{"id":2402067,"date":"2026-05-04T21:12:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T21:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2402067"},"modified":"2026-05-04T21:12:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T21:12:28","slug":"ben-folds-initiative-expands-music-education-through-new-wilmington-collaboration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/ben-folds-initiative-expands-music-education-through-new-wilmington-collaboration\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Folds initiative expands music education through new Wilmington collaboration"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"gtxfimage alignright\"><figcaption class=\"fig-cap\">Wilmington Symphony Youth Orchestra &#8220;Rockestra&#8221; (Photo: WWAY)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) \u2014 A new partnership between the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wilmingtonsymphony.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Wilmington Symphony Orchestra<\/span><\/span><\/a> and <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/givetodreams.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">DREAMS Center for Arts Education<\/span><\/span><\/a> will expand access to music education for young students across the region through singer-songwriter Ben Folds\u2019 charitable initiative, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.keysforkidsnc.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Keys for Kids<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"367\" data-end=\"642\">The collaboration, announced this week, connects Keys for Kids\u2013founded by North Carolina native <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.benfolds.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Ben Folds<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u2013with local arts organizations to create a structured pathway for students to grow from beginner instruction to advanced ensemble performance.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"644\" data-end=\"948\">Under the program, students will begin their musical training at DREAMS, where they will receive foundational instruction in an afterschool setting. As they progress, they will transition into programming with the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra, gaining expanded instruction and performance opportunities.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"950\" data-end=\"1242\">Participants will also have access to the Wilmington Symphony Youth Orchestras (WSYO) chamber ensembles, offering additional ensemble experience and performance development. In addition, students and their families will receive free tickets to Wilmington Symphony Orchestra and WSYO concerts.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1244\" data-end=\"1548\">\u201cThis partnership represents a shared commitment to making music education accessible, inclusive, and inspiring,\u201d said Liz Scanlon, Executive Director of the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra. \u201cBy working together, we are creating meaningful opportunities for students to grow both musically and personally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1550\" data-end=\"1806\">Folds said the initiative reflects his own early experiences with arts education. \u201cMy middle school field trips to museums and the symphony, as well as having a chance to perform in the youth orchestra, greatly influenced my own creative journey,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1808\" data-end=\"1924\">The program is supported in partnership with the North Carolina Arts Council and the North Carolina Arts Foundation.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1926\" data-end=\"2130\">Community members are also invited to attend a May 30 performance by Ben Folds at the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh, where a portion of ticket sales will benefit Keys for Kids.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2132\" data-end=\"2239\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">For more information, visit the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra or DREAMS Center for Arts Education websites.<\/p>\n<p><!-- Simple Share Buttons Adder (7.6.21) simplesharebuttons.com -->\t<\/div>\n<p><script>(function(d, s, id){\n\t\t\t\t var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n\t\t\t\t if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;}\n\t\t\t\t js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n\t\t\t\t js.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.6\";\n\t\t\t\t fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n\t\t\t   }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));<\/script><script>\n!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\nn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\nif(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\nn.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\nt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\ns.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\nfbq('init', '352174538576889');\nfbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.wwaytv3.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wilmington Symphony Youth Orchestra &#8220;Rockestra&#8221; (Photo: WWAY) WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) \u2014 A new partnership between the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra and DREAMS Center for Arts Education will expand access to music education for young students across the region through singer-songwriter Ben Folds\u2019 charitable initiative, Keys for Kids. The collaboration, announced this week, connects Keys for Kids\u2013founded [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2402068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[312607,469174,469175,469176,469177],"class_list":["post-2402067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-ben-folds","tag-dreams-center-for-arts-education","tag-keys-for-kids","tag-wilmington-symphony-orchestra","tag-wilmington-symphony-youth-orchestras"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ben-Folds-initiative-expands-music-education-through-new-Wilmington-collaboration.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2402067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2402069,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402067\/revisions\/2402069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2402068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2402067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2402067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2402067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}