time. However, even students that stay with us for two to three years see dramatic increases in growth mindset and grit. Our goal is to create the conditions that give every student that joins TPMS an opportunity to persist in a long-term journey of growth and progress in our program.
This past year, we invested time and analysis in better understanding the drivers of student persistence and attrition. We analyzed quantitative data and interviewed families about their needs, learning three powerful insights that transformed our programming decisions:
Physical access is crucial: Students at our Greater South Side site who received guaranteed bussing to programming had a 10% higher in-year retention rate than those who did not. At our North Side sites, we found that the farther away a student lives from our site, the higher their likelihood of attrition. This insight has led us to deepen our investment in student transportation for our Greater South Side site, and for our other sites, to narrow the geographic radius of our targeted recruitment efforts, focusing on building cohorts of students from schools in close proximity to our community sites and strengthening our partnerships with local school principals.
Progression motivates: We both saw in our data and heard from families that when students don’t progress musically, their motivation flags, and they are more likely to drop. Students who have remained at the same instrumental level for two years are at significant risk of attrition, whereas students that regularly progress tend to persist.
Moments of truth matter: Families reported that in their journey, specific moments in their program experience significantly impacted their ability to persist. Instrument matching matters: If a student matched with an instrument they were excited about, this impacted their excitement to stay. Also, when students are in moments of academic transition, for example moving from 5th to 6th grade or 8th to 9th, they are more likely to reassess their activities for the following year.
These three insights enabled us to better prioritize our outreach efforts to families by proactively identifying students at high risk of attrition and intensifying our interventions in ways that motivated more students to persist. In this past year, we developed a dashboard analyzing these critical factors against all of our students, facilitating our Program Managers’ ability to identify and intervene for the students most at risk of dropping the program during the year. In one example, we identified a 6th grade student that had multiple risk factors for leaving the program (6th grade, below average attendance, lack of progression). This student struggled to engage with our virtual programming during the COVID-19 closures, and these attendance and engagement challenges continued with the return to in-person programming. These challenges hindered his ability to progress musically and contribute to his ensemble. With this in mind, we initiated an in-person meeting with his family, and also designed a learning plan tailored to his needs, in particular focusing on incentives and rewards to keep this student engaged, motivated to progress, and connected to his community of peers. With these interventions, the student not only remained in the program for the year, but also grew into a leader within his ensemble.
This year, over 80% of the students who started last year with us re-enrolled this fall. We see this as not only a strong indicator of families’ and students’ interest in and dedication to our programming, but also a success of our own data-driven and community-centered efforts.
Spotlight On: School Partnerships
TPMS continues to invest deeply in partnerships with Chicago Public Schools in Chicago’s underserved communities, repurposing underutilized spaces on school campuses for high-quality after-school programming. In this past year, we increased our enrollment by 20% at our community sites, serving over 350 students across three sites – Hibbard Elementary (Albany Park), Lara Academy Elementary (Back of the Yards), and Hyde Park Academy High School (Woodlawn).
TPMS collaborates with school principals, faculty, and other community-based organizations to strengthen and augment the school and community with high-quality, whole-child after-school music programming at each of its partner sites. The mission behind this approach is simple – we believe that bringing our programming to where students are reduces barriers to access and allows our programming to reach students who otherwise would not be able to participate.
We are particularly excited about the launch of our new school partnership for our Greater South Side community. After outgrowing our previous space at Bronzeville Classical Elementary School (another tremendous community partner with which we still collaborate), we launched a new partnership site this past year at Hyde Park Academy High School in the Woodlawn community of the South Side of Chicago. In July of this year, TPMS moved into the space at Hyde Park Academy High School, partnering with Chicago Public Schools and the school administration to transform the previously dormant 6,000 square foot music space on the campus into a thriving music and arts hub.
In launching this site, TPMS has forged connections with school leadership and local community groups, including the Woodlawn Children’s Promise Community organization, to build out its vision of a community hub. Our goal is to be more than just a programming site. We seek to partner closely with the school and broader community to help connect local schools to the neighborhood high school, expanding access to our intensive programming.
