Passionate about education, Jessica has conducted many workshops for hundreds of public school students and adults throughout the greater NY area for the Lincoln Center Institute, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Little Orchestra Society, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.
Since 1998, Ms. Meyer has conducted many residencies for the Lincoln Center Institute in different public schools throughout New York City, New Jersey, and Long Island in order to prepare students for concerts they will experience in Lincoln Center or in various venues around NYC. Through the practices of Aesthetic Education, she has planned countless units of study with classroom teachers, firmly rooted in experiential activities intended to highlight a process of discovery and understanding into the work of art to be seen. She is often called upon to give workshops that help connect audience members to any and all musical genres - including bluegrass, flamenco, Irish music, jazz, or modern repertoire.
Jessica has also lead many experiential workshops in area colleges and universities that introduce the concept of Aesthetic Education to those who are studying to be teachers, model best practices in collaborative learning, and brainstorm ideas on how to authentically connect the arts to a particular curriculum. Venues have included Bank Street College, CCNY, Hunter College, St. John’s University, Lehman College, and Teachers College.
As an early childhood specialist, Ms. Meyer has also spent the past decade visiting PS 153Q in Maspeth where she engages Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade students in many aspects of the compositional process throughout the year, while also preparing them to see orchestra concerts presented in New York City. The year culminates in a performance of the students’ own music (written to accompany a story from their curriculum) performed by the acclaimed new music ensemble counter)induction and the students themselves.
Jessica has recently started exciting TA work with The Center for Arts Education - an organization campaigning to restore a quality arts education for every child in every school in New York City. Through a partnership with the NYC Department of Education, she worked with immigrant students in the ELLA program (English Language Learning through the Arts), where hands-on engagement and discourse involving artistic choices made them more equipped to learn in a language not native to their own.
In addition to her teaching artist workshops, Ms. Meyer has scripted many outreach concerts for the Hudson Valley Philharmonic and for counter)induction. She also mentors performers at the Lincoln Center Institute and the young musicians of the Academy (a program of Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute) on how to engage audiences of any age through a well-written interactive concert.
Jessica is also committed to training up-and-coming musicians on how only they can be the best advocates for their own careers, and successfully pave their own professional path in today’s music field.
