Community Outreach

Community Education is vital to the mission of The Cleveland Institute of Music. We believe the privilege of being a musician comes also with responsibility. When we share our talents within our community, we hone our skills as musicians, send a positive message about the musical art, and most importantly, help those who are most in need.

Community Service Performances - CIM student soloists and ensembles perform at dozens of charitable and community events each year. Students are requested by local organizations to perform in a variety of settings, including senior care centers, medical facilities, community events, fundraisers, etc. These gigs not only give support to our local community but enrich our students lives by giving them an opportunity to share their talent with those who are not regularly exposed to a high level of classical musicianship.

Chamber Music Outreach - Ensembles from the CIM string and piano departments present 12 chamber music outreach concerts involving 150 student performers each semester. The concerts are given in an informal setting at senior and palliative care centers throughout the University Circle area. The Outreach presentations consist of 4 chamber music ensemble performances with accompanying oral presentations. Students engage listeners by talking about both the music and themselves.

Cleveland Municipal School District Initiative - CIM makes a concerted effort to be involved in our local area public schools. CIM provides student teachers and complimentary tickets to outreach events whenever possible to local public schools.

Student Teaching - Our students provide one-on-one and group lessons to children in Orchestra Programs at Bolton Elementary School and Cleveland School of the Arts. These schools are in the Cleveland Municipal School District and located in under-privileged areas of Cleveland's inner city. Due to budget cuts, these schools have dwindling music programs and over-worked, under-resourced music teachers. By providing these schools with student teachers, we hope to cause the children to develop confidence in their playing, a connection with young adults in the community and a deeper love for music.

Ohio Reads - Through the University Circle Literacy Corps at Case Western Reserve University, CIM students visit local elementary schools to tutor young children in their literacy skills. The University Circle Literacy Corps provides free training and transportation. This is one of the great ways for our students to get involved in the surrounding community and enrich the lives of our local school children.

Early Learning Initiative - This is a program maintained by University Circle Incorporated that collaborates with 12 area cultural institutions to provide educational presentations and fieldtrips to local pre-schools. Every semester, CIM sends a student performer or ensemble into each pre-school classroom (18 total) to present a fun, interactive, educational performance about music.

CIM Family Concerts - CIM produces Family Concerts each year that target families with young children. Our Spring Concert will feature the CIM Orchestra performing entertaining educational repertoire. We also present a weekday school show in conjunction with the Spring Family Concert where we invite elementary school classes from many local public and private Cleveland Schools.

This year, our Fall Family Concert was entitled Young Artists for Young Audiences and featured children studying in CIMs Preparatory Division. Students from the Young Artist Program, Sato Center for Suzuki Studies, Preparatory Orchestra and others studying with CIMs exceptional faculty were represented.