What We’re Really Building at VIA Academy
As VIA Academy moves into its seventh year, I’ve found myself reflecting less on milestones and more on continuity—on what it actually takes to build something that lasts in classical music.
VIA was created out of a simple but demanding belief: that musical excellence, access, mentorship, and community are not separate goals. They are inseparable. When one is missing, the whole structure weakens.
This past summer made that clearer than ever.
A Summer of Depth
Our 2025 cohort brought together students from six states, all of whom identify as BIPOC, for an intensive, tuition-free program centered on artistry, mentorship, and community leadership. What mattered most was the environment those students stepped into, where curiosity, growth, and connection were encouraged every day.
By the end of the summer, students reported:
a 30% increase in confidence in their instrumental abilities
a 40% increase in confidence in overcoming challenges independently
100% clarity around viable career paths in music
Nearly all shared that VIA helped them feel part of a musical community and better prepared to pursue their goals as young artists.
Those outcomes don’t come from motivation alone. They come from sustained relationships, high expectations paired with trust, and the chance to be seen not just as performers, but as people.
When Art Meets Community
One of the defining experiences of the summer was our partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in North Miami. Students performed inside the galleries and led interactive workshops for younger campers—placing their artistry in direct dialogue with visual art, public space, and service.
For many, it was the first time their musicianship felt fully integrated into a broader civic context. Not an add-on, but a genuine exchange.
This is core to VIA’s philosophy: that musical excellence and civic impact are inseparable.
What One Student’s Journey Represents
One student in our community grew up in an Iowa town with very limited musical infrastructure. After the loss of a parent who had been the sole wage earner in the household, many musical opportunities became financially out of reach. To continue studying their instrument, the student taught piano lessons in their local community to help pay for bassoon private instruction.
Through VIA Academy, this student found access, mentorship, and a musical community at a pivotal moment. Since attending VIA, they have gone on to study at the Curtis Institute of Music, appear as a soloist with a major U.S. orchestra, and are currently studying abroad in Austria while performing professionally with orchestras across Europe.
This journey isn’t a miracle story. It’s a partnership story.
It reflects what becomes possible when sustained belief meets access, mentorship, and timing—when talent isn’t asked to survive on resilience alone.
Momentum That Extends Beyond One Summer
What’s especially encouraging is that this student’s experience is no longer an outlier.
This fall, one of our Miami-based students was named a semifinalist in the Sphinx Competition and is recording for NPR’s From the Top. Several VIA students are beginning their freshman years at institutions including the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Missouri–Kansas City, and the University of Louisville. At the same time, a growing number of alumni are continuing their undergraduate studies at leading institutions such as Juilliard, Curtis, and the University of Michigan.
What matters most to me isn’t the list of names. It’s the pattern: sustained excellence over time, supported by a community that doesn’t disappear once a program ends.
Looking Ahead
As we look toward next summer, we’re building on something real. We’re expanding partnerships, deepening our curriculum, and continuing to shape VIA as a year-round ecosystem of support—not a single intervention, but a long-term investment in young musicians at a formative moment in their lives.
In a time when access, mentorship, and belonging in the arts feel increasingly fragile, this work feels both urgent and hopeful.
VIA Academy exists because people—students, faculty, partners, and supporters—believe that classical music can be a site of possibility rather than exclusion. That belief, sustained over time, is what turns opportunity into outcome.
And that’s what we’re committed to building.