Past & Present Residencies

*    “Second Season” residency partners
**   “Pittsburgh New Residency” (Meet The Composer) residency partners
***  Schools participating in “Merging the Classics”
**** Schools participating in “Arts in the Marketplace”

Schools and School Districts

Anne Arundel County Public Schools (MD)
Assumption School (Bellevue PA) ***
Cardinal Wright Regional School (Pittsburgh PA) ***
Clairton School District (PA)
Clearfield School District (PA)
Coal Valley School District (PA)
College Park Elementary School (Beaver PA)
Curwensville School District (PA)
Diocese of Pittsburgh (“Merging the Classics,” PA)
Dorseyville Middle School (Fox Chapel Area School District, PA))
Dubois High School (PA)
Glendale School District (PA)
Great Valley School District (PA)*
Greensburg-Salem School District (PA)****
Hampton High School (Allison Park PA)
Hatboro-Horsham School District (PA)
Hempfield Area School District (PA)****
Holy Rosary School (Homewood/Pittsburgh PA)
Holy Spirit School (Millvale PA)
Hopewell Area School District (Aliquippa, PA)
Haviland Middle School (Hyde Park, NY)
North Allegheny School District (PA) ****
North East High School (PA)
North Hills School District (PA) ****
Perry County High School (PA)
Plum Borough High School (PA)
Providence Heights Alpha School (PA) ***
Punxsutawney Middle School (PA)
Redstone Middle School (Brownsville PA)
Sewickley Academy (PA)
Shaler Area School District ** (PA)
St. Bonaventure School *** (PA)
St. Mary’s School *** (PA)
St. Benedict the Moor School*** (PA)
St. Teresa School (Ross Township PA)
West Greene School District (PA)
West Mifflin High School (PA)
Woodland Hills School District (PA)

Colleges and Universities

Anderson University (IN)
Belmont College (OH)
Carlow University
Carnegie Mellon University
Centenary College (NJ)
Clarion University
Dickinson College *
Fairmont State College (WV)
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Morehead State University (KY)
Shippensburg University *
Wilson College *

Community Organizations

Elderhostel
Gateway to the Arts **
Rouse Company
WQED-FM 89.3 Pittsburgh **

THE “SECOND SEASONS” RESIDENCY PROJECT was a project of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency. Two chamber music groups, the Renaissance City Winds and the Chestnut Brass Company of Philadelphia, were selected to present concerts and perform residency services in communities in areas of the state far away from their home base. RCW’s two sites were with an arts presenter and school district just to the west of Philadelphia, and with a consortium of three colleges in the Cumberland Valley.

 “MERGING THE CLASSICS” RESIDENCY was an enrichment program for sixth- to eight- graders drawn from parochial schools from Pittsburgh and the northern suburbs, and took place at LaRoche College from 1995-2006. Students worked with a jazz musician and a classical musician, learning chamber music performance skill, jazz improvisation, and classical composition.  In most years, depending on available funding, the Renaissance City Winds were in residence as an ensemble for performances, demonstrations, and coaching.

THE PITTSBURGH NEW RESIDENCY was part of a national residency program sponsored by Meet The Composer, based in New York City (and now merged into New Music America).  Spanning more than a decade, the “new residency program” funded 14 three-year community residencies nation-wide, and was in between MTC’s two orchestra residency programs.  The Pittsburgh New Residency, one of just four awarded in Round IX, the last year for new applicants, was primarily supported with funding from the Heinz Endowments.  The four principal partners were Renaissance City Winds, Gateway to the Arts, WQED-FM, and Shaler Area School District, but “spin-off” educational residencies were created or expanded with the support of this major grant.  R. James Whipple and Efraín Amaya were the two composers involved with the Pittsburgh New Residency, which was extended for two additional years with outside funding.

ARTS IN THE MARKETPLACE was part of a national residency program sponsored by the Rouse Company, a mall developer, and the National Endowment for the Arts. For several years the Winds were in residence at Rouse’s two properties in southwestern Pennsylvania, Northway Mall in the North Hills of Pittsburgh and Greengate Mall near Greensburg, Pennsylvania. In addition to performances and other audience-development activities, clinics and workshops were provided for students in regional schools who bussed their students to the mall for residency activities.

CARLOW UNIVERSITY has been the ensemble’s home since 1978.  In its early years, the residency was designed to support and enhance the music department through performances, lecture-recitals, coaching, teaching, and recruiting. After the music major was phased out in the mid-1980s the emphasis shifted towards general promotion of the University, attracting people to campus, supervising interns in nonprofit management, and providing music expertise when needed. Other activities have included advising a student-run band, producing programs with the Alumni Choir, and performing for University functions, including every presidential inauguration since the late 1970s.