Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center/Lucy Moses School for Music and Dance

Lucy Moses School, Manhattan’s largest community arts school, provides classes and lessons in music, dance, and theater to children, teenagers, and adults from across New York City. The School welcomes a broad range of families to connect with one of its 120+ accomplished faculty members, while its Scholarship Fund makes programming accessible for students from low-income communities each year.

Lucy Moses School also serves students who wish to seriously pursue music studies after high school through its Young Artist Program. The program prepares advanced students to study music at college or conservatory through a rigorous after-school curriculum of private instruction, ensemble coaching, and music theory; and through ample opportunities to learn from renowned guest artists—including Kaufman Music Center’s renowned Artists-in-Residence—via masterclasses and ensemble coaching.

Special Music School (M859) is New York City’s only K-12 public school that provides in-depth curricular musical training alongside a rigorous academic education. A unique partnership between Kaufman Music Center and the New York City Department of Education, the School provides daily music instruction—including private lessons, ensemble training, courses in music theory and history, and more—alongside the D.O.E.’s academic curriculum. Kaufman Music Center designs, delivers, and fully funds Special Music School’s Music Program, thereby making world-class music education free for students and their families.

Offered as part of Lucy Moses School, Kaufman Music Center's Face the Music is the country’s premier youth music program dedicated to studying and performing music by living composers—including many of its own members. Face the Music serves young musicians ages 12 to 18 from 25+ high schools across New York City’s five boroughs. Students come together on Saturdays to explore contemporary music with a team of award-winning coaches and conductors. The various ensembles that make up the program—including chamber orchestras, a jazz big-band, an improvisation collective, string quartets, and mixed chamber groups—annually present 10+ concerts, including showcases at some of New York’s most innovative concert venues and experimental performance spaces. In addition to its core ensembles, Face the Music is home to both a robust composition and songwriting program and an innovative workshop series that explores topics like songwriting, conducting, and improvisation.