Creating a state-of-the-art music education center

The ASO takes seriously its commitment and responsibilities as the largest provider of music education and outreach opportunities for young people in the Southeast.  Through activities ranging from field trips to Symphony Hall to intensive training programs for musically talented but underserved youth, ASO musicians teach, coach, mentor and inspire more than 50,000 children from 400 schools each year in nationally-recognized programs. 

Through the ASO’s partnership with a wide range of government agencies and school systems, we know that the needs of the community are becoming greater; the ASO is stepping up to fill the void.  However current facilities are at capacity. 

The Symphony Center’s new Learning Center will make possible an expansion of current programs, while it creates a nucleus for a national music education center.  Designed as a flexible space that will facilitate music education collaboration, the Learning Center will allow for:

• education options for seniors
• distance learning technology
• school performances
• expanded partnerships with other institutions 

Building on the foundation of current partnerships and the possibilities of state-of-the-art facilities, the Learning Center will offer these new opportunities:

• “Virtual” music education accessible to any classroom or student
• Interactive learning on site, designed in partnership with Georgia Tech
• A continuing education center for music teachers statewide
• Master classes by renowned artists available to multiple institutions simultaneously
• New classroom and performance spaces for teachers and students at all levels
• High-tech laboratory for students in music technology
• Unique incubator for testing, implementing and marketing new ideas and inventions in music technology. 

The Learning Center will provide a permanent home for the expansion of the existing programs, which will have an even broader reach statewide and create expanded partnerships with current partner-institutions, such as Emory University, University of Georgia, City of Columbus, Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, Morehouse and Spelman Colleges and many others.

Some of those ASO programs include: