Fine Arts

 

For nearly 15 years, the Ravinia Women's Board has been sponsoring the Circle Rockets orchestra at Catalyst Circle Rock.  Currently, nearly 50 students are members of one of the largest elementary school African-American symphony orchestra in the country. These experiences are provided through the schools’ internal programming and those formed through partnerships with external non-profit organizations.   These organizations include the Chicago Children’s Choir, Ravinia Festival, and May I Have This Dance? Ballroom Dancing, The schools’ ballroom dancing teams are four-time champions of the city-wide May I Have This Dance? ballroom dance competition, held annually at the Chicago Cultural Center.

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In October 2012, Ravinia Foundation's Women's Board began its sponsorship of the Circle Rockets orchestra at Catalyst Circle Rock.  Currently, nearly 60 students are members of one of the largest elementary school African-American symphony orchestra in the country.  Also, three other Chicago Public Schools join with our orchestra to play as one single orchestra weekly onstage in our theatre. Teaching is done according to the El Sistema model- when the orchestra was founded in 2012, when it was one of four schools implementing this approach nationwide.