East Austin Band students play at Stubbs with their Music Pro Mentors

 Anthropos Arts, an Austin-based nonprofit that offers opportunities for educational, social, and personal growth to underserved students in grades 6-12 held their Twelfth annual end-of-year concert at Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater. The show featured performances by East Austin music students with their musician-mentors who had spent the last several months receiving individual instruction from some of Austin’s finest professional musicians.

“Our program is about so much more than providing music lessons to Austin children from low-income families,” says Dylan Jones, founding executive director of Anthropos and lead instructor.

“Anyone performing a solo for the first time experiences personal growth, but this growth is particularly powerful for a shy young person with the perception of life with limited opportunities. At our May concert, our students are superstars performing for a huge cheering crowd. Witnessing the self-esteems blossom is why we do this work.” Anthropos has donated $750,000 in services to AISD and Manor students through free music programs: workshops, individualized lessons, concerts, and master classes, at no charge to the districts, students or their families.

The benefits of these efforts go far deeper than learning music and academics, affecting many aspects of these students’ lives, from self-discipline to self-esteem and beyond. In schools with average graduation rates of around 60%, Anthropos students have a near 100% graduation rate, with over 80% continuing to college on scholarship. Approximately 65% of Anthropos students show an increase in GPA while coupled with an Anthropos mentor.

Anthropos Arts relies on a combination of grants and private and corporate donations to sustain its program. Businesses and individuals inspired to support Anthropos and the life-changing opportunities it provides for under-privileged Austin children, can contact Executive Director Dylan Jones at (512) 468-4369 or [email protected].

By Monica Pena
Austin Times