Current Projects
The Hamara School Project
We are delighted that our first project (since 2010) was a partnership with ‘Hamara School’, an NGO for underprivileged children in Goa. Hamara School cares for 50+ children of construction workers, migrants and other low-income families by looking after their food, clothing, after-school studies and provides a safe place for children to stay.
The Child’s Play Chorus
The Child’s Play Chorus is made up of children from across our various projects and our community choir, which is open to other children of the community. Admissions for our community choir are open for children and young people. Please contact 9922642059 if you would like to register. Come, sing in our children’s choir!
Screenings
We are very pleased to introduce regular screenings for our students. We will be showing music-related, kid-friendly movies and also recordings of orchestral performances from around the world. We want our students to not only enjoy listening and watching to world class performances but also begin to grasp the enormity of the classical music world and its repertoire. Many of them will not have occasion to travel or listen to live performances. Most of our students don’t have families who will push them to watch classical music videos on YouTube or take them for concerts. This, then, is the next best thing. We’ll bring the music to them. Our gratitude forever to SP People’s Trust for gifting us a projector and screen. Due to space constraints, the screenings are for our students only.
Santa Cruz Village Project
In August 2015, we launched a village project in the lovely village of Santa Cruz, a few miles outside Panjim. The Santa Cruz church and parish school have both been very welcoming of Child’s Play India and thanks to their support, we have an after-school project that provides instruction in violin, viola, piano and children’s choir to any child from the village.
Trainee Teacher Project
The Trainee Teacher Project has been a dream at Child’s Play that is finally coming to life. Senior students who have reached a certain level of playing are now being trained to teach. They will continue to receive lessons as well. The trainee teachers receive a stipend for their time and effort, which is not only an incentive but a source of income to these teenagers and their families.
Piano Practice Room
One of our goals at Child’s Play India is to remove all barriers and obstacles to learning music. Whether it is monetary (expensive lessons) or access to instruments, we will help in any way we can. There are many piano students who cannot afford to have a piano at home (they cost Rs. 3 lakh+ to purchase) and these students practice on keyboard instead. The touch and sound are very different on both instruments and have an impact on the quality of playing. So we’re delighted to introduce Piano Practice Rooms at our Foundation’s premises where students from the community can come and practice on a lovely upright piano in a quiet setting.
The Cello Project
India has very few cello players. This is because we have very few qualified and trained cello teachers who can work with young children. The absence of good cellists and cello teachers affects us all. We have fewer cellists in orchestras across the country, which affects the quality of the sound. There’s also very little chamber music happening as without cellists it is almost impossible to play ensemble music. At Child’s Play India, we are building a new generation of cellists by bringing in qualified overseas teachers who will not only teach our children, but also work with local teachers and our senior students to be future teachers. The cello project is open to the community as we want many people to begin learning this instrument. Children and adult learners are welcome. Students from the wider community will offset their own costs and purchase/rent their instruments, so our limited funds will continue being used for the disadvantaged sector. Come, learn the cello with Child’s Play!
The Music Library Project
T=Access to literature about classical music and the music itself is a huge issue for our children as they don’t have personal internet connections or the means to buy music books or CDs. Our music library has many child-friendly books that explain music theory and other concepts in a fun and relatable way. We plan, in due course, to open the library to the wider public as such resources for children currently do not exist in Goa.