Education Initiative Year-in-Review

Artist-in-Residence Sphinx Virtuosi with local high school students

Over the course of the 2021-2022 season, the Hylton Center’s Education Initiative reached 5,302 individuals (K-12, George Mason University students, and Lifelong Learning Institute–Manassas patrons) through virtual field trips, hybrid residency activities, and masterclasses. Of the total number of people impacted, 5,147 students in 27 schools across Prince William County Schools, Manassas City Schools, and Fairfax County Public Schools participated in activities this year.

Residency activities with local students, teachers, and community members took place with two Artists-in-Residence. The first was with Center for the Arts Artist-in-Residence, Sphinx Virtuosi, who visited Gar-Field, Unity Reed, and Osbourn High Schools to perform for students, provide ensemble feedback, and interact with students through conversations. In February 2022, the Hylton Center welcomed its first Artist-in-Residence, Ballet Hispánico. Founded 50 years ago by National Medal of Arts recipient Tina Ramírez (1929-2022), Ballet Hispánico is a renowned Latinx dance organization recently recognized by the Ford Foundation as one of America’s Cultural Treasures. Classes were led by Eduardo Vilaro, artistic director and CEO, and Johan Rivera, associate artistic director, along with several company members in seven community engagement events over three days prior to the company’s Hylton Presents performance. Community Partner engagement activities included, George Mason University's School of Dance, Hunters Woods Elementary School, Hylton High School, Lifelong Learning Institute–Manassas, and Round Elementary School.

While in-person field trip performances remained on hiatus this year, the Hylton Center presented two virtual field trips. The first, in fall 2021, featured Dan + Claudia Zanes in a series of seven pre-recorded videos introducing young people to songs and the stories behind them, while

providing creative ideas to help everyone experience the music in a meaningful way. The uplifting videos were interactive and included the following components: concert, history lesson, music class, campfire sing-along, and dance party. Dan + Claudia drew from their wide range of musical and cultural knowledge to offer young people of various ability levels a chance to experience music in a way that feels exciting, healing, relevant, and enjoyable! Through the series, students met Dan + Claudia and learned vocal warmup techniques, participated in songs, were introduced to the Haitian Kreyol language, and learned more about songwriting. In addition to this virtual field trip, the Zanes also led a live teacher professional development workshop via Zoom titled Building Community through Music.

Dan + Claudia Zanes

The Hylton Center’s second virtual field trip welcomed Third Coast Percussion back in spring 2021 with their field trip WAVES: The Science Behind Sound. In this six-video series, performances by Third Coast Percussion were interspersed with teaching moments that connected scientific and musical concepts, including the following workshops: Amplitude and Dynamics (how loud a sound is, and how tall or short a sound wave appears on an oscilloscope); Frequency and Pitch (how low or high a sound is, and how many peaks and troughs of a wave appear on an oscilloscope); Noise vs. Pitch (visualized on an oscilloscope); Musical Timbre and Sonic Spectrum (a spectrum analyzer shows the frequencies and overtones that make the same note sound different on different musical instruments).

Third Coast Percussion