This initial vision came to fruition this year, with the site serving nearly 130 students in its first year and drawing attention from community and school leaders. The year culminated with a cutting-edge artistic performance by Grammy Award winning group Third Coast Percussion. The program (Metamorphosis) combined groundbreaking choreography by Jonboogz and Lil Buck of Movement Art Is with new music by Jlin and Tyondai Braxton, as well as Third Coast Percussion’s critically-acclaimed arrangements of Philip Glass’s Aguas de Amazonia. The performance, hailed by the Chicago Tribune as “one of 2023’s most inspiring cultural events so far,”1 brought 700 students to Hyde Park Academy from five schools across the community – the first time such schools had been brought together collectively at that site for an event. “We’ve performed this concert at Carnegie Hall, the Harris Theater in downtown Chicago, and will be bringing it overseas this season, so it was especially meaningful for us to share it with students in our hometown, which was only possible because of our vital partnership with TPMS,” says Sean Connors of Third Coast Percussion.
We continue to build upon the momentum from this first year in Woodlawn, and are expecting significant enrollment growth again at the site next year. We are building new partnerships with surrounding schools, forging pathways to opportunity through after-school intensive music education.
1 Hannah Edgar, “Review: Third dancer’s the charm in unforgettable collaboration between Third Coast Percussion and Movement Art Is,” Chicago Tribune, March 3, 2023.
Profile: Miriam Goldberg Owens, President & CEO
In December 2022, The People’s Music School appointed Miriam Owens as its President and Chief Executive Officer. Miriam had served on the organization’s leadership team since August 2021, joining as Chief Operating Officer. She became Chief of Development and Operations in April 2022, expanding the organization’s fundraising footprint while driving operational improvements.
Miriam entered the role with a wealth of senior leadership experience in the social and private sectors. Her career roots are in driving equitable outcomes in public education: she was a 5th grade science teacher in Brooklyn with Teach for America and a Program Manager at Raise Your Hand Texas, an education advocacy organization. Prior to joining The People’s Music School, Owens was a consultant at McKinsey and Company for eight years, where she was an Associate Partner. A leader in the firm’s Organization practice, Miriam served clients in areas including strategic planning, large-scale reorganization, professional learning at scale, talent management transformations, and inclusion and diversity.
A native Texan and proud Latina, Owens is also a lifelong musician. She studied piano from grades K-12, and at Harvard spent four years in the women’s a cappella group The Radcliffe Pitches, serving as Music Director and Stage Manager. She is currently the lead singer in the rock cover band Model-J. She holds an AB from Harvard University, an MS in Education from Teacher U at Hunter College (now Relay Graduate School of Education), and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. In her first year as President and Chief Executive Officer of The People’s Music School, she became a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and a Fellow in Leadership Greater Chicago’s 2024 cohort. When she’s not at People’s or rocking out with her band at Montrose Saloon, Miriam is at home, probably gardening, with her two sons Abe and Andy and husband Robert.
Voice Student Avril Finds Community at People's
Avril performs at Big Night 2022.
Class of 2023 honors voice student Avril De la Cruz showcases excellence in every sense of the word. She participated in The People’s Music School’s SLAM advanced voice program, performing at the annual Big Night gala. Her outstanding musicianship sent her to Berklee College of Music’s Aspire: Five Week, a prestigious summer program for the country’s most talented young musicians. This fall, Avril will begin her journey as a Biochemistry student on the pre-med track at the University of Illinois Chicago and plans to sing in the school’s choir.
Seven years ago, at the beginning of her People’s journey, Avril was a very different person. “Music found me at a time when I was at my lowest: elementary school,” she says. Seeing their daughter struggling to find confidence and community in school, her parents decided to enroll her in free music classes at TPMS. After a year in the program, things started to change for Avril. “Her voice teacher asked her if she would rather sing or play an instrument,” says Laura. Choosing voice, Avril’s “love for music was born.”
“Throughout the seven years I was a part of this program,” says Avril, “I found a community of people that supported me in all of my endeavors. I worked with teachers who were inviting, treated me with respect, and nurtured my creativity. Most importantly, I found my spark. Singing became my escape: my outlet for self expression.”
Avril has not only grown as a musician at The People’s Music School, but she has grown as a person. At TPMS, “I was able to regain the confidence I had lost in my youth and further develop other skills I now use in my everyday life,” says Avril. Her mother sees the transformative impact, too. “Avril is now a person with a high self-esteem,” says Laura. “She is someone who is motivated and strives for excellence in everything she does.”
Avril thanks the music education she has had for getting her where she is today. The People’s Music School “allowed me to find my second family; the friends I care for most, and the mentors who have guided me through the long journey into young adulthood,” she says. “The impact music has had on my life is unimaginable, and I will always be eternally grateful for it.”
