Description

The Song Room – Engaging Young People Through Creativity

The Song Room is a national not for profit organisation that provides free, tailored, long-term music and arts-based programs for children in disadvantaged and high need communities.

The Song Room vision is that every Australian child should have the opportunity to participate in music and the arts to help them learn, grow and become positive forces in their communities. Our programs are based on research and have been demonstrated to improve educational and social outcomes and to help schools create and sustain their own music and arts programs.

We help schools that need to re-engage with their students and who are in the most marginalised communities in Australia. It’s hard to believe, but there are 700,000 children across Australia without teachers who specialise in music and the arts.

So far The Song Room has reached over 200,000 disadvantaged children with its unique, free and tailored programs and is currently reaching over 40,000 disadvantaged children per year.

What We Do
The Song Room provides a range of free programs to schools and communities that otherwise would not have access to such opportunities. Currently we provide long-term, intensive programs to over 200 schools nationally, as well as capacity building and online programs to hundreds of other membership schools.
The Song Room offers a range of tailored music and creative arts-based programs including;
• Long-term school workshops (minimum of six months per school, one day per week).
• Community school holiday intensives involving parents and families and the broader community.
• Interactive performance programs.
• Significant capacity building and resources to build self-sustainability in each school, including:
• Professional Development and mentoring for classroom teachers
• Donation of instruments and education CDs through music industry sponsors
• Curriculum and teaching materials for integrated learning & continued use
• Development of community partnerships and linkages to increase access to other programs
• The Song Room Online, a membership network for schools to access support and resources
• Strategic partnerships and collaboration with arts-based and community-based organizations.
• Importantly, a well designed evaluation and research component for its programs.

The Unique Nature of The Song Room Programs
The Song Room programs are unique in that they:
• are free to schools, targeting only the most disadvantaged communities to bridge gaps;
• are long-term to achieve broader educational and social impact;
• are tailored to a particular school / community requirement;
• build capacity for long-term sustainability;
• include a range of music and arts media;
• are developed to be integrated across the curriculum;
• adopt a partnership approach.

Who Benefits
The Song Room Target Groups
The Song Room targets its efforts to providing tailored programs to such disadvantaged children, who would otherwise miss out. In particular it undertakes a range of specialist programs for such children in the following categories:
• Socio-economically disadvantaged school communities with no access to music / arts.
• Indigenous communities both in urban and remote rural regions.
• special schools with students with learning, health and disability challenges.
• New arrivals with English as a second language.
• Disengaged children with behavioural problems, or in areas of high juvenile crime who need to re-engage at school.
• Early intervention programs for children (0 - 5 years) with parents in disadvantaged areas.
• Geographically Isolated and remote schools.

Website

The Song Room

State

Victoria

Social Category

Arts/Culture/Heritage