On Saturday, June 19, at 3 pm Gateway to the Arts will launch its first ever Family Performance Series at the tent in Schenley Plaza in Oakland with a showcase by performing artists Delta Blue. The newest ensemble to be added to our roster, Delta Blue invites children and parents to dance the cakewalk, tap, sing and twist along with them, as they perform classic tunes that highlight the history of African-American music and dance. The set is the same performance program that is touring to schools.

On Friday March 26, Gateway to the Arts awarded the second Root American Music Award, named after musicologist and former Gateway Board President Deane Root, to Boyce Campus Middle College High School teacher, Joanne Krett. The award recognizes an exceptional teacher who has participated in the Center for American Music at the University of Pittsburgh's Voices Across Time program, designed to assist teachers from different disciplines in incorporating American music into their curricula. Krett, an English teacher, uses music and lyrics as primary learning material, as a tool to connect to the humanities overall and to engage her students more deeply in the curriculum.  

In addition to this recognition, Joanne and her students also received a free performance program by the acoustic blues duo Wiggins and Harris sponsored by Gateway in cooperation with Calliope: Pittsburgh Folk Music Society. 

Shaking their closed hands in the air like maracas while singing “Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom,” preschoolers at John Heinz Child Development Center responded to teaching artist Cheryl Capezzuti with this chant as she read about alphabet letters climbing a coconut tree.