YONA Winter Concert 2024

The Cause

The Youth Orchestra of Northern Alberta (YONA) program is a unique initiative the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra offers to Grade 1-12 students in Northern Alberta’s priority neighbourhoods. The program uses music for social change and teaches our students the values of unity, harmony, and mutual compassion.

Five days a week, for three hours a day, more than 250 students across five sites receive group instrument lessons led by qualified teachers at no cost to their families. Students are given the opportunity to learn orchestral instruments such as violin, viola, cello, bass, percussion, flute, clarinet, trombone, and horn. The program also includes daily nutritious snacks, homework help, free play, and physical activity in a safe, inclusive, and caring environment.

Since 2013, YONA has addressed the need for an education program serving children in the critical hours after school in our region’s most vulnerable communities. Through the power of music, the program instills a sense of community, discipline, confidence, and overall happiness in its students. While most of the children who participate in YONA will not become professional musicians, they will become incredible citizens. As students advance in their instruments and prepare for two annual performances per year, they learn to mentor newer and younger peers.

One of two such annual performances is the YONA Winter Concert. This event occurs at the Winspear each year in late February, bringing together our students from all five sites. Throughout the evening, our junior classes/cohorts, Intermedia Community Orchestra, and La Bruyère Orchestra – our most advanced group – take turns performing within our world-class concert hall. The YONA Winter Concert gives our students a unique opportunity to showcase what they have learned up to this point in the school year. First-year YONA students only receive their real instrument in November after caring for a cardboard cutout in September and October. For many students, it is often the first time they perform on a stage in front of an audience. The YONA Winter Concert is a free event attended by the families of our students as well as our YONA sponsors, staff, and volunteers.

We seek support from Field Law for the following YONA Winter Concert 2024 expenses: bussing, dinner, cookies, videographer/photographer, t-shirts, ESO musician/guest musician fees, additional green room space, accompanist fees, and musical arrangement fees.

Who Will it Benefit?

The beneficiaries of YONA and the YONA Winter Concert are our 250 students, of whom many come from low-income families, families new to Canada, or homes where English is a second language. Our region presents higher-than-average rates of high school non-completion, youth obesity, single-parent households, teen pregnancy, and low-income families. For many families, these challenges are insurmountable, and the cycles of poverty and lack of success in school continue across generations.

Our five YONA sites include the Francis Winspear Centre for Music, St. Alphonsus School, St. Teresa of Calcutta School, St. Catherine School, and Kipohtakâw Education Centre on Alexander First Nation (K-YONA).

Through YONA, youth in Northern Alberta’s priority neighbourhoods experience an extraordinary opportunity for social, emotional, academic, and musical development. They foster lifelong values and skills that promote the future success of themselves and their communities. Through engagement with like-minded peers and role models in a safe learning environment, these youth are inspired to think beyond any limitations they may believe about what is achievable in school or life.

The developmental importance of opportunities like the YONA Winter Concert cannot be understated. Each year, when our students step off the stage to the applause of a packed concert hall, they feel like they can accomplish anything. Through this experience, they come to understand the value of discipline, determination, and collaboration – all of which can be applied to achieve success in other aspects of their lives.

More broadly, YONA benefits our community and region by creating contributing members of society. Our program has a proven track record of boosting high school graduation rates and post-secondary acceptance among our students thanks to our holistic approach to education and after-school care. We believe an engaged youth population is one of the most valuable assets a community can have.