Community Arts Programs

Our performing arts students are deeply immersed in the community.

Bringing cadence to King events and service to the broader community. Our Upper School Jazz Combo’s improv makes every community gathering effervescent, including Family Service Day, Homecoming, State of the School, and our biennial gala. They bring that same fervor to service efforts like King-based Project Music, an after-school program that provides free instruments and instruction to local youth, and the El Sistema Residency, an intensive workshop that uses music to connect students of different socioeconomic backgrounds.

From events to service, the program infuses the community with music as it showcases top-notch performances across all grade levels.

King hosts an annual El Sistema Residency, in which talented musicians from King’s Middle and Upper Schools collaborate in intensive music workshops with visiting students of various El Sistema USA programs, including Stamford’s own Project Music. The overarching focus of the residency is to inspire a connection between communities of different socioeconomic backgrounds, using the music ensemble as the vehicle through which to inspire deeper communication. Project Music Project Music uses music to make a difference in the lives of Stamford’s youth, empowering them with fundamental life skills and a pathway to their full potential through access to a highly engaging, rigorous, after-school music program which includes free instruments, music instruction, mentorship, and opportunities to perform. King faculty and former faculty are staff of Project Music and hosts the organization at King School. 

The King School Visiting Artists Program annually invites a practicing local artist to have a three day residency at the school. Its purpose is to enrich, enhance and inspire the Art and Design students’ experience at King, by providing them with an immersive experience working directly with a professional artist. The program is designed to give insight into an artist’s life and motivation, accomplishments, and challenges, and to educate members of the King community about developments in contemporary art practices.

Art and Design students will be able to view the selected works of emerging and mid-career artists up close in an intimate, supportive setting, and engage in personal dialogue with the artists. The residency culminates with the creation of an on-site collaborative project with the students.

King students across all three divisions participate in the Visiting Artists Program. 

Award-winning illustrator and studio artist James Ransome led a week-long residency at King School, where students collaborated with him to create a large triptych illustrating the Great Migration of African Americans through painting and collage. A Pratt Institute and Lesley University graduate who has illustrated more than 75 children’s books and earned honors including the 2023 Children’s Literature Legacy Award and the Coretta Scott King Award, Ransome shared insights from his artistic practice while guiding students in exploring history, identity, and storytelling through art. As part of the Visiting Artists Program, students across divisions also created abstract collages using papers from Ransome’s personal collection, culminating in presentations and a community reception showcasing the collaborative works.