Writing Our Musical History is a project that was initiated by Rockport Music to work collaboratively with 1623 Studios and four school districts. The students in Rockport, Gloucester, Manchester-Essex and Beverly High Schools had the opportunity to work with teaching artist Alexandra Grace six times throughout the 2023-24 school year. During this project, students created a song about a place in their town that is meaningful to them. Alexandra was there to lead and give guidance in creating lyrics, harmonies and instrumental parts. The main goal of this project is to center youth voices; promote creative agency, work collaboratively and empower students to write their own narrative. History is the study of past events, but this project reframed the concept and allowed students to think of writing their history now and being a part of it.

Following the performance at the Shalin Liu Performance Center, 1623 Studios will film each group at their chosen site of inspiration. Once the culminating video is complete, a sign will be created to place at each site with a QR code so future visitors can experience the performance on demand. Music tends to be the art form that is not easily accessible publicly after a performance, so by leaving the recordings in a public place, the songs will continue to be heard for an extended period of time.

The project extends Rockport Music’s vision for education programming: engaging and interactive programming of all genres throughout the community to encourage curiosity, participation, and creativity through music. (ACCESS: Bridging Artists with the Community and Connecting through Engaging programs with Students on and off Stage.)