Hear Our Voices: A Music Therapy Songwriting Program and the Message of the Little Saints through the Medium of Rap

Abstract

The Hear Our Voices program is part of a larger initiative by the Arts and Quality of Life Research Center (Temple University, Philadelphia, PA) called Arts at Your Side. The Arts and Quality of Life Research Center works to create arts experiences that help to enhance the lives of the people in the communities of the Philadelphia region, especially those whose quality of life has been compromised by physical, mental, emotional, social, environmental, and/or economic problems. Initial funding for Hear Our Voices, which supported the work with the Little Saints, came from a generous grant from the Mid-Atlantic Region of the American Music Therapy Association.