The Mini Mozarts Summer Music Camp was the brainchild of co-founders Canadian soprano, Allison Cecilia Arends and Jamaican-Canadian tenor, Paul Anthony Williamson. The Music Camp was inaugurated in August 2015 in Majesty Gardens, one of Kingston, Jamaica’s most destitute neighbourhoods. The 10-day summer camp afforded the 30 children who participated the opportunity to enjoy a learning experience through music, and demonstrate their creative self-expression to the sounds of Do Re Mi.

The St Andrew Parish Foundation (SAPF), a registered charity in Jamaica, intends to make this learning experience an annual event. The camp provides underprivileged children between the ages of 3-9 with meals, a musical education though warm-ups, crafts, games, story-telling, musical instruction, and participation in a final concert for the surrounding community, as well as the mentorship, encouragement, and unconditional love that they may not otherwise receive in their day to day lives.

Canadian mezzo-soprano, Kathleen Promane, joined Allison and Paul in the second annual fundraising gala, entitled Festum Sancti Andreae, this fall in Kingston, Jamaica. All funds raised go directly to the Foundation’s various outreach projects. She looks forward to joining the Mini Mozarts team in its on-going development and execution.

Allison, Kate, and Paul believe that we are all citizens of the world, and it is their vision to reach these children through the universal language of music, encouraging the children to build a stronger and more stable society through collaborative arts.