In Boston: Education and Outreach

Developing Arts Leaders in our hometown

From the Top was founded in Boston and is located in the heart of the city’s vibrant cultural district. Surrounded by music schools, including our founding partner, New England Conservatory, and dozens of outstanding and innovative youth music ensembles, From the Top is proud to offer arts leadership programs to the young musicians of Greater Boston.

We mentor up to fifty young musicians each year in the Center for Development of Arts Leaders (CDAL). CDAL is the the first center of it’s kind focused on developing and training Greater Boston’s young musicians as leaders, working with educational and service organizations in performing, teaching, and advocacy roles, expanding the power of music to make a difference.

These opportunities require varying levels of commitment and are continually adapted to respond to the interests of the young musicians we hope will aspire to take their music beyond the concert hall.

Martine ThomasMartine Thomas, Arts Leader

CDAL has been an incredible experience for me in the past year because of its extraordinary capacity for connection, with other musicians, special locations, and unique audiences. As a college student in Boston, it is easy to become encapsulated in the insular campus world, but CDAL has made me feel like a student of the whole city and all its people, not just an academic student of the classrooms of one particular school. I’ve learned how to create links to an audience through music as well as speaking, how to collaborate with other musicians, and how to understand and explain artistry.


For more information on CDAL, please contact Shea Mavros, Arts Leadership Program Manager, Greater Boston at smavros@fromthetop.org.

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Meet our CDAL Classes

Class of 2016
Class of 2015

Our Partners 

We are grateful to these wonderful organizations who work with us to develop the next generation of arts leaders.


Betsy KimBetsy Kim, Arts Leader

The best part of performing at the Children’s Museum was bonding and interacting with the kids. I was pleasantly surprised by how receptive and enthusiastic the kids were about the music. The KidStage was great because it was much lower and smaller than conventional stages, which made it much easier to create that special bond between the performers and audience members. My favorite moment was probably singing Let It Go with all the kids who volunteered to go on stage.

[My biggest takeaway is that] it’s important to be flexible as a performer. Don’t hesitate to take risks in adjusting your program – changing things up is important!


This program is supported by Boston Cultural Council, Llewellyn Foundation, Massachusetts Cultural Council, and Harold Whitworth Pierce Charitable Trust.

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