(BERKELEY HEIGHTS) -- Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts (WIPA) will host a Winter Open House on Sunday, January 27 from 1:00pm to 4:00pm. The free event is open to the public and will be held at the Performing Arts School (PAS) located at 60 Locust Avenue in Berkeley Heights.

As New Jersey’s largest independent non-profit community performing arts education center, Wharton’s Performing Arts School offers individual instruction for all ages and abilities on all instruments and voice; Instrument Explorations for the Very Young for ages 3-5; Pathways to Music for ages 4.5 to 7; a continuum of Musical Theater Arts and Drama classes starting at age 3; over a dozen music theory classes weekly; and a small ensembles program for all ages. In addition, PAS offers summer camps for ages 5-15 from June 24 through August 23. The Open House will feature demo classes centered around program offerings and camps. Light refreshments will be served.

Several discounts will be available at the Open House, including an Early Registration discount of 5% off all camps. A $25 Open House discount is offered for all classes and camps, limited to one per family, as well as an additional $10 Buddy discount for students who bring a new family to the Open House. New “buddies” and their Wharton friends are eligible to receive this combined discount of $35 upon registration. Open House and Buddy discounts are only applicable on enrollments taken in person at the event. For more information, call 908-790-0700 or visit www.WhartonArts.org.

The Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts’ mission is to provide the highest quality performing arts education to a wide range of students in a supportive and inclusive environment, where striving for personal excellence inspires and connects those we teach to the communities we serve.

Wharton is New Jersey’s largest independent non-profit community performing arts education center serving over 1,500 students through a range of classes and ensembles including the 15 ensembles of the New Jersey Youth Symphony, which serve 500 students in grades 3 – 12 by audition. Beginning with Out of the Box Music and Pathways classes for young children, WIPA offers private lessons, group classes and ensembles for all ages and all abilities. We believe in the positive and unifying influence of music and the performing arts and believe that arts education should be accessible to all people regardless of their ability to pay. We teach all instruments and voice and have a robust musical theater program.

Open House Schedule

1:00-4:00 pm            Student Services Welcome in Lobby

Staff answers questions and assists with registration.

 

1:00 pm                     Tour of Facilities

                                    Drama Demo with Lilli Markey

                             PAS Theater

                                    Pathways to Piano Demo with Joyce Alexander

                             Room 21

1:30 pm                     Tour of Facilities

                             Musical Theater Demo with Emma Peterson

                                    PAS Theater

                                    Celebrate Theory Level 1 Demo Class

                             Room 3

2:00 pm                     Tour of Facilities

                             Out of the Box Music Demo with Margaret Persing

                             Room 22

                                    Drama Demo with Lilli Markey

                             PAS Theater

2:30 pm                     Tour of Facilities

                             Celebrate Theory Level 1 Demo Class

                             Room 3

Pathways to Piano Demo with Joyce Alexander

                             Room 21

3:00 pm                     Tour of Facilities   

Musical Theater Demo with Emma Peterson

                             PAS Theater

Out of the Box Music Demo with Margaret Persing

                             Room 22

                                    Explorations in Voice Demo with Ema Mitrovic

                             Room 15

3:30 pm                     Tour of Facilities

 

Based in Paterson, New Jersey, the Paterson Music Project (PMP) is an El Sistema-inspired program of the Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts that uses music as a vehicle for social change by empowering and inspiring children through the community experience of ensemble learning and playing. PMP provides intensive, free musical training to students throughout Paterson after school. PMP launched its first site at the Community Charter School (CCSP) of Paterson in January 2013 with 32 second graders and has since added a new class of students each year. Since its inception, PMP has partnered with the Paterson Public Schools to open the Paterson Public School 1 and 26 site as well as the CCSP 21st Century Community Learning Center Program to start a winds and brass middle school program. Last year, PMP partnered with William Paterson University’s Music After School Program to create a central band site at the Norman S. Weir School to serve over 60 students. This year, Paterson Music Project will be partnering with the Rosa Parks Performing Arts High School in Paterson to host the PMP Saturday Program which includes large ensemble rehearsal, Community Choir, Afro-Fusion Percussion Ensemble, and private lessons. There are now over 250 students in the program across the city of Paterson grades 1-8.

Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts is located in Berkeley Heights, New Providence and Paterson, NJ and reaches students from 10 counties. All of WIPA’s extraordinary faculty members and conductors hold degrees in their teaching specialty and have been vetted and trained to enable our students to achieve their personal best.