Beyond the Bars

After 9 years of programming Beyond the Bars is having its first ever Gala! On Tuesday our latest cohort of Student Teachers graduated from training and are ready to teach and mentor the next generation of great artists but we need your help! By attending our gala you not only are guaranteed a night of fun, food and dancing with an incredible community you will be helping ensure that youth throughout our 45 musical spaces will have access to quality programming and teachers! Click on our linktree to learn more and buy tickets to support our amazing young leaders!

Last day of the Student Teacher Camp! Couldn’t be more grateful for all of the amazing compassion and hard work that all of the students and teachers poured in all summer. This room is full of the next generation of leaders and artists in our city and we couldn’t be more excited to see the impact they are gonna make!

Longer post to come but still gotta finish out camp this week! LAST NIGHT WAS AMAZING! The students absolutely crushed it at their graduation show! Over 30 amazing young leaders were celebrated and received certificates for their growth as artists and leaders and performed so many incredible songs! Last night was a testament to the amazing people they are and the hard work they’ve put in! We couldn’t be more grateful for them, their teachers and our families and community!! Also major shoutout to for being such incredibly gracious hosts!!

Todays the day! Come to for our Student Teacher Graduation Show to help celebrate our talented young leaders and artists!! 6:30-9:30! Totally free and free food!

We were on Good Day Uncut this morning on showcasing the student teacher program and promoting our show tomorrow!! The students did amazing and you can catch them tomorrow performing at at 6:30!!!

Tomorrow is our Student Teacher Graduation at the amazing from 6:30-9:30! Doors are at 6 and it is totally free!! Come celebrate our amazing young leaders and artists for the amazing work that they have done all summer!! Major thank you to Underground Arts for hosting our amazing young artists!!!

Something pretty amazing happened yesterday! Look for a longer post with a cool announcement in the next few days!

West was cooking up some amazing music today! Looking forward to celebrating all of their amazing work over the summer with our end of year listening party next week!

Students were vibing to John Coltrane last night finding inspiration before writing some amazing songs of their own! Shoutout to and for being amazing teachers!

Today at our amazing student teachers tried teaching for real for the first time and they absolutely crushed it!!!!! We couldn’t be more proud of the amazing leaders they are and seeing their students do an amazing job learning guitars, keyboards, production and beats all while building positive and supportive relationships was amazing to see! The students were amazing the student teachers absolutely killed it! Major shout out and gratitude and can’t wait to see the continued impact these amazing young leaders will have in helping the next generation learn music and realize how they talented they are!

Our young people are doing an AMAZING job at the StudentTeacher Summer Camp! Seeing them discuss ways to best support and mentor young students has been powerful to see and we can’t wait to see them helping the next generation artists! Major shoutout to all of the amazing teachers and students making this summer special! Also major shout out to for always providing amazing food in our community!!!

All the info for tomorrow!!!

Major thank you to the and for covering the and shouting out the work that’s being done by so many amazing community orgs in the city and also for celebrating the leadership and excellence of our incredible young people and leaders in the city! We could not be more grateful for our amazing community and can’t wait for tomorrow!

The Student teacher program went amazing day with students also getting ready for the this Saturday at Venice Island! Make to sure to the get the free tickets today!! (Available in link) also shout out to and for spearheading our DJing class that students were killing it in today!

Beyond the Bars is hiring Program Mentors to support our amazing students throughout our 45 musical spaces in the city! If you have a passion for supporting youth (even if you aren't an artist or musician) definitely reach out and apply! More information regarding the positions can be found on our linktree or feel free to email your resume and cover letter to [email protected]!

is an incredible org that does so much for literacy and the support and empowerment of young people in our community and we are deeply grateful to be able to make music with their incredibly talented young leaders! Thank you so much for all that you constantly do for our city!

We could not be more grateful for the work that so many amazing orgs throughout our city do for our community! Major thank you to for hosting an incredible citywide conference called FamCon that worked to connect young artists to industry professionals and build their networks! Y'all do incredible work and we were deeply grateful to get to be a part with hosting a songwriting workshop during an all around powerful day! Y'all are amazing and we are so grateful for all that you do!

Major thank you to for all that they do for our community! We had a blast making music with such incredibly talented young artists and can't wait to see their creative journey continue! Also major shoutout to for the amazing support they provide so many youth in our community!

Shoutout to the Former student teachers now adult teachers Shilynn, Mike, Isaiah and about to graduate Nahmir for leading an awesome workshop and absolutely crushing supporting the incredible student artists at the .and.girls_club !

Shoutout to all the amazing young artists who performed and shared music at our listening party/open jam! So many talented artists and amazing music! Also major shoutout to all the teachers and leaders who set it up for our community! Y’all rock!!

03/16/2015: the first program BTB ever held, teaching in jail to a group of talented, young people. 9 years later and we will be celebrating with student leaders spanning 45 labs throughout the city! Please come out to our free 9th Birthday Party celebration at the amazing World Cafe Live! On 03/16 come hear some amazing music and hang out with us! Over these 9 years BTB has been built by so many incredible people and would not exist without their leadership (families, students, teachers, volunteers) and we would love to see you all there! There will be jams and birthday cake in the always special World Cafe Live!

Shoutout to Norm and Dahren for getting BTBs first ever DJ class planned and prepped!! Any young person who’s interested in learning how to DJ let us know!

Major thank you to the incredible teachers that have been building btb with our students for almost 9 years! It was amazing getting to celebrate with everyone last night the beautiful work that they do! Everyday we couldn’t be more grateful for their compassion, brilliance, talent and dedication that they pour into making accessible musical spaces and helping the next generation of artists and leaders! Y’all are amazing!!

At Community Driven Research day sharing about the impact of youth leadership! Deeply grateful to meet so many other amazing community based orgs doing incredible work!!

Shout out to the amazing teachers who organize open mics and cyphers throughout philly for so many talented students! Some awesome performances last week!

Major thank you to the and the amazing and for their incredible support of BTB through the years! We are deeply grateful for their impact on our community and had a blast getting to hang out with our student leaders and watch the 20th anniversary of The Village together while raising funds for so many amazing orgs around the world! Y’all rock and we are deeply grateful!!

We are honored to be the recipients of the Greater Philadelphia Social Innovations Award for Innovative Models in Engaging Young People. Our student and community leaders have done so much to build BTB to where it is and we only exist because of their incredible work and vision! Major shout out to all of the incredible community based orgs throughout Philadelphia working everyday to ensure that our young people have the resources and platforms that they deserve! Y'all are amazing and we are grateful for all that you do!

First time back teaching in jail since Covid and the students did an incredible job! Btb started as a program for youth who were incarcerated and because of their advocacy expanded to community run programming. Some amazing song were made today and met some incredibly talented young artists!