Forming Bonds Through Music: The SLAM String Quartet
SLAM String Quartet meets with Hilary Hahn backstage at Symphony Center, April 2023
When a student enrolls at The People’s Music School, they embark on a transformational musical journey. For violin student Yeimi, viola student Joselyn, and cello students (and siblings) Julia and Kevin, this journey began at as young as 8 years old. As they grew up with The People’s Music School, each student advanced through our curriculum and earned a spot in our advanced SLAM program. This year, their journeys were marked by forming the SLAM String Quartet, as they earned several unique opportunities to perform and demonstrate true musical excellence as a group.
Yeimi, Joselyn, Julia, and Kevin met each week as a quartet and to practice and perfect Schubert’s iconic Cello Quintet in C Major. Coached by Senior Manager of Artistic Engagement David Sands, the quartet began rehearsals in the fall. “Based on the goals they set for themselves, it was clear that these four students were ready to embark on an advanced approach to performing chamber music,” says David.
Over the course of the year, the SLAM String Quartet earned incredible opportunities to perform and demonstrate true artistic excellence. In December, the quartet performed in a masterclass hosted at TPMS by world-renowned violinist Hilary Hahn. A three-time Grammy award winner and one of our time’s greatest violin soloists, Hahn is currently an Artist-in-Residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The quartet, joined by violin teaching artist Jonathan Hodges, worked with Hahn and learned about the many ways we can express ourselves through the music we play.
The SLAM string quartet returned in the spring with an outstanding performance of Schubert’s Cello Quintet, this time at Symphony Center. The group greeted attendees with their piece in the rotunda as a prelude to Hahn’s brilliant performance of Bizet’s Carmen with the CSO.
The group closed out the year with a virtuosic performance of Schubert at Performapaloozathon. This time, two sets of siblings graced the stage – Julia and Kevin (cello) and Yeimi and her brother and TPMS alumnus Jonathan (violin). The months of hard work on the piece was evident, and the group’s ability to communicate musically was palpable. For the quartet’s violist, Joselyn, the performance was truly special. “I may not have a sibling on stage right now,” she said in her pre-concert remarks, “but after the amazing year our quartet has had, I definitely feel that I have made friendships that feel like family.”
“At the beginning of the year, the quartet had the goals of learning to trust each other, bringing out dynamics, and demonstrating consistent eye contact,” says their chamber coach David Sands. “By the end of the school year, the quartet not only accomplished each of these goals, but they went on to serve as ambassadors of excellence, from which other TPMS students could learn and model themselves after.”
This fall, Julia and Joselyn will enter their freshman years at University of Illinois – Chicago, Yeimi will enter her senior year of high school, and Kevin will enter high school. While the quartet may be in different parts of their journey at People’s now, they will always have the unique shared experience of performing as a quartet and as a family.
Spotlight On: Lohengrin Foundation
The People’s Music School expresses its heartfelt gratitude to the Lohengrin Foundation for its unwavering and strengthened commitment to our Greater South Side program at Hyde Park Academy High School. Peter Ascoli, President and Founder of the Lohengrin Foundation, proudly acknowledges their investment in our mission to make music education accessible to all. “We are happy to partner with The People’s Music School by supporting its commitment to expanding free music education to communities on the South Side of Chicago. The Lohengrin Foundation’s partnership with The People’s Music School exemplifies our commitment to arts education and leveraging the power of the arts for enjoyment, as well as to help youth build critical thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving skills, all of which are essential for success in many professions and activities,” says Peter.
With the generous increase in financial support from 2022 to 2023, the Lohengrin Foundation has opened doors to music education for over 127 students in our Greater South Side program, who otherwise would not have had access to such opportunities. This funding has allowed us to enrich the music education experience for these students significantly. Through state-of-the-art technology on class sets of laptops, students were able to engage in musical exploration and composition activities. Moreover, students had the incredible privilege of participating in a masterclass conducted by the Grammy-nominated saxophonist Tia Fuller. Such extraordinary experiences have become possible due to the continued and deepened support from the Lohengrin Foundation.
Thanks to the Lohengrin Foundation’s generosity, The People’s Music School has been able to enrich the lives of students in the Greater South Side, fostering their love for music, nurturing their talents, and providing them with opportunities they would not have had otherwise.
