Dear Friend -
Live music brings us together as human beings in community. We have expected it would always be so, but today, the concert world has ground to a halt. As individuals we probably are more physically distant now than we have been in our lifetime. And yet, while all of us are deeply concerned about what tomorrow may bring, we do still expect a future. We must invest in it.
Today we share with you different artists and other performers involved in Dranoff‘s arts integration initiative, PIANO SLAM. It is our outreach program that invests our music and organizational resources in young people through concerts, arts- integrated education, creative writing and performance. Every year for the past 13 years Dranoff has brought PIANO SLAM to middle and high schools, focusing on neighborhoods with less access and fewer resources and schools with a majority of minority students.
In this moment, our city and our world are experiencing a public upheaval and reaction to the ongoing and unwarranted violence, and injustice against black members of our community. Dranoff calls on the creative arts and its supporters to bring their voice, and calls on artists and art to be a part of the solution. Let us develop a path and resources for a better quality of life for the black and brown families of our community.
To have a future we must act now. We have to continue to invest in all of our community. Let’s bring ourselves, great art and music to the work of building a brighter future. Let’s insist on better lives for our community and our children. Let us listen to what they have to say through their voices and their actions.
Warmly,
Gabriele Fiorentino
President,
The Dranoff 2 Piano Foundation
Piano Slam
