In January of 2014, I ran a kickstarter campaign to raise money for this project. I am happy to say the campaign was a success- a grand total of $10,267 was raised by 89 individual backers. Here are the details of the campaign.
Our Song: Workshop World Tour
Exploring, documenting, and sharing the voices of young people around the globe.
Exploring, documenting, and sharing the voices of young people around the globe.
The Vision: Arts education has a truly transformational power on the lives of young people. Music, and songwriting in particular, allows voices to be heard, breaks down barriers, and helps make connections between people, places, and ideas. Everyone deserves the opportunity to feel empowered by self expression, and music is one of the best ways to provide that sense of empowerment.
The Project: Beginning in February, 2014, I will embark on a 10 month journey across the globe, teaching, documenting, and sharing how young people express themselves through music. During this time, I will facilitate a series of four-week long workshops (eight workshops in total) that will engage students in lyric writing, composition, and performance techniques. Each workshop will culminate in a live performance open to the local community as well as a recording of the original songs. Upon returning to the US, the recordings we make along the way will be turned into a digital album available for download, and the video footage we shoot will be turned into a short film documenting the journey. This film will serve as a cultural comparison of youth expression through song across the globe, utilizing student performances, interviews, and snapshots of everyday life in each country.
The Campaign: This project is something I am super passionate about, but the reality is, I can not make it happen alone. I need your help. In order to insure each donation goes as far as possible, I will be living and eating with schools and families along the way, keeping extra expenses to a bare minimum. This still leaves travel costs, equipment for documentation, and production expenses. $10,000 dollars is the minimum amount of funding I need to make the project happen, and anything above that will mean better quality photo, audio and video to share with you all. In return for your investment in this program, you are eligible to receive a series of rewards, including access to the final compilation of student songs, a short documentary about the journey, or a skype performance with the students. Whatever is reasonable for you- one dollar, the whole $10,000, or just a share on facebook, anything helps.
I will be leaving for Thailand on the 26th of January to begin work with my first school, Darasamuth Phuket School. I’m pumped! If our goal is not reached though, the project will most likely end there. However, if we do reach the goal, the songwriting workshop will be brought to 7 more countries, making this a true world tour.
For more information about this project and my past work, please check out the following pages.
Music is life. Play on.
-Thomas
Read what others have said about the project:
The Olympian
The UW Daily
Prologue Profiles
Birthright Armenia
The Project: Beginning in February, 2014, I will embark on a 10 month journey across the globe, teaching, documenting, and sharing how young people express themselves through music. During this time, I will facilitate a series of four-week long workshops (eight workshops in total) that will engage students in lyric writing, composition, and performance techniques. Each workshop will culminate in a live performance open to the local community as well as a recording of the original songs. Upon returning to the US, the recordings we make along the way will be turned into a digital album available for download, and the video footage we shoot will be turned into a short film documenting the journey. This film will serve as a cultural comparison of youth expression through song across the globe, utilizing student performances, interviews, and snapshots of everyday life in each country.
The Campaign: This project is something I am super passionate about, but the reality is, I can not make it happen alone. I need your help. In order to insure each donation goes as far as possible, I will be living and eating with schools and families along the way, keeping extra expenses to a bare minimum. This still leaves travel costs, equipment for documentation, and production expenses. $10,000 dollars is the minimum amount of funding I need to make the project happen, and anything above that will mean better quality photo, audio and video to share with you all. In return for your investment in this program, you are eligible to receive a series of rewards, including access to the final compilation of student songs, a short documentary about the journey, or a skype performance with the students. Whatever is reasonable for you- one dollar, the whole $10,000, or just a share on facebook, anything helps.
I will be leaving for Thailand on the 26th of January to begin work with my first school, Darasamuth Phuket School. I’m pumped! If our goal is not reached though, the project will most likely end there. However, if we do reach the goal, the songwriting workshop will be brought to 7 more countries, making this a true world tour.
For more information about this project and my past work, please check out the following pages.
Music is life. Play on.
-Thomas
Read what others have said about the project:
The Olympian
The UW Daily
Prologue Profiles
Birthright Armenia
