There’s nothing like drawing in an even larger group of your community’s kids because of your community’s own generosity. 

Trenton Music Makers was honored to learn that it would be part of the cohort of grantees supported by the Trenton Arts Endowment Fund of the Princeton Area Community Foundation. The Fund will support the live 2021-22 opening of the after-school orchestra’s “Open Strings” project, begun online during the earliest days of the pandemic lockdown. 

“In Open Strings, our players have been listening closely to the everyday sounds that we sometimes take for granted,” said Artistic Director Melissa Niño. “They hear melodies and rhythms, and work together to build new pieces of music. It’s been a meaningful way to work together while they’re separated by the pandemic, and it’s going to be better still when they can be in the room jamming live!”

Not only will Open Strings be growing, but the orchestra as a whole will be growing, as well. “Thanks to the amazing generosity of this community during the crisis stage of the pandemic, we’re starting out 2021-22 strong,” said Executive Director Carol Burden. “We’ll be meeting five days a week now, and adding percussion, and one-on-one academic coaching. If it hadn’t been for the rapid response from our foundation supporters and extra love from our individual friends, we’d be opening at a smaller scale now. As it is, we’re ready to double our numbers.”

Registration is open for new students.

Interested string beginners and their families can visit www.trentonmusicmakers.org/register to learn about the orchestra and ways to join and participate.