Who We Are
Philosophy
IMA was founded by Minda, Gene and Paul in 2024 to serve the needs of NYC kids who aren't getting regular access to quality musical education. We are acutely aware of all the funding that has been cut in music education, and we are trying to fill in those gaps as best we can, whether it be offering affordable private instrument instruction in parents' apartments, free pilot start up public afterschool programs, or a variety of free music education activities based all over the city in public spaces. With music playing a central part of all of our own lives, we cannot imagine what life would be without it.
However, with more and more emphasis being placed on testing and STEM in NYC education systems, and with both families and educational institutions alike feeling more and more pressure for students to get into the next best school, (despite the proof that quality music instruction improves those very test taking skills, and academic achievement), the arts are suddenly seen as enrichment and not 'life skills'. We disagree! (Do you remember how you were taught math or do your remember the highlight being in your school's musical, chorus or band?!) Music has always been a constant joy in all of our lives, and we feel it should not be absent, but frankly be something all children are supposed to experience and participate in. It's Music!
History to Present Day
IMA started out as Intersection Arts, a 501c4 afterschool program at PS41, a public school in Greenwich Village. We offered afterschool private lessons as well as group violin classes. When COVID hit, we transferred to teaching online, and then to parents’ apartments. We saw a real need to provide a means for continuing music to families, especially as everything got uprooted in the pandemic. Fast forward a few years, and with the aid of Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, and a brand new board of directors, as of July 2024 (!) we have expanded our mission beyond a single school and now, as Intersection Music and Arts Inc., aim to bring music to many more families, and all over NYC.