INSTRUMENT OF CHANGE

{INSTRUMENT OF CHANGE} Anna Klimala

Through her role at Miami Music Project, Klimala wields the influential power of music.

When Poland native Anna Klimala began her journey with the Miami Music Project back in 2009, she couldn’t have predicted that, just one short year later, she would be filling in as Executive Director; much less that this nascent project, backed by the Knight Foundation, would grow to become her mission.

“I always dreamed of leading a music education initiative with the power to change lives. My childhood nickname was ‘konduktor,’ which in Polish translates as ‘supervisor.’ My family still jokes about it… I didn’t picture myself working in the offices that make orchestras or schools run.”

A musical performer by vocation, Anna probably didn’t picture herself running from meetings to meetings, updating donors, hosting webinars about racial equality, visiting classrooms or even keeping tabs on students who are dealing with issues such as abject poverty, housing insecurity, to childhood cancer. Students, who depend on programs such as the Miami Music Project, to keep their heads above water. “I can’t answer the question about the importance of music education in children’s lives without thinking about Starina, a student who survived the Haiti earthquake and was dealing with post-traumatic stress and housing insecurity. Playing cello was her only constant and anchor. Today she is a double-major and double-minor at a university and well on her way to success.”

Anna herself will tell you that stories like Starina’s are not, by any means, a rarity here in Miami-Dade County, the nation’s 4th largest school district. “Miami Music Project serves kids from our city’s most under-resourced neighborhoods. 87% of our students come from low-income families.”

RISE UP TO HELP

During a time when most of the nations grapple with the absence of professional and juvenile sports, these challenges are nothing new to the music and art programs which have been facing cuts for decades while the solution continues to drag its feet.

“Sometimes I feel like some people are suffering from analysis-paralysis when it comes to this subject. As if we were trying to prove the science otherwise over and over! Enough already, we all know it. Music education and orchestra participation is instrumental (figuratively and literally) to the development of young minds and hearts… The power of what playing a musical instrument does to your heart, your mind, and most of all, your brain, is undeniable. No other art form offers such profound developmental benefits.”

But just because a massive and cohesive response still eludes us, that doesn’t mean individual communities are powerless to usher in change. And just like a beautiful orchestra, we all have an important part to play.

How can you help? Short answer is: support and amplify. “If you are in a position to do so and passionate about our community, please donate to support our efforts… We will be your boots on the ground and your implementation team. Also, help us spread the word, find us on social media, like us, link us, share our posts, and become an advocate of social change through music — or as we like to call it, an Instrument Of Change. We need you!” miamimusicproject.org