Our Programs
ChiMOP tuition-free programs are offered to youth with limited access to the arts. Participants are provided instruments and access to daily music lessons, youth orchestra rehearsals, electives, and opportunities to explore social skills and human values.
Mary Lyon Youth Orchestra (MLYO)
Mary Lyon Elementary School, located in the west side Chicago neighborhood of Belmont Cragin, is the home of the flagship ChiMOP program the Mary Lyon Youth Orchestra. MLYO started in the fall of 2013 and has since offered free youth music programming to more than 300 students over the last six years.
Summer Youth Orchestra (SYO)
The ChiMOP Summer Youth Orchestra (SYO) is a free youth orchestra camp open by audition to any Chicago high school musician with experience playing an orchestral instrument. SYO has completed SEVEN seasons of ambitious programming, performed more than thirty concerts in venues across the city and beyond, and toured to places like Michigan, Saint Louis, Cincinnati, and Philadelphia, collaborating with other music for social change projects along the way!