EL CAMINO HIGH SCHOOL - OCTOBER 2024

BUILDING EMPATHY IN SCHOOLS AND EMPOWERING LGBTQIA+ YOUTH ACROSS THE BAY AREA.

Reaching Youth Through Music (RHYTHM) brings the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus into middle and high schools across the Bay Area to share a message of love, inclusivity, and strength.

Our Outside Voices curriculum is an additional resource that can be used along with the RHYTHM program. It’s a fantastic educational opportunity that will inspire positive social change and foster community building. In this program, children have the freedom to turn their own personal stories into performance art pieces through the use of their bold, strong, and beautiful outside voices.

Bring RHYTHM to Your School

RHYTHM is proud to partner with Young Audiences of Northern California to bring this life-changing experience to the youth in our community.

Together we can help improve the well-being and mental health of LGBTQIA+ youth in the Bay Area.

All it takes is a little RHYTHM!

The Reviews Are In!

Check out what students and teachers say about RHYTHM's workshop series

"My favorite part was when they sang with our school choir because it shows that by standing together, you can overcome anything."

"I learned that if you express yourself, you will discover friends you never knew you had."

"[RHYTHM] brings a great balance of interactive dialogue, storytelling, dancing, and songs. Students were highly engaged and it made a huge impact to hear personal stories from the chorus members about their childhoods." 

Our Goals Are Simple

Empower and Celebrate LGBTQIA+ Youth Across San Francisco and the Greater Bay Area

• Build more empathy within schools

• Encourage students to better understand who they are as individuals

• Accept and foster LGBTQIA+ youth and their peers to be their authentic selves

• Guide youth to make positive choices surrounding acceptance

• Increase awareness that identifying as LGBTQIA+ is not a choice

• Serve as role models and community builders

We Bring People Together and Build Community Through Public Education

RHYTHM is a workshop series of four education enhancement and leadership development components that spans over the course of two weeks.

1. A 45-minute workshop with the school's Gender and Sexuality Alliance club where students discuss the school's climate and inclusivity. Together, they create action steps and solutions that could help bring more acceptance and encourage students to be their most authentic selves.

2. A choral master class with SFGMC's Associate Director of Music Education and Outreach. If the school has a choral program, the group is invited to join SFGMC on stage to sing one of the songs in the assembly. Our Associate Director of Music Education and Outreach, Mitch Galli, holds a master class with the choir to prepare the students and soloists for the performance.

3. The pinnacle of the workshop series is a 45-75 minute performance by RHYTHM from 30-40 SFGMC singers. The performance includes a combination of song, story, and an informational dialogue with a facilitated Q&A at the end. In between songs, students will meet our singers on a more intimate level, learn about what it was like growing up queer, understand the struggle and freedom of coming out, and finally embracing their authentic selves.

4. The workshop series concludes with a Meet and Greet Luncheon with the GSA students and the SFGMC singers. This lunch creates a space for the students to get to know the singers better, ask follow-up questions about the RHYTHM performance, and meet their new role models.

RHYTHM brings SFGMC into middle and high schools across the Bay Area to share a message of love, inclusivity, and strength.

Young People Need Love, Support, & Safety

According to the Trevor Project's recent survey, only "50% of Queer youth in California identified their school as an LGBTQ-affirming space. 44% of queer youth in CA considered suicide in the past year, including 54% of transgender and nonbinary youth." Many LGBTQ students in California do not have access to in-school resources and direct services support.

As we’ve recently seen nationally, legislation like the “Don’t Say Gay” bill has shown us that the fight for equality is far from over. Our message of love is needed now more than ever.

RHYTHM reaffirms and supports students in expressing their authentic selves regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The program also promotes the power of being an ally to not only gay youth, but also gender-diverse children and transgender youth.

With themes of pride, individualism, anti-bullying, and advocacy, RHYTHM brings students and members of San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus together to share our experiences, foster a safe space, and grow from the powerful stories of our past.

How it Started, How it's Going

During Season 40, SFGMC began its first season of visits to four high schools and one elementary school across the Bay Area from El Cerrito to East Palo Alto to Petaluma. In its first season, RHYTHM reached 4,000+ students.

Since its launch in 2018, RHYTHM has served close to 15,000 students across the Bay Area and beyond. Looking ahead to Season 46 (2023-2024), the Chorus looks forward to engaging with new schools to continue sharing our message of love and inclusion and provide students with the strength to live their most authentic lives.

Additional Resources

To further the conversations of pride beyond the RHYTHM immersive experience, we are excited to offer you access to Outside Voices.

Please enter your name and email address and we'll send you a link to download a free copy of our Outside Voices RHYTHM Storytelling Workbook

"[RHYTHM was] one of the most moving and rewarding moments for me as a teacher for over twenty years. Unforgettable." –Elementary School Teacher

Support RHYTHM programs in San Francisco Bay Area schools using the link below.