City Music Summit Explores Youth Development Through Popular Music

Berklee City Music®, a program that leverages the power of contemporary music to empower youth from underserved communities, presents the fifth annual City Music Summit on November 9-11, at Teachers College at Columbia University, in New York City. Topics to be discussed include music video production for urban youth; school-university partnerships for collaborative learning; transforming music education in the cloud; preparing students for careers in the music industry; and more.

Summit highlights include:

• A master class hosted by the House of Blues Music Forward Foundation where master musicians and alumni Mindi Abair, Tuffus Zimbabwe, Jody Espina, Bobby Sanabria, and Alissia Benveniste, and jazz saxophonist and songwriter Kirk Whalum, coach student ensembles from Berklee City Music Network sites in New York, Camden, Phoenix, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Boston in preparation for an evening performance at the Gramercy Theatre.
• Keynote presentations by Grammy-winning Whalum; NAMM Foundation senior executive Mary Luehrsen; and Ernest Morrell, director of the Institute for Urban and Minority Education at Teachers College.
• Panel discussion and jam session presented by The Sessions featuring Liberty DeVitto (Billy Joel), Christine Ohlman (Saturday Night Live band), John "JR" Robinson (Chaka Khan), Dom Famularo, Nathan East, Neil Stubenhaus, and Paul Quin.
• Student workshop with Abair, a Grammy-nominated artist and author.
• Music industry panel featuring Neil Gillis (Round Hill Music), Bill Sherman (Sesame Street), alumnus Josh Gruss (Round Hill Music), and Ben Dorenfeld (Grey Advertising).

Over the three-day event, attendees—teachers, students, administrators, arts advocates, and music industry veterans—will engage in professional development, share best practices, network, create opportunities for collaboration, and leave with the tools needed to empower youth through the study and practice of contemporary music. To register, visit the Berklee City Music Summit website.

Berklee City Music® is a nonprofit organization that leverages the power of contemporary music to empower youth from underserved communities to develop musically, academically, socially, and emotionally. Founded over 20 years ago by Berklee, the organization reaches more than 58,000 students annually through a variety of programs and initiatives including City Music Network, City Music Boston, Amp Up NYC®, and the innovative PULSE® online music method. By using culturally relevant music as a vehicle for holistic youth development, Berklee City Music helps young people flourish as students, musicians, and confident, well-rounded individuals ready to shape the world.