VocalEssence's WITNESS: Celebrating Cultural Diversity through Music

Shining the spotlight on VocalEssence and its remarkable education outreach program serving thousands of students in and around the Twin Cities.

The WITNESS program celebrates the contributions of African Americans to our shared American cultural heritage through concerts, recordings, and comprehensive educational programs.

The program is the brainchild of VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle, who some 22 years ago noticed a dearth of quality classical choral music programming from the African American experience. “During Black History Month, there might be one Duke Ellington piece played on the radio,” Brunelle recalled. “I thought, ‘There must be a lot more music out there that people didn’t know about.’”

 Hannibal Lokumbe with students
Composer Hannibal Lokumbe visits with elementary students as part of WITNESS. Photo: Katryn Conlin.

The first celebration in 1991 featured a new commission by David Baker called Witness that inspired the name for the program. Over the course of two decades, the WITNESS program has commissioned some 40 new choral works by African American artists. WITNESS recordings are available online.

From the beginning, WITNESS had the goal of educating young people, as well as the public, about this body of work. The WITNESS School Program offers in-school workshops with experienced teaching artists for students grades 4-12, provides teachers with professional development and classroom resources, and invites schools to attend the WITNESS Young People’s Concerts, featuring VocalEssence singers in a Twin Cities concert hall.

Currently some 50 Twin Cities-area schools—around 5,000 young people annually—participate in WITNESS program workshops. Some 7,000 students attend the Young People’s Concerts.

“The key value for our organization is inspiring all people to appreciate the value of cultures they were not born into or may not understand,” said Mary Ann Pulk, executive director of VocalEssence. “The program is a point of pride for African Americans and an opportunity for greater awareness and education for non-African Americans.

How Does It Work?

Each year, the VocalEssence WITNESS concert and School Program are focused on a particular theme or artist, such as the legacy of Rosa Parks, the history of Roland Hayes, or the community involvement as personified by Sweet Honey in the Rock.

VocalEssence creates a comprehensive education curriculum organized around the theme. The goal is to create an integrative academic experience that combines the study of African American culture with art, music, social studies, literature, character building, and other areas of school curriculum. VocalEssence carefully aligns the WITNESS curriculum to fit within the state teaching requirements for each grade level.

All teachers at participating WITNESS partner schools are required to attend a half-day WITNESS teacher orientation seminar in the fall. Teachers receive a complimentary 100-page resource guide with activities and lessons built around the theme of the WITNESS concert, and recordings pertinent to the concert.

Teaching artists, drawn from an array of artistic disciplines, conduct two full days of workshops around the yearly program theme with students in participating schools. During the workshop day at a school, an artist might work individually with four groups of fifth graders, for example.

¡Cantaré!: Celebrating Mexican Choral Music

Inspired by the WITNESS program, VocalEssence launched ¡Cantaré! in 2008 to bring the talents of composers from Mexico directly into Minnesota classrooms.

Through ¡Cantaré!, selected composers from Mexico participate as artists-in-residence with elementary schools, high schools, colleges, and community organizations.

The composers work directly with student choirs and community choruses throughout the year, becoming familiar with the ensembles and writing new music specifically for each.

At the end of the school year, community and school partners present world premieres of new music in concert.

Read more on the VocalEssence website.

The WITNESS roster of 13 professional teaching artists includes Twin Cities-based storytellers, dancers, vocalists, instrumentalists, actors, writers, poets, and visual artists. Depending on the artist, workshop activities might include composing a song, expressing a poem through movement, or painting a mural about hope and courage.

In 2012, WITNESS programming revolved around a major new choral work by African American trumpeter and composer Hannibal Lokumbe. In the Spirit of Being, for female vocal soloist, chorus, jazz ensemble, and children’s choir, depicts a life journey in four stages—or “veils,” as Lokumbe calls them.

Through this journey, students were challenged to embrace a greater appreciation for the gift of life, to gain confidence to overcome whatever struggles they may face, and to be inspired in the peace attained through forgiveness.

In one school, the teaching artist focused on the theme of struggle—drawing parallels to the Civil Rights Movement, as well as asking students to reflect on their own everyday struggles and how they overcome them.

“The curriculum is aimed at making sure young people know where they come from,” Pulk said, “especially those who may be challenged to realize that they have a past that they should be proud of. There is an enormous thread of pride and self-esteem that runs through the WITNESS program.”

