Welcome to Ghetto Classics

The Ghetto Classics Project was started in June 2009 in a partnership between the Art of Music and the Kutoka Network - a network of parishes and organizations working in the urban slums, working to creates policies and new plans to help slum dwellers work their way out of poverty. The project is being piloted at St John's Catholic Church, Korogocho. The Korogocho slum is situated within the Nairobi Province and has approximately 400,000 residents. Its purpose is to use music education to provide youth living in the slum with opportunities to better themselves and their community by giving them life skills that comes with the discipline of studying art music. It also provides them with an income generating opportunity.

The Ghetto Classics project encompasses twenty-six youth from St John's Catholic Church, Korogocho whose ages range from 11 - 21 years. It involves the children having weekly choral and instrumental training in partnership with the Kenya Conservatoire of Music. The children are working towards a brass band and some will be registering for the associated board of royal school of music exams.

So far the project has run on donations from the Catholic Church as well as generous donations from private music schools.

Ghetto Classics held a successful concert in Korogocho at the end of August 2009. They performed with a group of professional musicians called, 'Nairobi Loves Opera' who perform as an orchestral and choral group. It was an exciting experience for the children of Ghetto Classics as well as their friends as families as this was the first time classical music was seen or heard in their community.

More recently the children took part in the end of term concert at the Kenya Conservatoire of Music which was an uplifting and inspirational experience for the children.

The vision is to develop a network of Ghetto Classics Projects around the country that provides access to music education to those unable to afford it and to use music to better the lives of young Kenyans.

Ghetto Classics' mission is to develop a sustainable and robust programme that is integrated into the community. The programme will be a breeding ground for exceptionally talented children to enter into the mainstream National Youth Orchestra.

• The Office of the President - Ministry of Heritage via The Permanent Presidential Music Commission
• The Kenya Conservatoire of Music

What does Ghetto Classics want to achieve?

In order to be more impactful and to achieve its vision Ghetto Classics wants to develop a suitable training curriculum for the programme that takes into account the different abilities and challenges of teaching in the slum. Ghetto Classics wants to enlist the support of partners, sponsors and the general community in participating in the growth of this project. It is also important to secure adequate training material and instruments for the training program as well as provide mentorship and internship opportunities. Finally the programme would like to encourage musical concerts involving the youth involved in the project thus inspiring creativity, hope and talent amongst them.

Milestones

• Ghetto Classics held a community concert in Korogocho on August 2009 with the Nairobi Loves Opera Group. The youngsters performed in front of an audience of over 3000 which included their family and peers.
• Twenty(20) students are now enrolled at the Kenya Conservatoire of Music learning to play brass instruments
• Ghetto Classics proudly participated in the Kenya Conservatoire of Music end of term concert in March 2010 along with dozens of other students from all walks of life.

What are the challenges that Ghetto Classics currently faces?

Some of the challenges facing the project are underlined below;

1. Environmental Challenges:
• Gaining the trust and buy-in from the local community to establish the project.
• Security and accessibility for those running the programme can sometimes be challenging
• Responsibilities of the youth within their families means that sometimes the children cannot attend their weekly lessons
• Social barriers
2. Sourcing adequate funding to run a successful programme
3. Setting up the appropriate infrastructure to support the programme
4. Logistical challenges of coordinating the programme

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