The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Center (ESLC) is expanding its music, dance and cultural education to the Cahokia School District, with the help of the SIUE College of Arts and Sciences’ Targeted Funding Initiative (TFI).
For the first time, the ESLC will offer the Performing Arts Awareness Program that runs from Monday-Thursday, Jan. 29-May 10. The after school program will feature music theory, guitar, violin, hip hop dance, Dunham Technique dance and West African drumming.
Approximately 25 students from Wirth Middle School will attend classes from 3-5 p.m., and 25 students from Cahokia High School will take part in the program from 4-6 p.m. The new performing arts program is also part of the Cahokia Unit School District’s 21st Century After School Program.
“We are thrilled to expand our dynamic performing arts curriculum to Cahokia,” said ESLC Executive Director Jesse Dixon. “SIUE’s College of Arts and Sciences has infused talent and resources into this new partnership that will enable these students to learn from our exceptional dance and music instructors.”
“This program will serve as a pipeline for the Department of Music at SIUE, by increasing the connection between our SIUE East St. Louis Center Performing Arts after school and summer programs 
and the enrollment of college students into the SIUE Department of Music,” said Desiree Tyus, director of Youth Programs at the ESLC. “This opportunity will benefit our community as we work together to develop local talent and cultivate a love of the arts.”
Rick Haydon, professor emeritus of music at SIUE, is the faculty advisor for the Cahokia after school performing arts program.
“Additionally, students with a non-traditional music background will be able to build the skills and confidence needed to be life-long musicians and succeed in a music program at the college level,” Tyus added. “Through the music theory instruction, they will gain exposure to fundamentals like clefs and notations, major and minor scales, key signatures, intervals, triads and rhythm.”
“Our 21st Century Community Learning Centers’ ‘Grow to Learn’ after school program staff is ecstatic to be a recipient of funding for performing arts through its partnership with Southern Illinois University Edwardsville,” said Tiffany Taylor, grant manager/writer for Cahokia Unit School District. “Research shows that connecting students to the arts, decreases discipline referrals while increasing graduation rates.”
Tyus also sited research that deals with the impact of music training on children. “Studies show that music instruction improves the cognitive ability of youth by activating many different regions of the brain, and it changes the structure of the developing brain,” said Tyus.
“The partnership with SIUE is especially valued because of funding cuts in education across the state,” said Taylor.
“Our fine arts programs were reduced and our students’ exposure to band and music was limited,” she continued. “The Grow to Learn After School Program has worked diligently to develop sustainable partnerships to close these gaps, and we are grateful to SIUE for seeing the potential in our youth and funding this awesome opportunity.”
Photo:Students from the SIUE East St. Louis Center Performing Arts Program perform musical and dance numbers from last year.