Financials
Board of Directors
Juanna Blackwell
TRANSFIX
Michael Buck*
Driehaus Capital Management LLC
Uma Chandrasekaran
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Kevin Dolan, Secretary
Retired
Ellen Feldman
Community volunteer
Gary Hart
Mowery & Schoenfeld
Emerald-Jane “EJ” Hunter
myWHY Agency
Joe Idaszak
Brookfield Asset Management
Carolyn Jaw
Federal Home Loan Bank
Nalini Kotamraju
Salesforce
Julie Lopez
Merrill Lynch Wealth Management
Adam Lucas, Treasurer
Concentric Equity Partners
Stephanie Macakanja, Vice Chair
BlackSheep General Store
Nancy Power
Ariel Investments
Steven Shaw, Board Chair
Verizon
Peter Sheren
Goldman Sachs
Laura Sutphen
The Golin Group
Cecilia VanGetson
Community volunteer
Rob Whiteman
Better Future Advisors LLC
Cici Zheng
ParkerGale, LLC
* indicates Lifetime Trustee
Associate Board
Yasmine Gordon
Ross Heilberg
Brian Kim
Hyunmin Kim
Dan Malnar
Eric Menna
Allison Payne
Micah Rensch
Allegis Sant
Austin Terris
Natalie Teichman
Heather Williamson, Chair
Teaching Artists
Adam Shohet
Alejandra Aquino
Alexis Bennett
Allison Rye
An Phan
Anatolia Evarkiou-Kaku
Anna Carlson
Annamarie Wellems
Anthony Stewart
Ariel Garcia
Ashley Bennett
Abby Black
Joel Block
Bethany McKnight
Carmen Abelson
Corey Sansolo
Dan Hickey
Daniel Zheng
David Sands
Elena Grijalva
Elizabeth Chun
Ellie Kirk
Emily Munn-Wood
Eric Hines
Fabricio Lock Sotomayor
Felipe Tobar Blanco
Felix Ponce
Grecia Landin
Hugo Saavedra
Istvan Loga
Jack Kartsotis
Jamaal Crowder
Jonathan Hodges
Julia Slater
Julia Minkin
Kaitlin Foley
Kathryn Cederborg
Kelly Dennis
Kenni Ther
Kenthaney Redmond
Krystal Miranda
Laura Duggan
Lena Vidulich
Mark Haworth
Megan Robbins
Michael Thompson
Miro Hernandez
Natalie Butler
Nicholas Ritter
Nico Carter
Nyle Taylor
Oliver Munoz
Omkara Gil Guaraco
Rossman Palfrey
Sam Hight
Sandra Rowland
Serena Voltz
Simon Gomez
Soo-Young Kim
Stephanie Londono
Stephen Reinfranck
Wes Woodward
Staff
Alejandra Aquino, Program Coordinator
Natalie Butler, Dean of Learning and Teaching
Kathryn Cederborg, Program Coordinator
Kelly Dennis, Senior Manager of Student Data and Systems
Ellie DePastino, Marketing and Communications Manager
Jessica Esteves, HR Associate
Ariel Garcia, Program Manager, Back of the Yards
Caro Granner, Program Associate
Elena Grijalva, Program Manager, Greater South Side
Kasia Johnson, Chief of Finance
Chelsey Jones, Institutional Giving Manager
Jack Kartsotis, Program Coordinator
Grecia Landin, Program Manager, Albany Park
Stephanie Londoño, Program Manager, Uptown Academy
Miriam Owens, President and CEO
Megan Robbins, Senior Manager of Learning and Teaching
David Sands, Senior Manager of Artistic Engagement
Michael Thompson, Development Coordinator
Felipe Tobar, Learning and Teaching Associate
Minji Will, Program Coordinator
Marc Wilson, Chief of Strategy and Partnerships
How to Get Involved
- Spread the word: Tell a friend, follow and boost us on social media, or host an event! We always need more people to know about the great work happening here.
- Donate: Every dollar you give to The People’s Music School goes towards eliminating barriers to access in music education and enriching young lives in Chicago.
- Attend an Event: Head to our website to see our calendar of upcoming concerts, recitals, community programming, and more. We can’t wait to see you!
- Join a committee or task force: Composed of expert volunteers, members of our People’s community, and members of our Board of Directors, our committee and task force members serve as advisors and experts that guide our work. Learn more about our committees and how to inquire about involvement.
- Volunteer: We have nearly 30 performing events per year, and we always need help! Volunteering at an event is a great opportunity to get to know our close-knit community.