By Mitch Galli (he/him)
February 10, 2025
GALA’s School Engagement Advisor Mitch Galli offers an introduction to the exciting work of GALA Choruses’ school engagement programs.
Welcome to GALA Choruses’ School Engagement Resources!
I serve as GALA’s School Engagement Advisor, and I am here to support and inspire LGBTQ choruses to create opportunities to engage with youth both in and out of schools, and to foster spaces that teach about love and ways to support each other.
Whether you are planning in-school assemblies, workshops or clinics, or hosting a youth choral festival, the content on this webpage is for YOU! It takes a village to support our youth so please take / borrow / customize this content to best fit your community and chorus.
I am also here to provide any guidance and support you may need, so feel free to set up a free consultation at schoolengagement@galachoruses.org. I look forward to seeing the magic you make!
Types of School Engagement Programs
There are a variety of ways that GALA Choruses have engaged with schools including:
1. In-School Assemblies
- A group of your chorus singers perform for an all-school assembly. This assembly can be a concert of music in your current repertoire (in its simplest form), or a concert preceded by several workshops offered to classes or groups in the school.
- Or create a more customized school program on a particular theme or set of songs.
- Examples of customized programs:
- Middle/High School
- RHYTHM: Reaching Youth Through Music from San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus
- Out in our Schools from One Voice Mixed Chorus, MN—One Voice’s school programming began in 1997 at a time when it was radical for a queer choir to sing in a Minnesota school. Each spring the chorus created a school program based on the theme of their spring concert. After some preliminary workshops in 3-4 schools, One Voice singers traveled on a bus for “Out in Our Schools” and sang for, and with, students in local schools.
- Bayard Rustin: The Man Behind the Dream—This curriculum, designed to accompany a 60-minute musical cantata was used by multiple choirs in the GALA Choruses network.
- Elementary
- Raven’s True Self from Phoenix, Colorado’s Trans Community Choir
- Raven’s True Self in the Media
- Phoenix, Colorado’s Trans Community Choir, Artistic Director Sam Bullington’s Blog
- Full video of Raven’s True Self
- Full script for Raven’s True Self by Kai Orca and Phoenix, Colorado’s Trans Community Choir
- Raven’s True Self from Phoenix, Colorado’s Trans Community Choir
- Middle/High School
2. Vocal Clinics/Masterclasses with School Choirs
- Bring your Artistic Director or another chorus artist into a school to work with a school choir. This might be a one-off event or a series of sessions. You might invite the choir to learn songs that you sing together in an upcoming show – either their concert or your own – or BOTH!
- Offer a vocal clinic on transgender voices; involve trans and nonbinary singers in your chorus to help lead and tell their stories.
- Many schools no longer have choir programs. Your artistic director or a team of singers could provide an after school (or in school) singing clinic that is open to all students.
3. Host a Youth Choral Festival
- Weekend Collaborative Festival: Invite local school choirs to gather for a day or weekend to rehearse together and perform for one another. Each chorus performs a few songs and end the festival with a few songs that you all sing together!
- The Indianapolis Women’s Chorus (IWC) hosts an Intergenerational Pride Festival Choir Camp. The camp is crafted for LGBTQ+ and allied singers ages 14 and up. No singing or choral experience is necessary to participate in this camp.
- “Immerse yourself in the world of singing through personalized coaching and collaborative workshops that bridge generational divides and support singers at all levels. Dive into a repertoire celebrating pride, honing your vocal skills, developing musicianship, and unleashing your creative spirit. Beyond the music, join in community-building events, forging lasting connections in a transformational experience.”
- The Indy Camp is organized in partnership with the Butler University music department.
- For more information about the Intergenerational Pride Festival Choir Camp, contact Megan Johnson, Indianapolis Women’s Chorus director@indianapoliswomenschorus.org
4. School Workshops and Curriculum about LGBTQ+ History
- There are many ways to develop curriculum for a classroom, but one one option is to design curriculum in tandem with a new GALA chorus commission about historical LGBTQ+ figures or events. In school workshops can teach students about this history. Then offre free tickets for students to attend your concert when you perform the commission, or perform the commission in a school setting!
- Examples of workshops and curriculum
- Bayard Rustin: The Man Behind the Dream
- One Voice Mixed Chorus (Minnesota) created a curriculum exploring music and gender. A singer in the chorus was hired to offer a series of 3 workshops on the topic in several schools. Then the chorus rented a school bus and One Voice singers traveled to three schools in a single day performing for, and with, students who had participated in the advance workshops.
- One Voice also partnered more intensively with the concert choir at Central High School and held several rehearsal together. This HS choir performed with One Voice in their ticketed concert and parents and families were offered free tickets.