Our impact on youth: junior chorus invitational
The Next Generation Barbershop Junior Chorus Invitational gives high school choruses from all over the country the perfect mixture of fun, education, and opportunity for recognition and achievement.
We invite you to invest in the next generation of barbershop singers, joining us at our annual Midwinter Convention!
OUR IMPACT
WE ARE REACHING STUDENTS WE’VE NEVER REACHED BEFORE
Again and again, we make a difference for students in challenging environments. Through our Next Generation Barbershop Chorus festivals, we actively work to support underestimated school communities.
Many delightful performing ensembles have comprised young people who, despite their talent, experience barriers to full participation. In their words:
- “Many of our students are first generation, American-born citizens.”
- “Nine of our students are considered homeless. Close to half of the children are raised by somebody other than their biological parent, such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, etc.”
- “23% of our students live in homes where English is not the first language, which creates a higher level of difficulty for them to engage at school.”
- “Many of our students work extra jobs to help support their families.”
The immediate result: young people thrive in the barbershop ecosystem. They come back for more, returning to the stage as long as they can.
More than 80% of Varsity Quartet Contest singers from the last 5 years are still actively singing barbershop. They join barbershop chapters. They turn into directors, arrangers, YouTube multitrackers. They come to Harmony University for the Next Generation Chorus and make a musical racket all night long, and we love it.
Barbershop becomes a lifestyle. As one member writes, “The Barbershop Harmony Society has helped me through 3 big cross-country moves over the last 10 years. I’ve had a chorus in each town I’ve moved to, and immediately found a place to belong in a city where I knew few people initially.”