The Biscayne Bay Kiwanis Club (Biscaynebaykiwanis.org), one of South Florida’s most active community service organizations, joined the Shutts law firm (Shutts.com), and the Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency (Miamicra.com) to provide a free “Spooky Tunes” Halloween concert for nearly 300 inner-city youth and their families at the Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater in Miami’s Overtown.
Highlighting the South Florida Youth Symphony (sfys.net), the fifth annual Halloween concert featured a wide selection of music, including Peter and the Wolf narrated by David Arisco, artistic director of Actors’ Playhouse.
Kids and their parents from five different inner-city elementary schools — Frederick Douglass, Phillis Wheatley, Eneida Hartner, Dunbar and Santa Clara — attended the concert as well as the pre-concert “Meet & Greet” with members of the SFYS in the Lyric lobby.
During the pre-concert event, SFYS performers — attired in Halloween costumes — met the kids and demonstrated their instruments, even allowing the young concert attendees to hold and play the instruments.
“Concerts such as this exposes these youngsters—some for the very first time—to classical music,” said Kellie Gayoso, president of the Biscayne Bay Kiwanis. “We hope to expand their horizons and show them possibilities. Perhaps, because of this exposure, a child decides to take up a musical instrument and embark on a career as a musician or music teacher.”
The City of Miami Police Department joined in the concert activity by handing out Halloween “goodie bags” to kids following the event.
The 2019 concert marked the first time the CRA was involved in the event as a sponsor.
“I love this event,” said Cornelius Shiver, the CRA’s executive director, as he watched the performance of the Gold Medal-winning SFYS and the enthusiasm of the kids in the audience.
Since its founding in 1950, the Biscayne Bay Kiwanis Club — an all-volunteer service organization of professional men and women based in Downtown Miami — has improved the lives of disadvantaged children in Overtown, Allapattah, and Midtown Miami through educational programs, field trips, and hands on service projects.
During the past eight years the 69-year-old BBKC has awarded more than $260,000 in college scholarships throughout Miami-Dade County, including an annual full, four-year college scholarship to a deserving Booker T. Washington High School senior.
For more information, contact the Biscayne Bay Kiwanis via email, Biscaynebaykiwanis @gmail.com or phone/text, 305-814-2225 or the South Florida Youth Symphony via email, MakeMusic@sfys.net or phone, 305-238-2729.
