ABOUT
Music and Poetry Synchronized
MAPS strives to foster a community of inclusion and support for all and we want to stand in solidarity with our Black and Brown students, educators, administrators, and community members.
We see you, we hear you and we want you to know:
your lives matter to us all; your future matters; your safety matters.
We will continue to implement anti-racist and culturally responsible practices within the MAPS programs and organization as we equitably grow and learn together.
We need music, poetry, and all the arts now more than ever and will continue working to nourish our communities through elevating the voices of those most marginalized.
THE PROGRAM
Music and Poetry Synchronized (MAPS) teaches middle and high school students of differing races, socioeconomics, cultures, and genders to write music and poetry and create visual art in preparation for a public concert at the end of the program’s spring term. Each MAPS class takes place through a partnership with two different schools in two different states and runs throughout a full year. In the fall semester, English students from one school create poetry from their life stories. In the winter/spring, those poems are then sent to the partner school, where music students spend the semester turning them into heartfelt original pieces of music. Both schools participate in creating visual art throughout the year inspired by the poetry and music.
THE FACTS
Educational experiences infused with the arts help students:
- develop critical and creative skills necessary for today’s workforce
- improve school attendance
- score higher on achievement tests
- lessen dropout rates
- convey complex feelings and intent where speaking the words alone would have little effect
THE WHY
Students need to learn healthy ways to have civil discourse on controversial topics. MAPS brings together students from diverse backgrounds to unite, share, and create with one another. Marrying poetry, music and visual arts creates an artistic expression that forges long-lasting, educational, and deeply moving bonds for all involved. Through artistic expression, they forge long-lasting, educational, and deeply moving bonds for all involved.
THE CONTEXT
Music is a universal language that unites disparate peoples through shared cultural norms, rituals, and expression. Through music, people tap into their ancestral roots to celebrate life’s cycles, express emotion, create culture, and communicate with spirit. Concurrently, combining poetry, music, and visual arts serves as a language that bridges people who otherwise would have a hard time communicating. People from diverse backgrounds can unite by sharing a common experience even though their realities might be dramatically different from one another.
Our Impact
- Since 2005 MAPS has built lasting bridges across disparate races and cultures
- Hundreds of student participants in this profoundly positive educational program
- Noticeable improvements in participating students’ test scores and overall academic skills
- Build students’ self-confidence through public speaking and performing
- Create lasting bridges across disparate races, cultures, genders, socioeconomics, and geographic regions
- Work together to dispel stereotypes, fears, and prejudice
- Create improbable friendships and lasting bonds
Our Vision
Building a world where all students have the freedom to be creative, be heard, be understood, and be respected.
“The music aspect of it is kind of like…pick some chords, throw them together on a keyboard or guitar…then start adding harmonies, and that’s about it. It’s like writing any other song–just with words that aren’t your own.”
Scarlet Ayliz
