St. Louisans enjoy a cultural scene that routinely punches well above its weight, and that extends to the youngest among us. Kids benefit from simply being around our world-class arts, music, and performance amenities; better still, many of these organizations prioritize children’s education. “Education is truly at the center of our vision,” says Marie-Hélène Bernard, president and CEO of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.
The orchestra’s home, Powell Hall, is currently undergoing a much-anticipated facelift and expansion. The Jack C. Taylor Music Center, which will encompass Powell Hall and include a 64,000-square-foot expansion, is slated to reopen in September. The updated facility places education front and center. Besides adding more space to backstage and practice areas for SLSO musicians, there’s also plenty of room for education and outreach.
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“The communities rely on organizations like us,” Bernard says. “We have always had a presence in the schools.” SLSO serves 497 schools across the region, as well as schools in 48 states and several foreign countries through virtual connections.
The center, Bernard says, is being built with an eye toward the next century of SLSO’s work while serving the needs of today. It includes a digital recording studio, coaching and incubation spaces, practice rooms, a creative lab, facilities for distance learning, and a sensory-friendly area.
Educational programming for SLSO began in 1921, and the highly selective St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra for musicians ages 12–22 dates back almost 55 years. In 2015, SLSO inaugurated Peer to Peer, where a YO member pairs with a Black or Latinx student in Gateway Music Outreach, a nonprofit program that provides K–8 students with music education. The updated building will have updated practice spaces for them all.
In the visual arts sector, four organizations—all of which also have their own tours, workshops, and programming—have teamed up to form the program AMPLIFY. The Saint Louis Art Museum, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, and the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum each provide specialized AMPLIFY encounters for middle and high schoolers: There’s Stories of Resilience at SLAM, Building a Better World at CAM, Earth-Environmental Design at the Pulitzer, and Stories of the Land at the Kemper. The programs, which include interactive tours and artmaking, highlight the ways that art can be a crucial part of social justice work.
“For CAM, community investment means bridging the youth arts education gap and providing opportunities in-school and off-site for St. Louis youth to engage with art in ways that might not otherwise feel accessible to them,” says Michelle Dezember, director of learning and engagement at CAM, which has longstanding relationships with city high schools. Among those programs: the New Art in the Neighborhood initiative, in which high school students work with local and international artists; Teen Museum Studies, in which young people learn what goes into mounting an exhibition; the collaborative LEAP Middle School Initiative; programs for the whole family; and workshops for teachers. “Arts education allows our youth to explore and express themselves authentically,” Dezember says.
The offerings go wide and deep, from the Center of Creative Arts’ classes and camps in visual and performing arts to the youth-inspired Metro Theatre Company to the high-flying Circus Harmony and more.
Local universities are also invested in connecting school students with their assets, from pre-college programs to direct support. Saint Louis University recently initiated a partnership with St. Louis Catholic Academy, a K–8 school in the St. Louis Archdiocese aimed at sharing SLU’s resources with teachers and students.
“We want to put every student in a position to be at their best inside and outside the classroom,” says Dr. Gary Ritter, dean of the Saint Louis University School of Education. “Our major goal for this year is to lay the foundation for success so that when students graduate from St. Louis Catholic Academy, they are ready to thrive in high school.”
While SLSO’s Bernard allows that perhaps not every young person who participates in one of the symphony orchestra’s educational experiences is going to be the next concertmaster, each one will learn and grow.
“We’re believers that music is a creative outlet that really forms strong teamwork and judgment and creativity and resilience,” Bernard says. “You develop and you stretch your brain in such a way that other activities don’t really stretch. Life is a learning experience that we always want to nurture.”
Ticket to Ride
Many cultural institutions offer student discounts.
Student tickets are $15 for select classical concerts. See slso.org for a list of available shows, and use discount code STUDENT15 at checkout.
A 20 percent rush discount for select seats is available to high school and college students. Sign up online to receive emails with reservation details.
Single tickets are $8 for students and $14 for double features.
The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis
Student tickets to any mainstage production are $20. Tickets are not available online; visit the box office or call 314-968-4925 to purchase.
Get up to two $25 student tickets for any performance. Create a student account by emailing a photo of a valid student ID to [email protected].
