Kay Hilton, Education & Engagement Director of the Britt Music & Arts Festival, is continuing her free music education programs online.

Until the COVID-19 shutdown, Hilton was in charge of: Residencies, bringing musicians into schools; Fellowships, in which students with Britt Orchestra members perform outreach chamber concerts in the community; Internships and partnerships with educational and like-minded organizations; BrittKids Koncert series, performances for children in the Britt Performance Garden; and BrittKids Klub, members are 5 or 6 years old.

EH: How did this online idea evolve?

KH: I had seen other education artists doing video content. I thought, “That’s something we can do.”

I started reaching out to all the artist that I have had come through the education department for residencies, performances, fellowship programs, members of our orchestra, anybody that I thought might be available and interested in helping us make something. At that point we had no budget because we didn’t know where we stood. I wasn’t able to offer any money at all.

I had a few local artists and members of our orchestra step up right away. We branded it BrittVids. I started putting those up on social media, and we got really good response. Then I asked, “Can we provide some kind of honorarium for the artists?”

It’s important for us to provide content for our patrons and community, keeping Britt in front of our audience. I want to keep these musicians in front of our audience too, to remind people that we’re all struggling, but these people are really struggling. Their industry is shut down everywhere, for who knows how long?

I did get approval to reimburse the artists for their time, for making the videos. We’ve been doing that twice a week since April 9th, and will continue to do that through the end of September. Continue reading Bringing music to children at home →