The program culminates in February when students attend one of four 50-minute-long Young People’s Concerts at one of the area’s top venues, such as Ordway Center for the Performing Arts or Orchestra Hall. The ticket price is an accessible $3.50. “For many kids, it is the one time that they can have a professional musical experience,” Pulk said.

At the 2012 concert, the students heard selections from the four “veils” of Lokumbe’s work—with context provided by one of the storyteller teaching artists—and Lokumbe himself on trumpet. A choir of fourth and fifth graders, part of an after-school program at Ramsey Performing Arts Magnet school, performed with VocalEssence.

What Are the Essential Elements?

The teaching artists are the key delivery system for the program. “What makes the program strong is that the artists are incredibly amazing role models for the kids,” Kimberly Meisten, director of community engagement at VocalEssence said. “They are really great at reaching these kids.”

A number of the artists have been working with WITNESS for many years. “We have built up relationships and trust,” Pulk said. “The schools know they are going to have a quality experience and get resources that are age appropriate, and curriculum appropriate.”

Many schools have made a long-term commitment to WITNESS and the program is embraced throughout their curriculum. “The sweet spot for this program in terms of curriculum is upper elementary and middle school,” Pulk said. “The schools that are most engaged are aware that there is a deep relationship within the school that goes beyond the music teacher to the classroom teacher to the social studies teacher to the principal.”

The program is offered practically free to schools—which is a strong selling point.
The only financial commitment is the price of the ticket to the WITNESS Young People’s Concerts. Schools often can budget for field trip money, and if they can’t, VocalEssence or the partner venue may be able to provide scholarships to cover transportation. Teachers also get a free day of training, for which they get continuing education hours.

“If we were charging schools, the program would not be as successful,” Pulk said. “On the other hand, some schools have the resources and bring artists for additional sessions. If they want to go deeper, they pay for that.”

How Is the Program Funded?

WITNESS began 22 years ago with seed funding from the General Mills Foundation, which continues to support the program. The National Endowment for the Arts and numerous private and corporate foundations provide ongoing funding for the program.

An annual budget of $130,000 covers the cost of the public concert and the in-school program. One full-time and one part-time staff manage all of the VocalEssence education programs. About three-quarters of their time goes to the WITNESS program.

How Does the Program Measure Its Effectiveness?

Each year the students, their schoolteachers, and the teaching artists complete evaluations of the program, which the program uses to improve the product.

WITNESS student
A young student works on her writing project for the WITNESS School Program. Photo: Stephen Maturen.

The primary measure of the program’s effectiveness is the high demand year to year. “Even with economic challenges over the last few years, we have no trouble recruiting 50 schools every year,” Pulk said. “That tells us that we are relevant and there is still a need. Teachers feel this is important for their students.”

What Are the Challenges?

“We sometimes have a challenge connecting the big chorus students see on stage with the teaching artist who has worked with them in the classroom,” Pulk said. “We are not as culturally diverse a choir as some of the students think we are going to be when they come to see us.”

“On the other hand, we have a long legacy of really digging deep into those cultures and a commitment to authenticity.”

Funding on every level is a challenge, but especially so at under-resourced schools. Some schools have struggled to cover the cost of busing students to the concert. “We have done fundraising to help supplement that cost,” Pulk says, “We do what we can.”

What Has VocalEssence Learned?

• Don’t say, “We’ll try it for one year and see what happens.” Give yourself three or four years—enough time to figure out how to make the program work well. “That is a strong stance to take with donors that we are committed and not a flash in the pan,” Pulk said.

• Create a strong business plan. Identify the goals of the program, who your partners will be, how it will be funded, how you will measure your effectiveness, etc.

• Recruit a strong advisory committee made up of members of the cultural community whose music you are presenting. “The more you can listen to the artists and the cultural authorities as you develop your program, the more authentic it will be.”

• Ask the teaching artists to check the curriculum for cultural sensitivity and cultural appropriateness before it goes to press.

• Make sure the curriculum fits with the state education standards. Teachers need to know that participating in the program will count toward their teaching requirements.

• Maintain high quality—always.

Can Other Choruses Do Something Like This?

Yes. Pulk’s advice: Start small.

“You could have one teaching artist and work in one school,” Pulk says. “You could do it every other year, so that you have time to develop the resources to support it. You can easily scale this program to fit what your community is like and what it needs.”