Beyond Music: Exploring the Experiences of Predominantly Hispanic Students and Parents in a Nonprofit Arts Organization During COVID-19 (Poster 31)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: 2022 Education Research Service Project Poster Session

Abstract

During the coronavirus pandemic, nonprofit arts organizations are playing a pivotal role in continuing to foster children’s artistic development, meeting families’ basic living needs, and serving as a trusted source of information. INTEMPO is an award-winning Connecticut-based arts and youth development organization founded to make music education accessible, relevant, and inclusive to low-income, first-generation children. INTEMPO’s Music School, the organization’s longest-running program, will continue remote small-group instrumental and choral music lessons in the 2020-21 school year. To date, INTEMPO has responded to the pandemic by donating masks, providing food and rent support, and distributing books and computers to its predominantly Latino families. To better understand the immediate and long-term academic, social, and economic experiences and needs of INTEMPO families, researchers from Teachers College, Columbia University will answer the following questions: (1) What are the experiences of INTEMPO’s Music School families during the pandemic? (2) What are their perceptions of INTEMPO’s role and support? (3) What role does music education play in a student’s life amid a pandemic? Researchers will gather qualitative data via six strategic focus groups with students and parents/guardians. The project will produce a blog, a report, and a presentation to nonprofit leaders in Fairfield County, Connecticut.

Authors

• Andrea Lopez Salazar, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Patricia Amanda Olivas, University of Arizona

• Adriana Diaz-Donoso, Teachers College, Columbia University