One of her greatest successes is the Old Songs New Opportunities, a collaboration between the Museum and many local agencies to provide early childhood
program training to local refugees and encourage the incorporation of traditional songs while on the job. Since 2004, OSNO has trained 64 New American men and women and was awarded a three-year federal grant in 2013. This grant allowed for additional placement of refugee song coaches into 115 classrooms and over 300 successfully trained teachers, resulting in over 1800 Erie County children being exposed to new cultural art experiences.

Kelly Armor is the Folk Art and Education Director at the Erie Art Museum. She continues to be deeply influenced by her two and a half-year sojourn in East Africa, where she experienced a culture that had no notion of ‘audience’ or ‘stage fright’ and incorporated music and song into their daily life.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx