Portland, Oregon: iUrban Teen, Old Library Studio, and Portland Community College (PCC) are partnering to offer a nine-week summer camp for youth exploring the intersection of music, technology and mathematics. “It’s in the Beat,” set for June 20 through Aug. 22 at PCC’s Cascade Campus in North Portland, offers participants the chance to flex their artistic, scientific, and technological muscles at the same time.
“We needed a creative way for our teens to see how math is interwoven in so many things that we do and love, what better way than through a universal tool such as music and when I approached PCC they instantly embraced the concept.” said Deena Pierott, founder of iUrban Teen, a STEM+Art (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Art) educational organization. “We’re excited about what PCC and Old Library Studio have created and we’re looking forward to rolling the program out to our other sites in Seattle and Los Angeles”
While iUrban Teen’s primary audience is young men of color, Pierott said that the camp and all other iUrban Teen programs are open to any youth from the community who wish to participate with a priority towards youth on free or reduced lunch.
Using state-of-the-art music technology, students will create beats, melodies, harmonies, and music videos. They will also be introduced to digital audio workstations, MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) controllers, a recording studio, the fundamentals of music theory and composition, coding in visual object programming languages for creative purposes, and the place and value of mathematics in electronic musical creation.
“Students will study music that is contemporary, learn knowledge that is ancient, and acquire skills that are futuristic,” said Dan Wenger, dean of the Arts & Professions division at the Cascade Campus.
The summer camp will make use of the Cascade Campus’ state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, which include full digital and analog recording studios, as well as digital audio workstations and cutting-edge recording, mixing, and editing software.
PCC and iUrban Teen will be joined by Old Library Studio, a Portland-based music-technology educational nonprofit, whose staff will share teaching duties at the summer camp. Also helping out on the instructional front will be music faculty from PCC and Oregon State University.
“We’re so excited to host such a wonderful summer camp,” said PCC – Cascade Campus President Karin Edwards. “Music is such a fertile way to approach both math and technology. I can’t wait to hear what these young students will create.”
To learn more about the summer camp, visit www.iurbanteen.org. PCC’s Cascade Campus is located at 705 N. Killingsworth St. in Portland.
