(above) Children of the Keys 2 Success program performed for the guests of the fundraiser.
JLS Raises Funds for Newark Organization
Submitted by Sujatha Shan
On the beautiful fall evening of November 2, 2019, over seventy people attended the fundraiser hosted by Erika Melchiorre, the President of The Junior League of Summit, at her home in Summit, raising $38,000 for Keys 2 Success. Keys 2 Success is a not-for-profit organization that provides music education to children in public elementary school and public housing in Newark, New Jersey.
Attendees, who included active members and sustainers of the Junior League as well as friends and family members from the area, were treated to an evening of music. Jee-Hoon Krska, the founder and director of Keys 2 Success, moved the audience with her solo performance of Chopin’s intensely riveting Ballade 4. But it was the children of Keys 2 Success that stole the attendees’ heart with their musical bravado. The children ranging in ages from six years to ten years, played an arrangement of Sibelius’s Finlandia as an ensemble on keyboards, in addition to playing solos and duets. Attendees repeatedly commented on the children’s skill and poise in front of an audience. Maestro Robert Butts of Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey (BONJ), spoke about the partnership between BONJ and Keys 2 Success to pilot learning opportunities that transcend boundaries between professional and amateur musicians and suburban and urban communities, with the objective of making music accessible to and sustained by a diverse audience.
Launched in 2016 by Julliard-trained classical pianist Jee-Hoon Krska, the program began with 12 students and now teaches almost 100 kids. It is the first children’s music program to target the lowest socio-economic group in Newark for whom the effects of generations of poverty include lack of access to cultural institutions and social networks readily available to children in more privileged communities. Keys 2 Success seeks to close this gap. Designed to instill discipline, leadership and life skills, and provide pathways to full, productive lives, Keys 2 Success, through its faculty and volunteers, teaches piano at a public elementary school and at a public housing project. Starting with Pre-K, students receive lessons multiple days a week, in ensemble and individual settings. Additionally, they also conducts summer camps that teach students a variety of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) topics, including coding, digital music, music theory, drumming, flute, piano, science and origami. For more information visit keysnewark.com.
