BRIDGING EDUCATION AND ART TOGETHER

We aim to change the current system where too many students are deprived of strong arts programming in schools. Our organization and programs enable children from financially challenged backgrounds to have a more level playing field with children who have easy access to arts enrichment experiences. We’re combating the vicious cycle of injustice and disparity that discourages disadvantaged students and minority students with disabilities from enjoying or pursuing the arts.

BEAT helps alleviate the burden on the schools to hire a full time music teacher or purchase expensive instruments. Our four main programs - focused on beatboxing, breakdancing, songwriting, and stylized visual art - do not require large ensembles or instruments. They can all be conducted using simple materials like paper and pencils in addition to the student’s own body, voice, and creativity. We are trying to make music accessible for all students, regardless of socioeconomic status or disabilities. This means we can help unleash their creative potential while also expanding the footprint of alternative music education in our schools and community.

We are especially proud of our BEAT Rockers program, which teaches beatboxing to youth with disabilities to support their speech therapy. Pioneering research has shown that listening to and performing music reactivates areas of the brain associated with memory, reasoning, speech, emotion, and reward. After conducting many studies on the impact of beatboxing, Sophie Scott, a professor at University College London and deputy director of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, concluded: “When I hear beatboxing I hear ambition and skill and creativity and delight and hope.”

Since 2009, we’ve positively impacted over 2,200 students through our programs. The students respond to our instruction with enthusiasm and curiosity. We’ve also witnessed improvements in their communication, mood, behavior management, physical activity, even self-esteem and reduced anxiety. More students were collaborating with other students to create new music and perform. As a result, their confidence has grown and they take more initiative in classroom participation.

Our goal is to bring our programs to every classroom serving underprivileged and disabled students nationwide.

BEAT regularly partners with schools, community organizations, and public institutions throughout the five boroughs to make our programs as accessible as possible: instead of requiring youth to come to us, we bring our programming to them -- to the community center, library branch, or school auditorium in their own neighborhood.

Moreover, we have also built a number of strategic partnerships with organizations so as to offer our programming on a sustained basis. For example, we have taught our BEAT Rockers (beatboxing) program at the Lavelle School for the Blind in Bronx, NY, for over ten years. The majority of the students at Lavelle are minority youth with multiple disabilities who are from low-income households -- precisely the population we’re so committed to empowering. We’ve fostered relationships with NYC’s Department of Youth and Community Development, Mayor’s Office for Persons with Disabilities, and multiple schools in NYC’s Department of Education, as well as independent organizations such as the Center for Community Alternatives, Quality Services for the Autism Community, and AHRC.

We have also begun fostering relationships with organizations who operate primarily in the virtual sphere. For instance, we currently offer our programs through Outschool, an online music education website, and are fostering relationships with both educational and nonprofit organizations in New York, Pennsylvania, and California to offer our programs using online platforms.

In addition, we’ve begun creating original content to freely share on our social media platforms. For instance, we recently launched our BEATbox Band video series which teaches learners aged 3-7 the basics of how to beatbox. All episodes of this series are available for free on our YouTube channel, and have been added to the virtual offerings at multiple children’s hospitals nationwide to heal their hearts as doctors care for their bodies. We hope to create more content to spark joy in the students we serve.

For youth who are unable to access our programming either in-person or in live virtual instruction, we’ve also developed pre-recorded boxsets of our most popular programs. Doing so grants our students the freedom to access our engaging and lively instruction at a time that works for them.

No matter the circumstances, BEAT remains committed to fulfilling the social, emotional, and creative potential of underserved youth and youth with disabilities. Hip Hop offers a safe haven for youth to work through their feelings of anger and grief. We are constantly innovating new ways to effectively engage with a broader swath of students to uplift their necessary voices.

BEAT is comprised of a multi-ethnic, diverse community of talented artists, musicians, and administrative personnel who share the vision of bridging the arts and creative self-expression to underserved communities. Currently, we have a roster of twenty (20) program instructors, four (4) full-time administrative staff members and two (2) volunteer Board members, who are 80% visible minority, 60% women, 40% foreign-born, 20% LGBT, and 20% with a speech-related disability.

All of our instructors are professional artists who are not only renowned in their field but also educators trained to teach special needs students. They know how to provide quality music instruction in a sensitive environment where each student has a unique need and ability. By creating a platform for award-winning artists to channel their talent into innovative instruction, BEAT’s working to ensure all students, regardless of ability, are empowered to creatively express themselves beyond their limitations.

BEAT’s in-depth reach, impact, and influence over the past decade has been widely recognized by a global audience. The United Nations nominated BEAT for the 2018 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Action Award for global impact. BEAT performed music showcases and conducted workshops at the 2018 Global Festival of Action in Bonn, Germany. BEAT also partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to conduct BEAT Breakers Workshops with over 500 youth in the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan in September 2018. We signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to expand international programming in Canada through partnerships with the School for Social Entrepreneurs and the nonprofit organization, Intervene, as well as to Germany through a partnership with the Berlin-based, BMW Foundation. We’re in the process of forming a partnership with the National Stuttering Association to bring our programming to their 179 active chapters, as well as forming BEAT Chapters around the world.

Our work was recently captured in a documentary-series titled “We Speak Music: When Art Meets Therapy,” presented by Nokia Bell Labs and featured on Swissbeatbox, the world’s largest beatbox platform. The 13-minute film poignantly highlights how beatboxing helps young people communicate beyond their visual and developmental challenges.

Moreover, in 2019 alone, we were awarded grants from the Laura B. Vogler Foundation, Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation, ARC Tank 3.0, and the prestigious New York City Community Trust to expand our programming and our capacity-building projects.

The most exciting of our capacity building projects is our Beat Rockers App, which is based on our ten years of success in our BEAT Rockers program. It is currently in the mid-stages of development. The app will teach users how to have fun and create music through beatboxing, while having the added benefit of being a practice and assessment tool for SLPs. It will be freely available on tablets, smartphones, and other internet-ready devices. We’ve worked with a number of registered Speech-Language Pathologists to develop appropriate lesson content and fine-tune the therapy components of our Beat Rockers App.

We’re committed to making all our initiatives here at BEAT as astounding as the students we serve.