The La Porte County Symphony Orchestra was selected as a finalist in the Play Everywhere Challenge, a $1 million national competition that will award outside-the-box ideas to make play easy, available, and fun for kids and families in cities across the U.S. The Challenge is hosted by KaBOOM!, a national non-profit dedicated to bringing balanced and active play into the daily lives of all children, particularly those growing up in poverty in America.
Laura Cutler, Executive Director of the symphony partnered with Beth Shrader, Director of Community Development and Planning for the City of La Porte to propose an innovative plan to install large scale outdoor musical instruments in a variety of unexpected places throughout the city. The project idea, coined "Joyful Noise," was selected as a finalist out of a pool of more than 1,000 applications nationwide. Winners will be announced in early fall, 2016.
The Challenge, developed in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Target, Playworld, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the National Endowment for the Arts, attracted an outpouring of creative ideas to spark kids' imaginations and get their bodies moving. The idea for "Joyful Noise" came from a passion for getting kids more active and involved outdoors while at the same time experiencing the fun of making music.
"Music is at the heart of our city and every kid deserves a chance to play! This project reflects La Porte's rich musical heritage and is inspired by the symphony, city band, high school marching band, Roxy Music, and the many local blues, jazz, rock and country bands that play at our parks, fairs and venues. It's an opportunity to engage the whole community regardless of diverse background or income level," said Laura Cutler.
"We were astonished at the number and quality of the applications we received," said James Siegal, CEO of KaBOOM!. "To us, it shows a huge, untapped potential to reimagine cities with kids in mind, and boost their opportunity to get the play they need to thrive. And when kids thrive, cities thrive."
Kids need play to grow up healthy, resilient and ready for life. Research shows play is vital to healthy brain development and is pivotal to how kids learn problem-solving, conflict resolution and creativity--in other words, the skills they need to succeed as adults. Yet today, too many kids, especially those growing up in poverty, are missing out on play because of families' time pressures, the lure of screens, and a lack of safe places to go. Meanwhile, evidence shows missing out on the chance to play puts kids at risk for challenges ranging from obesity to anxiety to trouble adjusting in school.
"We're thrilled at the possibility that La Porte's kids could win this fantastic new opportunity to learn and develop from play," said Beth Shrader. "If we're selected as a winner, we hope it will be just the beginning of a larger effort to make play a way of life for kids and families in our community.
Winners for the competition will be selected in fall 2016. To learn more about "Joyful Noise" and making play happen everywhere in La Porte contact Laura Cutler at executive@lcso.net or call 219-362-9020. To learn more about the Play Everywhere Challenge, including a gallery of ideas for what Play Everywhere could look like across the U.S. please visit http://kaboom.org/playeverywhere