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MUSIC is our voice.
At the Puerto Rican Arts Alliance, diversity and inclusion are the backbone of our foundation. We constantly strive to achieve a program that welcomes any and all students. We invite diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds to learn and explore the beauty of Latin music with us. Come one, come all!
Spring Session: February 6 - May 7
The Latin Music Project School Program consists of two community initiatives; one which is held at our Latin Music Project Center; the other works in partnership with the Chicago Public Schools. It is our goal to provide youth and children of color the opportunity to access affordable music classes and be trained to become the next generation of professional musicians for classical and other pop music orchestras.
Our after-school classes engage students in learning how to play the Cuatro which is a midsized guitar prominent in Latin music, guitar, and violin. Participants also learn how to read music, play traditional Latin American songs, and perform in group settings. Beginning and Intermediate classes are held at our Latin Music Project Center and at selected school sites. Student participants generally range between 8–18 years old. Our music programs are arranged for children and youth only.
PRAA has recently expanded its programming to include younger students between the ages of 4–7 with a new program entitled Little Genius. These classes are hands-on and provide children the opportunity to learn basic music skills while having fun playing percussion instruments, singing, learning to read music and dancing.
The LMP carefully coordinates music content standards with our Chicago Public Schools (CPS) partner sites, universities, and distinguished music educators from the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico to ensure an equitable, congruent, and coherent alignment with every student’s music education and academic progress – this results in reducing, or eliminating, barriers to a quality music education and provides readily accessible music resources to all students.
Of the many benefits of having your child enrolled in our Latin Music Project are the following: classes are conducted by conservatory trained instructors, opportunity to access master classes provided by visiting world renowned musicians, access to youth mentoring program, instructional financial assistance via scholarships for qualifying students, developing social skills, connecting with other youth and children that have similar interests.
Latin Music Project Youth Ensemble
Students may audition to join our Latin Music Project ~ Advanced Ensemble, including: cuatro, guitar, violin, vocal, percussion, and more. The advanced student ensemble participates in our annual National Cuatro Festival at Harris Theatre. In 2023, the event will be held on Saturday, November 18th. Other performance opportunities include Navy Pier, Millennium Park, the Juan and Gladys Mendez Music Hall, special events at PRAA Center, and many other stages throughout the City of Chicago. In the past, many of our students have achieved advanced levels of performance in orchestras and choirs in their respective schools and/or have been honored with awards from the city of Chicago like “Rising Star.” The LMP’s curriculum consists of a vast repertoire of folkloric and contemporary music from Latin America and the Caribbean. We also offer our Latin Music Project classes at selected Chicago Public Schools that impact over 1,000 students in Chicago every year. The LMP Ensemble meets year-round (twice per-week) for practice and performs at events throughout Chicagoland. To schedule an audition to join the ensemble, email jose@praachicago.org or call 773-342-8865.
We are very proud to announce that El Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico (The Puerto Rican Conservatory of Music, San Juan), University of Illinois at Chicago and PRAA have established a formal partnership to offer special opportunities and education to students from Chicago and Puerto Rico. Special thanks to our partners for believing in our work!
For students who are interested in learning more about career development and mentorship opportunities, including the PRAA College and Mentorship Scholarship Program - please email: music@praachicago.org
Rising Star
Hi, everyone. My name is Isamary Medina-Marrero. I’m 14 years old and this year I had the honor of being nominated and awarded the Rising Star Honor Roll award in music. I’ve been playing the cuatro since I was about 7 years old and it was all thanks to PRAA. PRAA gave me some of the best mentors and teachers that I’ve had throughout all my music experiences. It’s given me a place to express myself and play music with others who are just as passionate about it as I am. Since I started playing cuatro at a young age, some of the staff have practically watched me grow up. Not only do I play the cuatro, but I also sing and I think I’ve been singing since I could say my name. Singing and playing the cuatro have become such a great part of my life and they both make up who I am. I’m so glad to have had the opportunity to be part of such an amazing ensemble who makes me feel like family and to call PRAA my second home.
Concert Series
The Juan and Gladys Mendez Music Hall, located in the Latin Music Project Center (2958 N Milwaukee Ave), is a community performance center that offers an intimate and unique platform for local and international musicians to share their art and knowledge with students, families, and audience members. Our performance center also serves as the home of the Latin Music Project Ensemble – a dedicated group of advanced student musicians who have performed throughout the region - bringing their music to thousands of youth and adults every year. The Juan and Gladys Mendez Music Hall also holds its annual Desde Mi Barrio Series which invites three highly regarded Chicago-based artists to present their music to the community and share their knowledge with our students through workshops and individual lessons. Artists who have performed on our stage include Luis Sanz, Maribel Delgado, Yezenia Cruz, Isaac Lausell, and many other world renowned and emerging artists. If you are a local artist interested in performing at the LMP Center, please contact jose@praachicago.org. Include your name (or band name), contact information, and EPK to be considered for booking. Sponsorships of the LMP Center are available, please contact nancy@praachicago.org.
Maribel Delgado, Renowned Cuatrista
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Eddie Lara, Director of Marachi Department, University of Guadalajara
Desde Mi Casa
Desde Mi Casa (or From My Home), is a series of music outreach programming that PRAA immediately launched at the start of COVID 19 in March of 2020. This series allowed PRAA’s Latin Music Project to continuously engage with students, instructors and the community.
Featured News Article
Parents Speak Out
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I love, love, LOVE Puerto Rican Arts Alliance 🫶🏽🇵🇷🙏🏽🥰🎄 Life is incredible in the beautiful ways it shows you that nothing happens by coincidence…in 2018 I responded to a fb post asking for volunteers for the Cuatro festival; I didn’t really know much about PRAA but, I felt a tug in my heart towards the organization. Tuesday night, I understood why life led me here. What this organization does, the staff, the teachers, the community…is truly amazing. This music 🎶 program is honestly one of a kind! Not only did Naly learn how to play guitar 🎸 in such a short period of time but she also learned how to play in a group! Like, whhhaaaatttt?! 🙌🏽🤩 I’m honestly just on a love high from Tuesday, it was so beautiful, the look on the teachers’ faces of just utter joy and excitement and being so proud of their students…the fact that they learned Spanish songs and are immersed in the culture is just so beautiful! The performances were 🔥 Thank you PRAA🇵🇷 & PRAA Latin Music Project Center 🎶 for the beautiful space you create, for the love & dedication you pour into this program and the students. 🎄🫶🏽 Seriously, if you have been thinking about enrolling your kids in music classes, I highly…HIGHLY recommend the Latin Music Project 🥰 I’m so proud to have Naly be part of this! Agnes Ortega, you did UH-MAZING moosh!! So incredibly proud of you!🫶🏽🥹🥰✨ https://www.praachicago.org/class-descriptions
Nancy Menvenida
Program Partners
