What is Soul Spin?

Soul Spin is "social enterprise" that was founded in 2013 on the premise of using the revenue from our Music & Event Production services to provide free educational, artistic, & social support programs for at-risk youth.

What do you do in Atlanta?

We use music & art as a way to connect with and teach kids who are struggling in school, at home, or in their communities. Our kids (ages 5-12) come to us several days each week after school to learn about music & art, as well as related leadership & entrepreneurial skills. For example, they might learn project management skills while planning a community event. Or, they might learn reading & writing skills when emailing “clients.” Beyond this, we also implement more intensive psychosocial and educational supports.

What is your Traveling Workshop, and how is it different from your main program?

Our traveling workshop is a scaled-down, mobile version of our main program here in Atlanta, primarily focused on the music & art components. We want to start small by offering a very simple version of our program, then consider expanding partnerships if things go well.

What does the Traveling Workshop involve? What actually happens?

We work with a small number of kids (individually or in groups of 2) to help them create a song to share with family & friends. Based on each organization's interest and our availability, our program lasts from 1-2 weeks. In the extended version, we help kids set up their own website for their music - teaching them about marketing & promotion - and teach them how to use graphic design to create album covers.

An example of a daily schedule would be this: Over the course of a 4 hour time block, we could work with students individually or in groups of 1-2 for 45 minutes at a time, working with 4-10 students in total.

Practically, implementation is fairly simple. We have all of the necessary equipment - we just need a space to work, a table, and an electrical outlet. Internet is required for web design/online activities, and a speaker would be required for any group/class/school presentations, but we are able to implement a scaled down version without either. Ideally, we would like to arrive the day before starting so that we can meet the staff & youth, and plan final details.

What age groups do you work with?

Here in Atlanta our core program is focused on students in grades 2-5 (ages 7-11), though we do offer some other programming for younger and older students. If your organization serves all age ranges, we'd suggest starting with ages 7-11. However, if you have students younger or older than our primary focus you'd like to include, we should be able to accommodate, though we may recommend some program modifications.

How can our organization get involved with the Traveling Workshop?

Our first step in working with a new organization is simply to assess general interest and availability. As the start date for the program approaches, we'll begin planning exact dates & details. We realize that some organizations will find it helpful to have a more detailed plan upfront, whereas some may find it more helpful to wait until closer to the start date. We want to be as accommodating as possible, while balancing with the need to be flexible with all of the moving parts.

Is this it? What is the long-term vision?

We hope that our 2018 Traveling Workshop is just the beginning. We want to use this program as a vehicle for building relationships, listening to other organizations, and learning about the needs of other communities. Through this exploratory process, we'd love to discover opportunities for future collaboration.

What is the cost?

All of our programs are offered free of charge to our families and partner organizations. We raise funds through our music & event production, as well as private donations.

When & where will you be?

We began our pilot in Guatemala in April 2018, and are currently having conversations with potential partners about expanding the pilot to a second phase in other Central/South American countries later in 2018.

What do you need from us?

We're pretty simple. In terms of physical setup, we'll bring all of the equipment. We just need a table/space to setup and a power outlet. The table/space could be in the same room as other ongoing programs, though we may be somewhat distracting with the equipment and sound.

We'll also rely on our partners to select kids for participation in our program. There are different approaches we've taken in the past, including using our program as a "reward" for good behavior, identifying kids who are particularly interested in music & graphic design, or selecting kids who may be struggling with behavior and who might benefit from extra support/attention.

Otherwise, our goal is to make things very easy on our partner organizations as we realize that you are probably as busy as we are!

Do you need us to arrange travel & accommodation?

We'll be able to cover our own transit & accommodation costs. If your organization has suggestions on how we might make things more efficient, we'd love to hear them.

Who is involved? Who will be coming?

The project leader for the workshop is Trey Caples, Executive Director of Soul Spin. In addition, we are prouldy & primarily a volunteer-based organization, and are actively working to recruit people from our current volunteer base to join us on different segments of our trip. However, our group will generally be quite small - we don't expect more than 1-3 people at each site. We will let you know in advance who to expect. At a minimum, Trey (project leader) will be present at each site.

Each of our volunteers goes through our certification process as a member of our organization. We created this certification process out of a belief that regular community members can be highly effective in providing educational & behavioral support if provided the right tools & training.