We’re bringing Music to the Neighborhood!
Music in the Neighborhood has been launched thanks to the generous sponsorship of Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc.
On Tuesday July 27th, we launched our very first Music in the Neighborhood program as part of Esperanza Health Center’s open house for their “Young at Heart” seniors group, The open house welcomed back neighborhood seniors for just the second in-person event since the suspension of the program due to the pandemic. A portion of The Big Bad Band Combo performed in Esperanza’s Community Garden, for ARTZ in the Neighborhood community advisory group members, visitors to Esperanza Health Center, and other guests.
Music in the Neighborhood has been launched thanks to the generous sponsorship of Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in San Diego, California. It will be a monthly program, with various musical artists from the community performing in the Northwest or Hunting Park neighborhoods of Philadelphia as a component of our ARTZ in the Neighborhood project*. Our goal for the overall project is to collaborate with community members in promoting self-determination and self-advocacy among people living with dementia and their care partners and to create quality-of-life-enhancing programs that are of, by and for them. In keeping with that mission, we are asking community members to drive the process of selecting musical genres and recommending and selecting neighborhood musicians to perform in Music in the Neighborhood.
Our inaugural performance was presented by The Big Bad Band, a soulful band that originated from a 17-piece orchestra with musicians from Philadelphia led by saxophonist, poet and facilitator Ronald Dove. Featured musicians included Ronald Dove, Robert Landham, Kevin Lawrence, Stephen Ford, Greg Henderson, and Pio Valantud.
In the lead-up to the first Music in the Neighborhood performance, we interviewed Lianette Pappaterra, the Community Programs Manager at Esperanza, about this meaningful collaboration. Lianette’s reflections on the value of this new musical component to our ongoing ARTZ in the Neighborhood partnership are captured in a video about Music in the Neighborhood that will soon be linked to this blog post.
*ARTZ in the Neighborhood is funded by Friends Foundation for the Aging, Fox Chase Bank Charitable Fund, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and. the Lawrence Saunders Fund. Music in the Neighborhood is sponsored by Acadia Pharmaceuticals, Inc.