Serving the Greater Community
Program Support
When Matt Carvin, Peab ’05, plays classical guitar for hospice residents, he’s never quite sure what effect it will have on his audiences. But he’s certain that it has a profound effect on his own life.
Matt is the founder of The Creative Access, an outreach program of the Peabody Institute that exposes disadvantaged audiences in the Baltimore area to classical music. He started the project in 2004 as a way to help his classmates log more performance time, putting on concerts in elementary schools, homeless shelters, and hospice centers, allowing their audiences to enjoy the same classical music performed in Peabody’s concert halls.
But it quickly became far more than that: “The intrinsic goal behind the program is to give access to the life-enriching potential of music,” Matt says. “When student volunteers travel out of the concert hall, they are tearing down the stereotypes affiliated with classical music. The students are showing that music is something that can be played for any audience, no matter where they are.”
Matt recalls the impact his first concert had on him and his fellow quartet members, performing at My Sister’s Place, a Baltimore day program for homeless women: “I remember the audience watching us and seeing the attention on their faces. I realized that I had an opportunity to share my talent and potentially make an impact on the lives of the audience members.”
As the program’s director, Matt manages a pool of 150 performers, with a core of 30 students who perform on a monthly basis. In addition to performing for the community, student training is a major component of the program. It allows student musicians to learn the communication and performance skills necessary to play live classical music for non-traditional audiences.
With support from groups like the Marion I. & Henry J. Knott Foundation, The Creative Access has allowed Peabody graduate and undergraduate students to use music to promote positive change in the lives of their audiences.
“In Creative Access, we saw an outreach program that served the greater community, utilizing talented musicians to positively influence the underserved,” says Owen Knott, vice president of the Marion I. & Henry J. Knott Foundation. “The program aligns with the Foundation's interests in promoting the arts and social services and instilling the value of music in disenfranchised members of the Baltimore Community.”
The program has also received support from the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association, Bank of America, and the Emmert T. Hobbs Foundation.
The Creative Access performs at such places as the Baltimore Ronald McDonald House, Hospice of Baltimore, the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, the Maryland School for the Blind, the Rose Street Community Center, and the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Norene Hinson, recreation arts specialist at the Maryland School for the Blind, has seen the impact that The Creative Access concerts have had on her students. “They each get something out of it. The Peabody students will sometimes allow them to touch their instruments or even come up and sing at the microphone. The last time they came, they brought a harp, and I know the kids had never had a chance to check one of those out.”
The local success of The Creative Access has Matt thinking beyond Baltimore. He envisions the project becoming a model that others can use.
“The most worthwhile investment of my time in this project is helping others,” Matt says. “What if everyone used their respective skills to help other people?”
