After falling in love with playing the violin as a child, Kelsey Milian and her family tried to find a way to continue her music education once her school's arts programs shut down. She shares her story of how she and her family became founding members of the Miami Music Project, a now-thriving community music program in Florida that. Kelsey’s story is about how important music has been throughout her life as she was a member of her college orchestra and post-graduation decided to enroll in an Ethnomusicology PhD program. At the heart of her story, right alongside the music, is how vital community has been for Kelsey. Kelsey names all of the people—her parents, her teachers, her friends, her mentors—who have supported her and helped her chase her dreams. Her story captures the fact that while each of our stories is our own, they also couldn’t happen without our loved ones and communities lifting us up and providing guidance. In the vein of the old saying “it takes a village to raise a child,” Kelsey conveys that it takes an orchestra to raise a violinist.
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