Lawrence Arts Academy
Lawrence UniversityP.O. Box 599AppletonWI54912-0599920-832-6632920-993-6039

Program: Enriched Instrumental Instruction for Hmong Children Year Started: 1991 Focus: Music Youth Served: 35 Ages: 11-18 Budget: $4,355 For the young Hmong students in Appleton, Wisconsin, the Lawrence Arts Academy provides an opportunity to learn about music and themselves and to become involved with the greater Appleton community. Each spring, Lawrence Arts Academy presents its program to fifth grade Hmong students through performances by their Hmong peers at local schools. Interested fifth graders can enter a 6-week summer program where they meet with Academy faculty three times a week. At the end of the summer session, the Academy holds a concert and potluck for the students and their families. During the school year, the Academy works with a Hmong English-as- a-Second-Language coordinator to track the students and make sure they are scheduled into the schoolĖs band. They also maintain the studentsĖ school instruments for free and arrange private lessons for those who are advancing quickly. The benefits of the program are many, as Jane Serumgard Harrison, acting director of the Academy, notes, "Language is not a barrier with music. Yet, through talking with their peers and instructors one-on-one and in band, the kids have developed higher language skills. Some of our students are now first chair in their bands! This program has changed their whole self-image."