PARENTS EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS CREATE PERSONAL LULLABIES THROUGH THE LULLABY PROJECT
PROJECT CULMINATES IN A FREE PUBLIC CONCERT ON MAY 13 AT 11 AM IN THE NORCLIFFE FOUNDERS ROOM AT BENAROYA HALL
Seattle Symphony musicians and a Lullaby Project participant recording a lullaby in Benaroya Hall. Photo by James Holt, Seattle Symphony
SEATTLE, WA – On Sunday, May 13, at 11 a.m., the Seattle Symphony will host an intimate final concert of the Lullaby Project, a national program of Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute. Now in its sixth year, the Lullaby Project is a partnership between the Symphony’s Simple Gifts initiative and Mary’s Place, a day shelter for families experiencing homelessness. The project is a workshop series which provides a support network for homeless mothers and fathers as they each create a personal lullaby for their children.
“There are some things in this world that are universal — like a parent’s love for their child,” says Laura Reynolds, Seattle Symphony Vice President of Education & Community Engagement, “The Lullaby Project uniquely provides parents from Mary’s Place the opportunity to communicate their hopes and dreams for their children through rhythms, harmonies and melodies. Their songs are a precious gift that they will be able to share together for the rest of their lives and highlights just how powerful music can be.”
The project began with a creative workshop, where the parents were guided to express their thoughts and hopes for their children in writing, while Seattle Symphony musicians and teaching artists helped draw out words, phrases and themes to craft them into verses and melodies, creating personalized lullabies. The parents were then invited to a private recording session at Benaroya Hall, during which Symphony musicians and teaching artists performed each of the lullabies on stage while Grammy Award-winning Seattle Symphony audio engineer Dmitriy Lipay recorded the performances. A sharing session will take place on May 7, which serves as a time of reflection and discussion, and each participant will be presented with a personal recording of their lullaby. The project culminates on Sunday, May 13 at 11 a.m. with a public performance in the Norcliffe Founders Room at Benaroya Hall, where all lullabies will be performed live.
The concert is free and open to the public. No tickets necessary. Please RSVP to Katie Hovde, Education & Community Engagement Associate at katie.hovde@seattlesymphony.org. Space is very limited. For more information, please visit seattlesymphony.org or call 206.336.6613.
The Seattle Symphony’s Community programs are supported by the Ann & Gordon Getty Foundation, Citi Community Capital, KeyBank Foundation, the League of American Orchestras, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, Tulalip Tribes Charitable Fund, the U.S. Bank Foundation, Wells Fargo Foundation, the Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Foundation, and individual contributions to the Seattle Symphony Annual Fund.
SIMPLE GIFTS
The Lullaby Project is part of Simple Gifts, the Seattle Symphony’s organization-wide commitment to homelessness in Seattle and King County. The Seattle Symphony’s Simple Gifts initiative aims to empower individuals who are experiencing homelessness to connect with their creativity, develop deeper roots in the community through service, advocacy and collaboration; spark joy and inspire hope in individuals and communities that face disproportionate amounts of hardship; and raise awareness of the homelessness crisis that is occurring in King County.
Simple Gifts is supported by a generous grant from the American Orchestras' Futures Fund, a program of the League of American Orchestras made possible by funding from the Ann & Gordon Getty Foundation.
MARY’S PLACE
Mary’s Place is a nonprofit organization that empowers homeless women, children, and families to reclaim their lives. Mary’s Place opened in 1999 as a drop-in day center for single homeless women in downtown Seattle. In response to the increasing numbers of women and families with children experiencing homelessness, Mary’s Place opened its first emergency family night shelter in 2011 and currently operates seven family shelters providing more than 680 beds. Four of those shelters operate as 24/7 Family Centers that provide housing, employment, and wellness services each day for families experiencing homelessness.
SEATTLE SYMPHONY
The Seattle Symphony is one of America's leading symphony orchestras and is internationally acclaimed for its innovative programming and extensive recording history. Under the leadership of Music Director Ludovic Morlot since September 2011, the Symphony is heard from September through July by more than 500,000 people through live performances and radio broadcasts. It performs in one of the finest modern concert halls in the world — the acoustically superb Benaroya Hall — in downtown Seattle. Its extensive education and community engagement programs reach over 65,000 children and adults each year. The Seattle Symphony has a deep commitment to new music, commissioning many works by living composers each season. The orchestra has made nearly 150 recordings and has received three Grammy Awards, 23 Grammy nominations, two Emmy Awards and numerous other accolades. In 2014 the Symphony launched its in-house recording label, Seattle Symphony Media.
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