V-Pals
V-Pals connects youth from around the world through stories and songs provided by professional musicians, fostering musical and cultural awareness. Through a digital space led by professional musicians, students receive free and exemplary training, with no instruments required as the basis for instruction are through song and cultural education. The artists-instructors also serve as mentors to provide support and motivation to young, aspiring musicians.
Need and Opportunity:
Academic Improvement: Students who participate in music-related activities achieve achieve higher academic achievement.
Equity: There is a challenge making music education available to all, due to location and/or expense. According to Paul Hamlyn Foundation, a key challenge for quality and reach of school-based music education is poor spaces and resources.
Virtual Accessibility: Provide high-level musical instruction and inspire student participants in goals and activities beyond musical training, as well as connecting students and musicians worldwide through virtual connection.
Professional Opportunities: This program intends to pay the professional artists engaged to teach the youth, thus creating compensated opportunities artists in a time of great need. (May 4, 2020 report from Americans for the Arts - 95% report income loss, 80% experienced a decrease in creative work that generated income).
Unique Value Proposition:
Using a system that is modern, efficient, and uses technology, V-Pals removes significant barriers to quality instruction, particularly in rural communities and developing locations where access to music education may be limited however internet access is available.
Emphasis on collective experience and exchange based on music and culture. Cost to create instruction is minimal, while impact is widespread to communities globally with internet access. In light of COVID-19, the value of virtual learning is increasingly apparent. In 2019, 86.9% of people living in developed countries have internet access, with 47% in developing markets.
This process creates equitable opportunities for professional musicians, many of whom have lost significant income due to COVID-19. V-Pals therefore generates singular opportunities for artists and participants alike through a global effort.
Process:
V-Pals is led by acclaimed opera singer and TCP Founder Carla Canales, as well as featuring an international roster of artist-advocates to foster valuable and effective learning. The program is catered to each partner to best serve student participants. That said, the suggested structure gives each participating organization access to the following:
Videos of Carla singing selected popular children’s songs from around the world.
Videos of participating students singing selected songs, thus connecting youth from different parts of the world.
Videos of guest artists performing on various voices and instruments, introducing participants to varying forms of music.
Series of worksheets for the songs, and on each invited artist.
Series of short videos from Carla on her travels around the world, introducing participants to diverse cultural traditions.
At the end of each course, participants will receive a completion certificate. Virtual performances will also be implemented, as will one-on-one mentorship with interested participants and artist-instructors.
Objective:
Provide opportunities for students and artist-instructors to collaborate, connect, and provide cost-free quality instruction to students and paid opportunities to artists worldwide. Through such participants become virtual and musical penpals, ultimately fostering greater awareness and respect for global cultures.
History of V-Pals:
In 2017, TCP launched a simple and international educational program titled “Video Pals”(V-Pals). V-Pals exposes students to professional artists from around the world and encourages them to creatively examine different cultural practices to connect to and learn about new communities and different ways of life. Initial partners include Meadow Homes Elementary in Concord, CA, Lake Forest Elementary in Pembroke Park, FL, both initiated through the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities in 2017, as well as Boys and Girls Clubs of Tucson, AZ.