Joyce DiCamillo’s Full Summer Remarks 2025

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Dear PROJECT MUSIC family,

As we gear up to begin our 11th season of PROJECT MUSIC, so many conflicting emotions are hitting me simultaneously! As you see from the tribute to Christel Truglia in this Newsletter, the past few weeks we have mourned the loss of one of PROJECT MUSIC’s dearest friends and our beloved PROJECT MUSIC co-founder. Losing a longtime personal friend who has traveled this journey in the trenches with me has been a real opportunity for reflection, for sure. I felt it was time to take stock, and I hope you will indulge me. I am so filled with gratitude, looking back at the amazing path on which she, Mort Lowenthal and I set out in 2014. After a decade of hard work and strong belief in our goals, we’ve arrived at 2025, entering our next decade, with a program currently succeeding at its mission – in spades, I would say! And how do I know that? I see it on the faces of our PM parents and in their dedication and commitment to the program! They recognize how PM is impacting the lives of their children, and what better barometer could there be? As we set out to do in 2014, every day we are “transforming the lives of Stamford students in need of access, opportunity and inspiration”!

As I said, it’s time to take stock… and there’s that word “gratitude” again. Having a worthy mission is fine and dandy, but it’s the PEOPLE chosen to implement that mission every single day who are responsible for its success! At PROJECT MUSIC, it’s been the amazing Garrett Mendez, our founding Artistic Director, who has been our North Star since Day 1! He hand-picked our Teaching Artists, Pied Pipers who put our children first, day in and day out – world class musicians in their own right, and teachers/mentors of the highest order. Alongside Garrett is our wonderful Program Lead (and Teaching Artist!) Pedro Falcón, who takes our vision of the El Sistema model and runs with it!

Without this stellar staff, there would be no success story! Here’s the astounding back story I know the staff is tired of hearing me tell (I promise I’ll retire it now that you’ll all know it!) – that when some other non-profits were forced to shutter during COVID, PM became “the little engine that could” – with a staff of totally selfless and incredible teaching artists who refused unemployment (!) in favor of being there for our students – quietly serving them all hours of the day and night, not just during the after-school hours – finding computers for some, supporting them in getting online so they could go to school, becoming community resources for them and their parents, learning software which could enable them to play music online together, pivoting to reflect the new normal… I could go on and on! Fast forward to post-COVID, and the incredible offer which brought us back to life in-person when so much was uncertain – King School invited PROJECT MUSIC to call its Performing Arts Center home during the after-school hours, insuring us a future while the world tip-toed back to life – what an amazing community partner they are!

BUT, through it all, we were blessed with an angel who took the helm and made it ALL work, cobbling together every dollar she could gather, to keep the wheels on the bus when philanthropy all but went dormant… Gabrielle Molina, our Executive Director for the past 4 years, was our salvation. Coming back to Chair the Board in 2023 after a By-Laws-mandated hiatus beginning at the start of COVID, I have worked closely with her, and have witnessed the way she has brilliantly shepherded PROJECT MUSIC with love and a fierce determination, with kindness for our children and their parents, with a willingness to wear all hats – not just executing, but excelling at each required task (and not the least is her dedication as one of our Teaching Artists, as she is a stellar clarinetist!) We are thriving today because of her! Realizing that, there was no way we could contain her shooting star, though; as the incoming Director of Programs at El Sistema USA, Gabrielle rightfully moves on this fall, poised to continue her amazing advocacy work for kids like ours worldwide in the organization whose mission we espouse! We were incredibly blessed – that she was the right person at the right time to lead us to this moment with vision, creativity and inspiration… but also so very grateful that she has accepted our invitation to join the PROJECT MUSIC Advisory Board so we may continue to be blessed with her insight!

The excitement that we all – our wonderful Board and Staff – feel right now, at this juncture in PROJECT MUSIC’s trajectory, is palpable! As I write this, the Executive Committee is deep into interviewing a host of stellar candidates for both Managing Director and Development Director, and as you read this, we will have selected a stellar team tasked with writing the next chapter of PROJECT MUSIC!!

Do we want more students under our wing? Absolutely! To that end we are excited to announce that September will find us re-launching a satellite location at the Stamford Boys and Girls Club; we are thrilled to have accepted their invitation back into the heart of the community we serve! Pre-Covid, Boys & Girls Club was one of the incredible community partners responsible for PM’s early success – along with DOMUS’ Chester Addison Community Center, its Trailblazers program, and Yerwood Center alongside satellites in various Stamford schools. Community partnerships have always been at the heart of everything we do. To that end, I am extremely proud that we are kicking off our STRONGER TOGETHER Campaign, because we recognize that joining forces with others who fill in our blanks and offer us solidarity while we reciprocate with enthusiasm is the very essence of community!

As excited as we are for the future of PM, I admit that any honest look at the current climate in our country brings its share of trepidation for how we navigate the very tenuous arts landscape and massive budget cuts being felt at every turn. I admit I don’t sleep so well these days. These cuts are being felt deeply, not only in the PM budget, but in those for all non-profits whose mission it is to improve the lives of others.

But our faith in you is strong! We need the PROJECT MUSIC family now more than ever; without you, there is no PROJECT MUSIC! Please make it a point to visit projectmusic.org and to read your monthly Newsletters… please reach out to me and come for a tour of PROJECT MUSIC one afternoon this fall – just email me at joyce@projectmusic.org. Once you see these children in action, and experience the magic as it is happening – four days a week after school – you will have an even deeper understanding of what we do, and why it is so important. We offer more hours of sequential learning than any other music program in CT – that’s our secret; it’s what sets us apart! It is our hope that you will choose PM as one of the causes that resonates deeply in your life – hoping you will become an annual sustainer of our shared dream within your means, deeply believing one already scientifically proven fact – that we are able to enhance learning and create the leaders of tomorrow via immersive music education today!

This fall, we look forward to following up our incredible 10th Anniversary celebration of Leonard Bernstein with last year’s electrifying MAMBO! by inviting you to our second exciting Gala – PROJECT MUSIC presents An Evening with The Addams Family Musical! on Friday, November 14! As we celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Broadway musical (the #1 performed non-Equity musical worldwide for the 9th year in a row – which has delighted musicians, actors, and audiences young and old, the world over!), we simultaneously honor the all-consuming generosity of the Tee and Charles Addams Foundation, PROJECT MUSIC’s most steadfast supporter! There is no way to dispute the phenomenon that is The Addams Family, brainchild of famed New Yorker cartoonist Charles Addams! Who doesn’t love Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday, Pugsley, Uncle Fester, Grandmama, The Thing, and Lurch?? From the original early ’60’s TV show, to subsequent movies, to the Broadway show in 2010, followed by 2 animated feature films, and the current #1 streaming show on Netflix, starring Jenna Ortega and Catherine Zeta-Jones, it’s clear that YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THIS EVENT! (Even our PM students will get into the act!) Surprise guests will THRILL and delight you, so be on the lookout for your Save the Date, and PLAN TO BE THERE!

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Joyce DiCamillo

PROJECT MUSIC Founder & Board Chair