Strings for Kids was started by Mary Kay Hoffman, Cecilia Berger, and Anna Wetherby at Artspace Community Arts Center in Greenfield in 2008, and is now a partnership program between the Greenfield Public Schools and the Pioneer Valley Symphony. The goal of Strings for Kids is to ensure that EVERY child in Greenfield has the opportunity to learn to play a string instrument. The program starts with an intro session- a summer workshop week (July 28-August 1, 2025) OR fall weekend intensive (Sept 6-7, 2025)- which is required for every student entering the program. During these workshops, students have the chance to try out their instrument of choice and determine whether or not they would like to sign up for the year. You can register for these sessions here. 

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Our year begins on September 8th, 2025 with a full afterschool program on Mondays AND Fridays. GPS will bus participants from all three elementary schools to Greenfield Middle School where we hold classes until 5:30/4:30 on Mondays and Fridays.

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COST: This program has sliding scale tuition of $20-$60-$100 per month. Strings for Kids is partially subsidized by GPS to enable us to offer this sliding scale model. Additional scholarship is available through the Mary Kay Hoffman Fund: no child will be turned away for financial reasons. 

Instrument rental is included in the Strings for Kids program at no additional cost to the student. 

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Through Strings for Kids, hundreds of students have learned cello and violin.

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There are many benefits of Strings For Kids.

• We have made it a primary goal to be a steady force in the lives of our students and provide stability and continuity through whatever life throws at us/them.

• We address societal concerns with our students, having gone through challenging times together and explored what it looks like to think, be, and learn as a musician and an appreciator of other musicians.

• We work to expand our students' musical horizons in all kinds of ways, talking about difficult parts of history, and helping them to discover music and musicians they may not otherwise learn about.

• We build community among our young musicians and see that our students come together and support each other in remarkable ways.