The Youth Orchestras of Fresno, in partnership with the Fresno County Office of Education and the Bonner Family Foundation, initiated the Accent on Access Violin Program at Edison-Bethune Charter Academy in fall 2011 with a class of 25 second- and third-graders and three teachers. The program is now in its third year, having grown to accommodate 60 second- through fifth-graders and seven teachers. It has also grown beyond violins—already cellos have been added to the or-chestral mix!

We are deeply influenced by the example of Venezuela’s El Sistema program, which promotes social justice through music training for youth, and has done so with such breathtaking success that now some 400,000 children in that country of 30 million inhabitants participate in youth or-chestras.

The Venezuela experience supports the findings in a 2012 report from the National Endowment for the Arts that “socially and economically disadvantaged children and teenagers who have high levels of arts engagement or arts learning show more positive outcomes in a variety of areas than their low-arts-engaged peers.” Past NEA chair Rocco Landesman expands on the study’s results: “Students who have arts-rich experiences in school do better across-the-board academically, and they also become more active and engaged citizens, voting, volunteering, and generally participat-ing at higher rates than their peers.”

Accent on

Access

Violin Program: an intense, immersive learning experience

ACCENT ON ACCESS VIOLIN PROGRAM

Every day with our Accent on Access students we see an intensity of focus and love of hard work that astounds and gratifies us. Even if their scores on standardized tests were not improving (but they are!) we would know there is something important happening here, something that should be happening for all children, everywhere. We hope this pilot program will spark an ever-expanding network of similar programs throughout the Central Valley.

You take 60 students four days a week, 90 minutes a day and you not only train them in violin techniques and music theory, but teach them life lessons. They are learning that work and discipline pay off. They are learning how to listen to others and encour-age each other. They are learning about independent practice plus teamwork. Violin gives some of these students a sense of belonging that they have never had before.—Edison-Bethune teacher

Violin Program students

as compared to non-participating peers:• ELA scores 15%

higher• Math scores 13%

higher• Attendance rate

26% higher

PartnersBonner Family FoundationEdison-Bethune Charter AcademyFresno County Office of EducationConsultantsRobert BullwinkelKaye CummingsRodolfo GarciaThomas LoewenheimKatherine PennerCheryl SchellenbergLimor Toren-Immerman

SupportersA.J. Parker Memorial Fund Bill and Linda RogersCalifornia Arts CouncilEast Fresno KiwanisEducational Employees Credit UnionFresno Regional FoundationFoundation@FCOEPatrick’s Music PG&E

CONNECT! office@youthorchestrasfresno.org (559) 275-6694 youthorchestrasfresno.orgyouth orchestras of fresno 444 west shaw avenue fresno ca 93704

ACCENT ON ACCESS IMPACTS ACADEMIC SUCCESSI like playing violin because that is

how I know my notes. I want to be a violin teacher.

First-year Accent on Access student

I like playing the violin because we get to pluck. I want to be a rock star when I grow up.