- Hudson Family Jam
- Top SAT Coach
- Pro Bono Teaching Initiative
- Wonderland
- Dance Parade
- Sistermonk
From the stirrings of Ashokan in the early 2000s, to the Paddy Reilly's Music Bar jams of the late 2000s, to the Peekskill Pickers jam at my studio in 2011, by and by we developed a circle of musician friends and family that we have come to call the Hudson Family Jam. Check out our blog below or at http://www.hudsonfamilyjam.blogspot.com.
In the first year of my contiguous tutoring career, I began offering free test prep workshops at public libraries in Rockland County, NY. I hoped to provide some of the same tuition I offered my private students to those who wouldn't have otherwise had access to it.
Since 2012, I've taught over 55 test prep, math, and English workshops free to the public at the Nyack, Valley Cottage, Suffern, and Pearl River libraries. I offered over 30 workshops fully pro bono at the Nyack Library and over 25 workshops at other libraries either free or for a stipend equivalent to about half my standard rate.
I find my pro bono experiences very rewarding and have learned a lot from them. Foremost, I've found that students and parents are enthusiastic about these workshops and draw value from them, especially if the offerings are planned as part of an overall program that takes place over a school term or summer. Very importantly, librarians are also excited to take advantage of the services of qualified private tutors on a pro bono basis. But I also learned that, unlike in industries like law and medicine, offering pro bono services as a private tutor or teacher is not an industry standard, especially for solo tutors like me.
I believe that private tutors, especially those who have had access to the academic resources of elite institutions, have a responsibility to share those resources with those who would benefit but do not have direct access themselves. I furthermore believe that many tutors would offer pro bono services to public libraries and other community organizations if encouraged and empowered to do so.
Therefore, I am forming and organizing a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to encourage private tutors to pledge 5% or more of their teaching time to pro bono teaching and to facilitate multiple opportunities to fulfill this pro bono pledge.
Here is a draft version of the proposed pledge:
I pledge to make my best efforts to devote 5% or more of my teaching time to providing free teaching to students who wouldn't otherwise have access to my teaching, especially those in communities disadvantaged by institutional and cultural prejudice.
Please stay tuned for updates as the development of this project progresses, and please get in touch any time to offer input or support.
Since 2012, I've taught over 55 test prep, math, and English workshops free to the public at the Nyack, Valley Cottage, Suffern, and Pearl River libraries. I offered over 30 workshops fully pro bono at the Nyack Library and over 25 workshops at other libraries either free or for a stipend equivalent to about half my standard rate.
I find my pro bono experiences very rewarding and have learned a lot from them. Foremost, I've found that students and parents are enthusiastic about these workshops and draw value from them, especially if the offerings are planned as part of an overall program that takes place over a school term or summer. Very importantly, librarians are also excited to take advantage of the services of qualified private tutors on a pro bono basis. But I also learned that, unlike in industries like law and medicine, offering pro bono services as a private tutor or teacher is not an industry standard, especially for solo tutors like me.
I believe that private tutors, especially those who have had access to the academic resources of elite institutions, have a responsibility to share those resources with those who would benefit but do not have direct access themselves. I furthermore believe that many tutors would offer pro bono services to public libraries and other community organizations if encouraged and empowered to do so.
Therefore, I am forming and organizing a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to encourage private tutors to pledge 5% or more of their teaching time to pro bono teaching and to facilitate multiple opportunities to fulfill this pro bono pledge.
Here is a draft version of the proposed pledge:
I pledge to make my best efforts to devote 5% or more of my teaching time to providing free teaching to students who wouldn't otherwise have access to my teaching, especially those in communities disadvantaged by institutional and cultural prejudice.
Please stay tuned for updates as the development of this project progresses, and please get in touch any time to offer input or support.
Wonderland was a New York City urban music and art collective I formed with friends in summer 2000 in a factory space that we converted for our purposes. I managed and worked on Wonderland for about ten years, over the course of which we grew from a relatively unstructured 6-person shared living and party space to a 17-unit live/work project that has served as a home and studio to over 150 residents and resident artists and forum for numerous creative projects. Also over the course of those ten years, I transformed from a corporate tax lawyer to a composing performing musician, taking up the electric bass and electronic music software Ableton Live, and composing several songs, including some inspired by and probing the strange experience I was having. From 2009 to 2011 I played with SisterMonk, recording two albums and touring several times. In 2011 I closed up Wonderland to pursue music more actively and to launch my tutoring career.
Wonderland's web site, wonderlandny.com, is still online and offers some sense and details of what the project was like.
Wonderland's web site, wonderlandny.com, is still online and offers some sense and details of what the project was like.
With visionary founder Greg Miller, I served as a founding director and manager of Dance Parade, NY, a growing amalgam of dance enthusiasts and professionals from throughout the New York metro area who together once a year strut their stuff down the streets of New York City in a parade and dance festival.
My chief work consisted of developing Dance Parade's management and not-for-profit oversight and fundraising structure and organizing, drafting, and filing legal and administrative documents to get Dance Parade off the ground and on the street. I worked with Dance Parade from its inception in 2007 through the third annual Dance Parade event's completion in 2010.
Dance Parade is now in its 14th successful season and continues to grow. Also, one of the chief inspirations of Dance Parade, raising awareness about and ultimately dismantling New York City's antiquated and embarrassing Cabaret Laws, has been achieved: in 2017 New York City repealed the Cabaret Law.
My chief work consisted of developing Dance Parade's management and not-for-profit oversight and fundraising structure and organizing, drafting, and filing legal and administrative documents to get Dance Parade off the ground and on the street. I worked with Dance Parade from its inception in 2007 through the third annual Dance Parade event's completion in 2010.
Dance Parade is now in its 14th successful season and continues to grow. Also, one of the chief inspirations of Dance Parade, raising awareness about and ultimately dismantling New York City's antiquated and embarrassing Cabaret Laws, has been achieved: in 2017 New York City repealed the Cabaret Law.
[to come]
