Brooklyn Youth Chorus Academy Inc

Programs: Choral music education and performance:the brooklyn youth chorus academy (byc) provided comprehensive music education of unparalleled quality to a diverse group of 637 nyc young people during 2016-17. Music education: from september through may, 547 students aged 7-21 studied and performed in choral divisions grouped by age, and then by skill and experience. Training took place at byc's downtown brooklyn facility and at our neighborhood expansion program sites in bedford stuyvesant and red hook. Participation was as follows: prep division (177 choristers ages 7-9 in 2 levels/ 7 sections; 1 hr/wk); pre-teen division (182 choristers ages 10-12 in 3 levels/6 sections; 1. 5-2 hrs/wk); teen division (47 choristers ages 14-18/2 sections; 2 hrs/wk); men's training division (16 choristers ages 10-13; 1. 5 hrs/wk); men's ensemble (25 choristers ages 13-21; 2 hrs/wk); junior ensemble (50 choristers ages 11-18; 18 hours/mo); and concert ensemble (50 choristers ages 11-18; 22. 5 hrs/mo, with extensive additional rehearsals for concerts). Two prep sections and one pre-teen section met weekly at the bedford stuyvesant and red hook locations. An additional 90 students were served through our school-based partnership programs at p. S. 15, p. S. 1, m. S. 8 and i. S. 285, meeting weekly for full school-year programs. Weekly after-school and saturday elective classes included high school and middle school audition prep, vocal jazz workshop, beginning and advanced musicianship, and musical theatre. Byc conducted year-end assessments (sight singing, ear training, written musicianship test, and vocal assessment); the majority of choristers showed significant year-end improvement from the prior year's baseline results. Students epitomized the socioeconomic diversity of nyc: 58% of byc's students were non-white, including 30% african-american, 13% asian-american, 13% hispanic, and 2% other. Students hailed from 69 nyc zip codes (including east new york, sheepshead bay, lower manhattan and staten island), and attended 126 public and independent schools. Over 35% came from extremely low, very low or low-income households according to hud. Tuition was subsidized at only $780-$1,505 per year, though the program's cost per student was $3,400/year. Approximately 40% of our students received over $300,000 in additional financial aid and tuition subsidy. Through our in-school partnerships and neighborhood expansion program, byc reached low-income students and offered guaranteed aid to choristers from underserved communities. Performances, commissions and productions: byc's three performing ensembles served nyc audiences of 60,000 in 2016-17 with 30 concerts at venues ranging from parks and public schools to bam and lincoln center. Highlights: october 21, 2016, byc launched a yearlong artist residency at wqxr. Featured composers included jeff beal, nico muhly, shara worden, bryce dessner, caroline shaw, richard reed parry, kirk nurock;march 3-12, 2017, concert ensemble premiered aging magician, composed by paola prestini with libretto by rinde eckert and design and direction by julian crouch, at new victory theater;march 31, 2017, byc celebrated the release of its black mountain songs album on the new amsterdam records label with a performance at the greene space;may 12-13, 2017, concert ensemble premiered silent voices, co-commissioned and co-produced with bam, at bam's howard gilman opera house.