Music75  Initiative Student Funds

Primary Contact and Title: Theresa Delaplain, Instructor of Music

Project Summary
In March, the University of Arkansas Department of Music launched its Music75 project, with a goal to present music events in all 75 counties in Arkansas by the year 2020. Music75 reflects the department’s desire to channel its energy for community outreach and connect with people throughout the state. The outreach will allow students and faculty in the Music Department to collaborate with each other, and to strengthen their associations with the population of the state, especially with secondary school students. This will also aid with Music Department recruiting, especially with first-generation prospective students. Events will be done in secondary schools, performing arts centers, and other venues. The Initiative has had a good start, performing in 6 counties in the spring of 2017, with several ensembles embarking on tours. Sixty students traversed the state with the Wind Ensemble, another forty students took part in a tour by Schola Cantorum, and two of the department’s resident faculty ensembles {the Lyrique Quintette and the Boston Mountain Brasswork) worked with high school students in the Delta region. The Music Department is requesting $7500, which would be used to give each student a small stipend for their performances.

Is this: an expansion of a current program

Please list media sites (if any) utilized by your project or program to publicize the project/program, i.e., website, social media, etc.
The project has its own website (fulbright.uark.edu/music75), and the ongoing activities of the Music 75 Initiative will be updated here regularly, advertised through the Music Department website and through the Arkansas Newswire, through KUAF public service announcements, through the Music Department Facebook page, the university and local newspapers, the Democrat-Gazette, and other media sites.

If your project is funded, describe innovative ways how the WGC will be recognized in the success/completion of your project:
The WGC will be acknowledged in all publicity regarding the Music 75 Initiative. This will include public service announcements, programs, posters, and updates to the afore-mentioned web pages.

Grant Proposal

What is the current scholarly or community need your grant request addresses?
One of the most important needs that is addressed by the Music75 Initiative is the invaluable training that it gives graduate and undergraduate students to be engaged in service throughout the state, especially in underserved/remote areas. It is very rewarding for students to realize they can use their art in ways that help improve the lives of others. Another invaluable learning experience for students is to collaborate with faculty, which will be the case in most of the events. Music75 will also reach prospective first-generation college students, through interactions at high schools.

How does your proposed  project or program assess how these needs will be redressed?
U of A students involved in the Music75 Initiative will be asked to complete a survey after each trip. The survey includes questions about the impact of their collaboration with faculty, and their interactions with the people in the counties in which they performed.

The Music Department will also be keeping statistics on where our new music majors come from, in an effort to see the impact of reaching out to the more remote areas of the state.

Describe any unique and/or innovative aspects of your project or program that improves what is already known about your area of inquiry.
It is known that interacting with underserved populations is rewarding for the person doing the service, but the activities still need to be experienced by them personally for the rewards to bear out. It is also known that prospective first-generation students have many roadblocks to getting to college, and the Music75 is a way that members of the Music Department can reach them personally, not just to inspire, but to answer questions and encourage them.

Please list up to five (5) expected outputs and outcomes with corresponding measurements

  1. Current University of Arkansas students and faculty will be engaged in a rewarding outreach project.
  2. Current Univeristy of Arkansas students will be collaborating with faculty to prepare music for performances at Music75
  3. Current University of Arkansas students will be mentored by faculty to prepare for interacting verbally with the people (student or other) at the events.
  4. Matriculation to the University of Arkansas by students from the state’s most remote counties will increase.

Document if there are other programs/projects that attempt to address the same needs as your proposal. If so, describe and how you will collaborate with them.
One program that currently exists is the Chancellor’s Bus Tour, which some of us are joining to do performances around the state this summer. We are not aware of other similar programs, but we would of course be proactive with collaboration if they were made known to us.

Demographic Considerations

First generation students engaged  in the  project: Yes
Number of current UA students engaged in the project:
Geographic region served: Southeast Arkansas

Budgetary Considerations

Have you received \VGC Funding before?  Yes
Please provide the year(s) and  project name(s)

  1. University of Arkansas Community Music School. The grant was presented by Theresa Delaplain and Rich Rulli to secure funds to start a Community Music School. The CMS is now a thriving part of our Department, and serves and an important bridge between the Department and the community.

The section above only allows for one “Geographic Region” to be checked, but this program will serve all geographic regions of the state. The section above does not allow for any number to be input for “Number of Current UA Students engaged in this project,” but the number is over one-hundred. It is expected that most of the Music Department students will be involved in some capacity over the next three years.

Total proposed budget for project or program: $15000
Please list total funding commitments from external or campus sources to date: $7500
How  much, if any, of your request involves funding for the following?
Student Compensation 100%
Equipment 0%

Total funds requested from WGC Grant: $7500

If this project or program will continue after WGC grant money has been spent, please describe how you will continue to fund this project or program
The program is set to be completed by 2020. If all the WGC grant money is spent, the project will continue to be funded with departmental support.