Meet Anna Klimala | President, Miami Music Project

We had the good fortune of connecting with Anna Klimala and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Anna, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
Miami Music Project is one of the largest music-based socially-transformative initiatives in the US. We work with under-resourced youth by providing them with unique opportunities to develop social, emotional, and leadership skills.

The Children’s Orchestras is Miami Music Project’s flagship program. It is a free year-round afterschool program predicated on the idea that social transformation can and will be achieved through participation in an ensemble-based orchestra environment. Children are given the tools necessary to positively impact themselves and their communities, and develop the skills needed for a successful future.

All of our afterschool programs take place in low-income and immigrant neighborhoods daily for 2 hours per day, with free busing provided across Miami-Dade County, serving over 750 students every year with over 360 hours of musical programming provided annually per child.

Like other youth orchestra programs, Miami Music Project immerses students in classical music with a rigorous rehearsal and performance schedule, but our main goal isn’t to send kids to conservatories. The program’s biggest role is to use intensive musical study to build skills that uplift students in communities with untapped potential and set out for success in life no matter the career path they choose.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ve always thought that playing music is a skill beneficial to everyone, but not easily accessible to all. Music education is and should be a birthright! But we so often slide it to a secondary place, the “good-to-have but not necessary” extra-curricular activity. It deprives our children of one of the most effective and impactful opportunities that can help shape their hearts, minds, and, as a result, their lives too.

I came to this country as a young woman with just a few dollars in my pocket. I grew up during communism and chose to play an instrument normally reserved for men (girls were not considered ‘strong enough’ to play the double bass). I never thought of it as a struggle, more just a learning journey. Each new adventure made me stronger.

I was so passionate about my music that I left home at 15, enrolled in a music school, and soon after went on to obtain my master’s degree in my native Poland. Continuing in my higher education, I came to a country where English was a second language for me. When I first started with Miami Music Project, I realized that I had to learn about finances, accounting, fundraising, project management, human resources and so much more. I kept pushing myself and learning more, being good enough wasn’t good enough for me.

Before my journey with Miami Music Project, I never pictured myself dealing with students who face poverty, housing insecurity, or childhood cancer; students who depend on programs such as ours to keep their heads above water, and students who struggle with the emotional toll life takes on them. They sometimes tell me that playing the instruments and being part of an orchestra is the only constant and anchor in their lives.

The thing I share the most when I talk to people about Miami Music Project is that our program; the music, and the teamwork, give these students life skills that are invaluable. The children in our program learn to think for themselves, they learn leadership, and they learn an art form. When it’s time for a concert, and their friends and family are in the audience waiting to hear how all this hard work has paid off, you should see the joy and the pride in their faces. They have accomplished so much, and I’m just happy to have been there to help them all.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Wow, there are so many amazing things to see and do in Miami. I think the first stop would have to be Wynwood. It’s like an amazing outdoor museum, you can walk and chat, and it has so many places to eat and drink.

I’d for sure stop in Little Havana, what a vibrant community. Talk about good food and atmosphere!

We would need to have a beach day as well, Surfside Beach is my go-to, it’s quiet and beautiful.

And one of my favoriate restaurants is Lemoni Cafe, it’s a European-styled restaurant in Buena Vista, Miami. It’s unique and healthy, and very cozy.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The number of individuals, community partners, and funding institutions we would have to list there as being instrumental in our organization’s success would not fit within the space given!

With that said, I would like to give a collective shout out to institutions that have been our cherished community partners for years, and especially those who from the beginning understood the difference between “checking off a partnership box”, and building and dedicating themselves to true, transformative and equitable collaborations that help change the lives of young people.

This includes the Adrienne Arsht Center, New World Symphony, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, FIU, Interlochen Center for the Arts, and so many more…

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Website: www.miamimusicproject.org

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