Educational Outreach
Educational outreach has been a core part of the Gold Canyon Arts Council's mission since its founding in 1998, with primary focus on local students. The artists contracted for each Canyon Sounds season also agree to conduct educational programs at area schools. Each season generally features six diverse performances at the Gold Canyon United Methodist Church, each of which provides multiple educational outreach opportunities. The Arts Council has presented more than 260 art and music education experiences to over 38,000 students since its founding. The schools include those located in low-to-moderate income areas of Maricopa, Pinal, and Gila Counties.
Most artists engaged by the Arts Council are musicians, which include vocalists, but from time to time feature dancers or other performing artists. Their educational programs include:
In addition, the Gold Canyon Arts Council also sponsors music and arts education programs in local schools, including:
.jpg)
_PNG.png)
Informances
An “informance” is a performance during which the artist(s) discuss the composers of each piece, the historical and cultural settings when the music was composed, and their impact on audiences of those periods. They also describe their instruments and contrast them with the instruments available to artists of those periods. Interaction with students is a key part of informances, both in terms of encouraging questions and providing opportunities for students to become familiar with the musical instruments played by the artists.
Master Classes
A “Master Class” is conducted by an artist (the master) for students who already play the instrument (including voice) for which the artist is so well known and respected. Its setup differs from regular classes in that the participating students each perform in turn a single piece that he or she has prepared in advance, although other students may attend as spectators. The master then critiques each performance with respect to technique errors, the composer’s objectives in terms of tempo, tonality, phrasing and emotion, and usually compliments deserving aspects of the performance. The master may demonstrate personally how certain passages should be played. Thereafter, the student plays the piece again (or portions of it) applying the insights gained from the master’s comments and suggestions. The other students observe each other’s performances before the master such that all benefit from his/her critiques, remarks and demonstrations, including any spectators.
Workshops
A “Workshop” is an interactive session conducted by the artist(s) or master(s) during which students and/or teachers work more intensively on how to improve their ability to perform music. Workshops may involve larger numbers of students than master classes, multiple masters, and more than a single instrument. For example, a professional string quartet or ensemble may work with the string sections of a school orchestra by breaking into sections where the master violinist works with student violinists, the master cellist works with student cellists, etc. Similarly, a master vocalist may interact with a student choir and its choir director.
Lead Guitar
In addition, the Gold Canyon Arts Council partners with nonprofit Lead Guitar (Tucson, AZ) to provide music education programs in elementary and secondary schools located along the Old West Highway throughout the entire school year. The Lead Guitar program teaches participating students how to read music and how to play a nylon-string classical guitar.
Lead Guitar’s history began in 1999 on the Navajo Reservation in Page, Arizona when concert guitarist Brad Richter was asked to conduct a guitar workshop at Page High School. Thereafter, he began developing the curriculum that would become the core of this major music education program. He co-founded Lead Guitar as a non-profit organization in 2006 with a major benefactor who credited much of the success of his business career to his lifelong study of the classical guitar.
The Arts Council currently partners with Lead Guitar at the following schools:
1. Apache Junction High School, 2525 Ironwood Drive, Apache Junction, AZ 85120
2. San Carlos Secondary School, San Carlos Avenue, San Carlos, AZ 85550
Lead Guitar funds the substantial costs of a professional guitar instructor to conduct weekly lessons at each participating school throughout the school year, train a local teacher to supervise classes with the participating students the remainder of each school week, sponsor a Student Showcase Concert on the ASU campus that invites all participants to perform and share a celebratory meal with friends and family at the Herberger Center for the Arts, and fund miscellaneous expenditures for travel, printing of music and training publications, etc. Lead Guitar's overall program for the 2026/2027 school year will involve 101 schools nationwide, of which 36 are in Arizona, nine in Colorado, five in Oklahoma, nine in Illinois, and two in California.
The Arts Council initially funded six nylon-string classical guitars and accessories for the Lead Guitar program at the San Carlos Secondary School in January 2014 via a donation received from a member for this purpose. The donation was motivated by a concert featuring classical guitarists Brad Richter and Carlos Bonell, his mentor and former professor at the Royal College of Music in the United Kingdom, which also featured students from San Carlos playing Beethoven’s Ode to Joy with the artists.
The Arts Council funded ten more nylon-string classical guitars and accessories for the initiation of a Lead Guitar program at the Apache Junction High School in August 2016. Since then it funded twenty-six more such instruments for new Lead Guitar programs at Cactus Canyon Junior High School in Apache Junction and Miami Junior/Senior High School (ten each), both of which are no longer active due to scheduling challenges, along with six more for continued expansion of the AJ High School program. Additional guitars have also been donated to local schools by Arts Council members and other community residents. The Arts Council also contributes funds directly to Lead Guitar to help offset a portion of its costs for the Lead Guitar programs at participating elementary and secondary schools.
These Lead Guitar programs are an integral part of the Arts Council's charitable music education objectives at local schools. They complement and extend the activities of the many professional artists who are contracted each year to perform concerts at the Gold Canyon United Methodist Church and conduct informances (or docent performances) at area schools. They also conduct workshops and/or master classes when appropriate for students. Such programs are very appealing to residents of Gold Canyon, Apache Junction, and other communities along the Old West Highway. They really want music education programs to be available to students in local schools and consider them important. In addition, they are quite supportive of visual arts education programs in local schools.
Leland Wilson - Kathy Mitchell Arts Program
Leland Wilson School Art Program Recieves New Name.
For nearly twenty years the Arts Council has provided fine art programs in local schools. Former Arts Council President, Leland Wilson felt it was important to provide fine art opportunities as a compliment to the Residency programs by our Canyon Sounds artists. Since the 2016-2017 season Kathy Mitchell has provided enthusiasm and leadership for these in-school art experiences. She coordinated with the schools, secured the supplies and contracted with the visual artists. Arts Council volunteers were available to assist. These art experiences were quite varied such as gourd design, weaving, puppets and print making. Kathy also coordinated with the Council’s Student Art Committee and provided evaluations of the experiences.
Kathy Mitchell receiving the Jack Kukuk Award from
Terry and Linda Storbakken
Sadly, Kathy Mitchell passed away in January of 2026. Her dedication and leadership will besorely missed. In her memory, the Board of Directors have voted to rename the program:Leland Wilson – Kathy Mitchell School Art Program.
