Programs include Curriculum-Based Classes in Merck Arts Education Center, PNC "Grow Up Great" Initiative, Keyboard Conversations® with Jeffrey Siegel, Student Matinees, Kimmel Center Youth Jazz Ensemble and More

Kimmel Center Education Department announces educational offerings scheduled for the 2008-09 season, including the PNC early childhood "Grow Up Great" initiative, Keyboard Conversations® concerts, student matinees, free curriculum-based classes, teen summer arts camps and various community education and outreach programs. Educational opportunities are available for all ages and experience levels, including educators, early childhood from birth to five year-olds, students in grades 5-12 and adult life-long learners.

New this year, the Aetna-Kimmel Bus Program provides students from under-resourced areas the opportunity to experience the rich benefits of exposure to the arts. The program enables free bus services for students who attend schools that cannot afford the cost of transportation to the Kimmel Center's free curriculum-based classes, student matinees and other programs. Grants are awarded by assessment of need. For more information, contact the Education Projects Coordinator at 215-670-2371.

Part of the educational activities at the Kimmel Center, free interactive curriculum-based classes engage students with a focus on American culture through music, dance and theater arts. These fun-filled, hands-on lessons range in topic from the Jazz Age, American Musical Theater, the Jazz Heritage of Philadelphia, Tin Pan Alley and the Harlem Renaissance to TSOP - The Sound of Philadelphia, created by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. All classes take place in the Kimmel Center's Merck Arts Education Center, and are taught by the Kimmel Center's teaching staff, as well as special guests.

Keyboard Conversations® continue this year with three classical piano concerts with conversation led by internationally acclaimed pianist and music educator Jeffrey Siegel. Composers covered in this unique series include Beethoven, Grieg, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Rachmaninoff and more. The PNC "Grow Up Great" initiative provides a series of free concerts at the Kimmel Center designed for children under five years old, which occur on the first Saturday of every month at 11am from October through May.

For additional information and to register for classes, call 215-670-2371 or visit www.kimmelcenter.org/education. Tickets for the Keyboard Conversations® are available through the box office, by calling 215-893-1999 or at www.kimmelcenter.org.

For complete calendar listing of 2008-09 Kimmel Center Educational Offerings, click here.