Midori & Friends and P.S. 180 Principal Dr. Peter McFarlane share a vision for P.S. 180, one in which music is interwoven throughout the fabric of the school and is an integral part of in-school as well as after-school instruction. Together, we envision music touching the lives of every child that attends P.S. 180 and their family. Thereby, we will foster life-long passion for and interest in music that will inspire P.S. 180 students to engage in music as they move on to high school, college, and beyond. Whether as performers, active/engaged listeners, or advocates of the arts in a broader sense, students will take away a love for music and the arts. Midori & Friends will work in tandem with P.S. 180's leadership, teachers, parents, and community members to provide programming that is most beneficial to P.S. 180's students and that complements the arts and other instruction already provided at the school. To that end, we plan to create stronger partnerships between our teaching/performing artists and P.S. 180's classroom teachers, as well as various arts teachers, and to collaborate creatively with P.S. 180's other current and future arts and community-based partners. Our mutual goal is to create an environment at P.S. 180 where many types of musical instruction and experiences thrive during and after school hours - including core music instruction, instrumental and vocal music instruction (including ensembles), and concerts and workshops which expose students to a wide range of music across different genres, styles, and countries. Ultimately, we would like to be able to use P.S. 180's school-wide partnership as a model for replication at other partner schools across New York City.

Achievements:

Midori and Friends was founded in 1992 by renowned violinist Midori and a small board of directors.  Over the past 15 years, we have provided over 150,000  underserved New York City school children with quality music education programs. 

P.S. 180 is one of our longest-standing partnerships, having been formed nine years ago.  Over the course of our partnership, we have expanded our program offerings and today P.S. 180 represents our most comprehensive school partner. 

Under the leadership of dynamic principal, Dr. Peter McFarlane, P.S. 180 has been transformed from a failing school into one which is recognized as an Empowerment School by the NYC DOE and has received multiple prestigious awards including those recognizing sustained school change.