Pakachoag Music School of Greater Worcester

The School’s aspiration for the near future is to grow in a way which creates more equitable access to the arts, growing organizational diversity and expanding community engagement along the way.

That includes expanding partner programming, bringing music learning off site to children and youth who cannot otherwise access after-school music learning. By exciting these students around music, we want to invite these students to continue their music learning by enrolling in lessons or a music class with us (with financial aid support).

One student at a time, we want to support every student in being successful as a musician, providing the groundwork for success in school, work, life and community.

To meet our goal, we are working to:

• Create easier access to out-of-school arts learning through financial aid and partner outreach
• Increase the use of technology, begun during COVID, for future flexibility
• Expand organizational diversity among enrollees, volunteers and faculty
• Increase our donor base and unearned income to support our high quality faculty and staff, maintain high quality programming, and offer more tuition-free partner programming as well as financial aid.

Pakachoag has a long history of successful partnerships, coupled with providing financial aid to families in need.

Since moving from the suburb of Auburn into the city center of Worcester in 2018, we have seen growth in diversity and partner activity. With experienced staff and board members and a dedicated faculty of 38 teaching artists, we're making forward progress.

We have managed a balanced budget over several decades, pushing small surpluses into cash reserves. That fiscal conservative approach has positioned us to weather the pandemic, despite disruptions to enrollment and activities.

In 2020, following our first full year in Worcester, we are excited to report that we are enrolling more students from the City of Worcester, while also retaining the many suburban families that have been part of our profile for decades. Among private lesson enrollees (where growth is aimed), 11% of students identified as African/African American (vs. 12% for the city of Worcester). 13% identify as Asian vs. 8% in Worcester. 6% identify as hispanic vs. 20% in Worcester; while 12% identify as two or more races vs. 4% in Worcester. 2021 saw a slight pull back in this forward movement due to the pandemic.

We set up the new "Faces of Pakachoag" display, our way of signaling everyone is welcome and sharing the many forms of diversity comprised within our student body from instrument, age, skin color, and level of musicianship.

We began a new outreach program with the Black Excellence Academy reaching 35 middle school students once-a-week for 12 weeks. Taught by Pakachoag faculty member Christon Carney, the curriculum explored Black excellence in music, specifically via the Motown genre, as a path toward social change.