Unlocking access to music

The Tarlton Theatre presented its second annual Keys to the City last weekend — a free, live art and music festival celebrating the painting of pianos in seven parks across the community.

“Last year was a great success,” said Tarl Knight, owner of The Tarlton Theater. “We had over 500 people that we were able to count at the five different parks and five different pianos. This year, we have a number of returning neighborhood associations, painters and musicians, but we’ve expanded to seven. And that’s in order to continue to fulfill our mission of bringing art and music outside of the historic west side theater and to be open and out into the neighborhoods where families and kids live. We want to meet them where they live and be able to provide affordable, free music in the communities that don’t always get the opportunity.”

It’s an opportunity Knight can appreciate, as accessible arts programming is what started him on the path he’s on today.

“As a musician and an artist myself who was inspired at a young age by accessible and affordable arts and cultural opportunities, it’s important that we as a community are providing a number of options to kids who maybe don’t grow up with the opportunity for piano lessons or guitar camp or art school,” Knight said. “We selected seven different qualified, census-tracked neighborhoods which have low- or moderate-income households where this may be one of the first or only opportunities for kids to be able to interact with a musical instrument as they’re growing up. That’s one of the big missions with this — inspiring another generation in our community to become artistic and musical and creative.”

If you missed Sunday’s event, don’t worry — all seven pianos will remain in the parks for viewing and playing all summer long.
“The festival is just part of the experience, and a very small part, because the pianos are going to stay until the end of September,” Knight said. “All summer long, as kids and families go out to their neighborhood parks, these pianos are going to live out here like an extension of the park equipment or an extension of the playground. We hope kids will be able to play on the pianos and they’ll bring some vibrancy and color as interactive sculptures and art.”