LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA ANNOUNCES SUMMER AND SPRING BREAK PROGRAMS FOR YOUTH IN PARTNERSHIP WITH HIP-HOP N2 LEARNING

Media Contact:
Contact Randy Blevins
502-897-0649 | randy@thinktanklou.com

For Immediate Release:
March 2, 2023

LOUISVILLE ORCHESTRA ANNOUNCES SUMMER
AND SPRING BREAK PROGRAMS FOR YOUTH IN
PARTNERSHIP WITH HIP-HOP N2 LEARNING

Hip-Hop N2 Learning / The LO Rap School Summer Camp
June 5 – June 9, 2023 | Registration open now!

Louisville, KY – Graham Parker, Today, Hip-Hop N2 Learning (HHN2L) along with
the Louisville Orchestra and Music Director Teddy Abrams, announced the
expansion of the organization’s partnership thanks to the $500,000 Accelerator
Award HHN2L received in December from The Lewis Prize for Music. This expansion
will include summer and spring break programs for 30 to 40 youth in 5th-12th grade
through the LO’s Rap School happening June 5 – June 9, 2023 from 9am to 3pm.
There is no charge to participate in these programs. Registration for the HHN2L and
The LO Rap School is open now at the following link:
https://forms.gle/VHn3MdYFns8VtfB98.

The LO Rap School was envisioned by Teddy Abrams and Jecorey (1200) Arthur and
premiered in 2019 to partner youth with the Louisville Orchestra in the fight for racial
equity through performance and advocacy. The program allows youth to reimagine
artistic performance and offers students the opportunity to rap with the Louisville
Orchestra at the annual MakingMUSIC education concerts.

In 2021 The Louisville Orchestra began its partnership with hip-hop based education
organization HHN2L to grow The LO Rap School by offering lessons to students
through a series of workshops. These workshops connect students with local social
justice educators, hip-hop artists, and musicians to supply students with resources as
they create rap lyrics that are then performed live on stage with the full orchestra.
Through the LO Rap School, local students from all levels are introduced to a variety
of additional programs led by HHN2L founders Nyree Clayton-Taylor and Antonio
“T” Taylor — all which focus on creating, producing, and performing music that
promotes social justice and community activism.

“This new and expanded relationship between the Louisville Orchestra and Hip-Hop
N2 Learning is undoubtedly one of the most meaningful partnerships we have
created,” says Graham Parker, Chief Executive for The Louisville Orchestra. “Working
with young students to unleash their full potential, expressing powerful messages of
change through writing and performing with the LO, is what is needed in society.
These Young Prodigies are our future.”

In December, HHN2L received a $500,000 Accelerator Award from the Lewis Prize for
Music supporting continued and new efforts to make sustained progress toward
community change. Because of this award, HHN2L has the necessary support to
elevate and expand existing programs. This includes the collaboration with The
Louisville Orchestra and The LO Rap school to uplift their creative impact in the
music industry. The new summer camp will provide opportunities to learn about
music fundamentals, music production, and real life operations in the music
industry.

# # #

About Hip Hop Into Learning:
Hip Hop Based Education (HHBE) provides new avenues for learning, predicated on
self-awareness, expression, and critical thought. While nested in the constructs of critical
theory, culturally relevant pedagogy, and self-awareness. HHBE is a relevant theory that seeks
to bridge culturally relevant teaching to the classroom. Programs of HHN2L include The Real
Young Prodigys, the LO Rap School in partnership with The Louisville Orchestra, TRAP Camp
(Teaching Respect About our Planet), and Pens Up, Bars Down (PUBD) using music to stop
violence in our community and heal student who suffer.

About The Louisville Orchestra:
Established in 1937 through the combined efforts of Louisville mayor Charles Farnsley and
conductor Robert Whitney, the Louisville Orchestra is a cornerstone of the Louisville arts
community. With the launch of First Edition Recordings in 1947, it became the first American
orchestra to own a recording label. Six years later it received a Rockefeller grant of $500,000
to commission, record, and premiere music by living composers, thereby earning a place on
the international circuit. In 2001, the Louisville Orchestra received the Leonard Bernstein
Award for Excellence in Educational Programming, presented annually to a North American
orchestra. Continuing its commitment to new music, the Louisville Orchestra has earned 19
ASCAP awards for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music, and was also awarded
large grants from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music and the National Endowment for the
Arts, both for the purpose of producing, manufacturing and marketing its historic First
Edition Recordings collections. Over the years, the orchestra has performed for prestigious
events at the White House, Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and on tour in Mexico City, and
their last two albums for the Decca Gold label, All In (2017) and The Order of Nature (2019) –
the latter launched with an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon – both
topped the Billboard Classical and Crossover charts. The feature-length, Gramophone Awardwinning
documentary Music Makes a City (2010) chronicles the Louisville Orchestra’s
founding years, and, in spring 2018, Teddy Abrams and