The Armory Arts and Music Center is working with the Music Resource Center of Charlottesville, VA and Cincinnati, Ohio on plans to open an affiliated music education program for youth in our community.
The Center will provide teens the opportunity to find a positive, creative outlet through music education, performance and recording. It will teach young people to appreciate music and help them develop the life skills that are integrated into arts education. The Center will be open to all youth in Duluth but will make specific outreach efforts to children who are homeless and financially disadvantaged.
This will be a state-of-the-art facility that offers the latest technology in the music industry, allowing young people to study and participate in every phase of music production and performance.
But, this is about much more than music…..
- It is well documented that music education develops cognitive ability, analytical reasoning, and higher-order thinking skills, creativity, focus, and presentation skills;
- High school students involved in the arts consistently score higher on the SAT than their non-arts peers. The gap widens with each additional year of arts courses taken in high school;
- The arts play a key role in learning the skills needed for a successful college or work experience;
- Business leaders also recognize that young people entering the workforce not only need literacy and numeracy skills, but creativity — the ability to “think outside the box.” This skill is exactly what arts education develops, and it is one of our nation’s leading advantages over the rigid education systems of some of our emerging competitors like China and India;
- In a recent survey, 81 percent of American corporate leaders said they consider creativity an essential skill for the 21st-century workforce, yet only 21 percent reported excellence in this area among recent college graduates seeking employment with their companies. The survey found equally disturbing skill deficits in other key areas including teamwork and collaboration, critical thinking and problem solving, and oral communication.
This will be the flagship center in Minnesota, modeled after a program that has been successful for 15 years! The MRC will be located on two floors for a total of 5,000 square feet.
For more information visit the sites for these Music Resource Center locations:
