On the Map: Using Popular Music to Connect With Urban Youth

This recent addition to our Arts Leadership map is inspirational!

When Gregg Breinberg  started working at P.S. 22 in 1999, the lack of a music program meant teaching second grade. The next year, Gregg asked the administration to let him start a chorus and become a full-time music teacher. Despite arts budget cuts, the school said yes.

From the start Gregg knew he didn’t want his kids singing “Kumbaya;” he was more interested in giving them contemporary works – something they could relate to. Since its creation in 2000, the 5th graders of the P.S. 22 Chorus have sung Coldplay, Tori Amos, Lady Gaga, Eminem, Jay-Z, and more.

Gregg began blogging about the chorus in 2006, and since then he and the chorus have become a sensation on and off the Internet, with their YouTube videos getting millions of hits each…Read more about the PS22 Chorus and their amazing accomplishments.