Community Outreach 2024
"It is with sincere gratitude that I thank you for our Joye in Aiken blessings this week. My middle school students have fallen in love with Opera and Baroque music. My high school students met inspiring young professionals who boosted their confidence and skill. Thank you for changing the world, one experience at a time!"
JOYCE CULP
Horse Creek Academy
Aiken County Public School District
"I just wanted to say thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to have Riley work with our jazz band students yesterday. That is one of the most educational experiences they have had. Also, thanks so much to JOYE for everything that is done for our kids. Over the years my students have seen so much that they would have never seen otherwise."
JEFF CLAMP
Band Director, Ridge Spring-Monetta Middle / High
Aiken County Public School District
Joye in Aiken with Sarah Jarosz at LBC Middle School
Thank you to Phil Wahl (President of Security Federal) for this great video on Sarah Jarosz and Jeff Picker at Langley Bath Clearwater Middle School during our 2023 Festival.
A conversation with Joye in Aiken's
Artistic Director for Jazz, Riley Mulherkar
Joye in Aiken is the 2016 winner of the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Award, South Carolina’s highest honor in the arts, for its Educational Outreach Program.
“We needed somebody to come and tell us that we can do this and that they believe in us.”
- a student at Langley-Bath-Clearwater Middle School in Warrenville, following a weeklong Joye in Aiken residency in which the Juilliard-trained Allant Trio taught them for two hours a day
Every year since 2009, Joye in Aiken has sent the world’s finest young artists (primarily from The Juilliard School) into area neighborhoods – many of them isolated, rural and economically challenged -- to bring the magic and power of the arts to local students. During Festival week and at other times throughout the year, these artists visit schools and other venues to share their world-class talents. Everywhere they go, they teach. But they also do much more than that. To many of the students who hear them, they are a source of inspiration, pride and hope. They are living proof that hard work, talent and discipline can take you to the top of the world. They are mentors and role models. They are rock stars.
Each year we offer an extensive slate of in-school performances, Kidz Bop and Young People’s concerts, artist residencies, and one-on-one master classes. To date, the Joye in Aiken Educational Outreach Program has touched the lives of over 50,000 area students.
Performances and Outreach Events Statistics
your donations in action: 569 Schools, over 50,000 students
| YEAR | ARTISTS | PUBLIC PERFORMANCES | OUTREACH EVENTS | SCHOOLS | STUDENTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 20 | 5 | 12 | 11 | 500 |
| 2010 | 27 | 8 | 17 | 39 | 3,373 |
| 2011 | 37 | 11 | 17 | 28 | 2,457 |
| 2012 | 38 | 12 | 21 | 48 | 3,081 |
| 2013 | 49 | 15 | 54 | 45 | 4,051 |
| 2014 | 71 | 5 | 16 | 54 | 3,502 |
| 2015 | 25 | 10 | 21 | 29 | 3,166 |
| 2016 | 31 | 10 | 10 | 28 | 3,041 |
| 2017 | 43 | 12 | 13 | 35 | 2,951 |
| 2018 | 39 | 9 | 10 | 28 | 2,852 |
| 2019 | 70 | 11 | 9 | 37 | 2,543 |
| 2020 | 40 | 12 | 25 | 59 | 4,200 |
| 2021 | 25 | 5 | 9 | 38 | 9,470 |
| 2022 | 106 | 10 | 5 | 18 | 1,269 |
| 2023 | 48 | 10 | 13 | 36 | 2,010 |
| 2024 | 65 | 11 | 15 | 36 | 2,259 |
| Total | 734 | 156 | 267 | 569 | 50,725 |