Year-End Appeal

Dear friends,

It has been a remarkable fall at the Newport String Project! Over the summer, we were fortunate to be able to hire two wonderful colleagues, Ashley Frith (viola) and Jaime Feldman (cello). Now with a full complement of four musicians, we are performing and teaching as the Newport String Project’s first quartet-in-residence, the Newport String Quartet. Only three months into our fifth season, we are experiencing the positive impact of this change in many exciting ways.

In sharing the following highlights, it is important to emphasize that these programs are made possible by the generosity of supporters like you. We hope that you will consider making a donation this month to help make possible our fifth year of creating inspiring and accessible musical experiences for all.

Our free after-school music programming at the MLK Center is thriving. With the addition of Ashley and Jaime, our enrollment jumped to 39 students who participate in twice-weekly lessons. For the first time, we can offer cello lessons, meeting our goal of offering instruction in all the instruments of a string quartet. And a Very Young Musicians class, led by Jaime, is engaging an additional 15 preschoolers in a curriculum of movement, dancing and singing.

Due to our increased capacity, more children than ever before are benefitting from one-to-one mentoring, increasing the amount of individual attention for each student. Students are even getting their first taste of chamber music, working together in small groups.

Alongside our busy teaching activities, the Newport String Quartet’s performing life has also had a busy start. From outdoor performances at the Broadway Street Fair to more traditional concerts at the Newport Art Museum and Trinity Church, we are digging into the question of how a string quartet can play a meaningful civic role in Newport.

There is still time to catch the Newport String Quartet in action in 2017: Please join us on Sunday, December 17th at 3pm at the Redwood Library for a vibrant program of works including Mozart’s sublime String Quintet in D Major, K. 593 and Prokofiev’s evocative String Quartet No. 2.

We also want you to know that, behind the scenes, we are hard at work developing plans to bring the Newport String Project into its next phase of organizational development. A five-member advisory committee is supporting us to become our own 501c3 nonprofit organization in 2018, increasing our infrastructure and building a board of directors.

Thank you for your enthusiasm for our work—we appreciate your support so much. Please consider including the Newport String Project in your year-end giving. Donations can be made through our website (www.newportstringproject.org/donate) or mailed to the Newport String Project, 1392 Westminster Street, Providence RI 02909.

With gratitude,
EmmaLee and Ealain
Newport String Project Directors