“It is the mission of Make Music Cincinnati to support music education and musical activities in the Greater Cincinnati area by making music accessible to all people.”
Make Music Cincinnati is part of Make Music Day, the global music celebration happening in over 1,000+ international cities. It’s a free, citywide, outdoor day of music held annually on the summer solstice, June 21. Make Music Cincinnati turns the city into a stage welcoming a full spectrum of performers. Initiated in 2018 as Cincinnati’s entry into the international summer solstice music celebration, we join hundreds of millions of people all over the world for Make Music Day.
In 2022 the City of Cincinnati officially proclaimed June 21 Make Music Day!
VISION STATEMENT
Through all expressions of music, we strive to transform individuals, organizations and communities.
Individuals; we strive to ignite their musical journeys through authentic connection and equitable opportunity.
Organizations; we strive to engage in meaningful collaboration through greater communication and unwavering advocacy.
Communities; we strive to spread the beauty of music among all cultures to foster purpose, unity, and deeper understanding.
Make Music Cincinnati is a values based learning organization. This means that we operate our organization and our relationships through the guidance of these core values. To help better understand the values, they are listed below.
CORE VALUES
Embrace Change;
Challenge our existing ways of thinking and behavior. We believe that embracing change is not always about doing something differently, but thinking and believing differently. We will know we are embracing change when we can look back and realize that the problems of yesterday are not the problems we are facing today.
Fail Courageously;
Mistakes are our biggest learning opportunity. We support all people in having the courage to try something new. We look kindly at those who fail realizing that it is not failure itself, but the choices after a mistake that uncover much about a person’s character. We walk with those who experience failure and help them move towards a flourishing cadenza of learning.
Honor the Moment;
We celebrate one another by being present. We honor the moment by speaking in a way that breathes life, because our words have the power to build up others. We honor the moment by listening with curiosity, because words and music are only as impactful as the perception of the listener. We honor the moment by showing up, and celebrating the milestones of others. We honor the moment by keeping it real, and stepping into healthy discord. We take our past experiences, our dreams for the future and allow them to inform our present, so that we may walk in honor of each moment.
Challenge Impossible;
Think Big. Dream Bigger. We value approaching all things first with a perspective of challenging the impossible. Unwrap your imagination, release your creativity, play in the sandbox of wonder and awe of the what if! We want to think of the impossible, the things so “out there” that you cannot do them on your own. The impossible is only achievable in the context of community.
Build Up Others;
We use music as the language to build bridges of connection between communities. We value building up one another because together, we can have an outcome greater than the sum of its parts. We believe that we are successful only when our communities are successful. We prioritize diverse relationships that allow music to enrich lives. We build up others by creating safe environments for self expression through music. We value courageous conversations in a spirit of unity. We will know we are building up our community when we are welcoming, protecting, promoting and integrating with all people. We stimulate the thought of the world being a better place.
Encourage Creative Expression;
Share your distinctive story in a creative and thoughtful way. We believe all people, on some level, crave personal creative expression. Musical experiences aim to humanize you, your voice, your story by embracing the freedom of creativity and harnessing our social responsibility to speak life (and light) onto others and into the world. We believe each person deserves to express themselves uniquely in a way that honors themselves and others. We encourage creative expression so that we can better articulate our feelings and thoughts. Not focusing on artistic ability, or representative of a specific ability, it is the capacity to find joy in personal expression and the freedom to let go.
Push Play;
Marvelous things happen when we engage with our lives. Pushing Play is about helping others realize their potential by creating real opportunities to discover and explore their unique giftings. We believe that every person has a unique self they can push the play button on their life, to step into. push play and enjoy the journey. We experience joy when we push play. Let’s push play, move forward, do hard things, seek excellence, practice diligence, get out of the zones of comfort, let’s go out of bounds, let’s do what they said you could never do. Let’s defy the box they put you in. Let’s get out of judgment and push play!
Break A Leg;
It’s showtime, let’s exceed expectations. Break a Leg is the progressive culmination of all our work and preparation. We believe that when we approach everything we do with excellence, we will naturally go above and beyond expectation. We employ daily diligence to work for a artform we love a lot. When we break a leg we go beyond expectations and create a memorable experience. What kind of memories do we want to leave people with? We aim to be 2% better each day. We believe in doing things to the best of our ability, including learning and growing. We believe these are all key to achieving excellence in life, which is then meant to be shared with others.
Did you know music makes you smarter? Really! It’s neuroscience!
Check out these articles
https://www.savethemusic.org/blog/does-music-make-you-smarter/
https://www.ucf.edu/pegasus/your-brain-on-music/
Want to learn more?
Email us at cincinnati@makemusicday.org