The El Paso Symphony in Texas is expanding its After-School Music Project, Tocando, to Tornillo Elementary School as an in-class and after-school program in January 2020. Tornillo is an impoverished rural community 40 miles east of El Paso predominantly populated by resettled immigrants from Mexico; Tornillo gained national attention during the migrant crisis earlier in 2019. The symphony’s Tocando program provides free instruments, music instruction, and performance opportunities. The new site joins existing programs for students in grades 2-8 at Tocando sites in El Paso at Hart Elementary School, Aoy Elementary, Young Women’s Academy, and Guillen Middle School. Tocando students attend programming Monday through Thursday throughout the school year, a two-week summer camp at their home campus, and are given an opportunity to attend a week-long sleep-away summer music camp as well. Students regularly visit El Paso Museum of Art and participate in annual career-day visits to the University of Texas at El Paso that introduce them to college life.
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