InFocus featuring Katelynn Shea (Berkshire Hills Music Academy)

From the 22 News Plus Studio, this is 22 News in Focus with Patrick Berry. Hello, everyone, and welcome to this edition of InFocus. I am your host, Patrick Berry. There are so many great resources in our area for kids to learn, to not only learn academics, learn basics of life, and learn key skills in growing up, but there are so many of those you and I have never even heard of. And one of those is today. I've got Caitlin Shea. She is the chief executive officer of the Berkshire. Phil's Music Academy, thank you so very much for joining me today. Thank you. It is that quiet little place. Well, it's not quiet because it's a music academy. We're quite loud. But it's one of those places, I honestly, I have never heard of it before. Tell me. Give me a little bit of history. Sure. Yeah, we're a little hidden gem. Berkshire Hills Music Academy is in South Hadley, right down the street from Mount Holyoke, the commons for those that are familiar. We are a day and residential program for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. So we will see autism, Down syndrome, Williams syndrome. We have blind individuals, chromosomal deletions, kind of runs the gamut. And then we use music as the vessel by which to teach social skills, life skills. different communication skills, adulting skills, if you will. But music is really kind of what our program is circled around. And it allows individuals to have that kind of social peer connection, but also explore a level of interest that they're in. I know just in my travels in life that I have heard that music is one of those things that it spans generations, it spans races, It spans income levels. It's one of those arts that... Not only everybody appreciates it, but for people with learning disabilities. It's way more beneficial than I think a lot of people realize. Yeah, it's a universal resource tool, communication mechanism. And I think that's the goal and the beauty of Berkshire Hills. We were founded about 27 years ago by a grouping of parents whose children have Williams syndrome. And a lot of them were musically inclined and musically talented. And that has kind of grown and evolved to the 75 individuals that we are now. But music has allowed these individuals to have a voice in whatever it is that they may be. Looking to share with the world, but it's their talent. Where do the kids come from? So most of our adults are from Western Massachusetts. Most of them are what we call a day participant with us. And so they're with us Monday through Friday, nine to three for classes, if you will. Could be music, could be life skills. And then we do have a residential component. So we do have dorm style living for those that are living on campus with us. And then we have two group homes in the community. So some of our individuals that live with us residentially, maybe from out of state or maybe from the Metro West or Boston area. But people come from wherever and all over to kind of explore our program. You know, I said, where do the kids come from? And you said adults. Am I wrong? So we are adult-based. Oh, for some reason, I thought it was students, young kids. The term Music Academy kind of lends towards a school model. We are like a school. We function like a school, but we're not a school. So we are adult services. Most of our individuals are with us through what's called DDS, Department of Developmental Services. Most individuals are coming to us after maybe some transition programming in a local school district between the ages of 18 and 22. So we function like a school, but because we're not a school, we either say our participants or our musicians instead of student, which lends to. younger population. So how did you land there? How did you find yourself? Let's go back. Go to the Wayback Machine. So when you were younger, maybe when you were in school, how did you get from that point to this point? Yeah, it's been a wild journey. I'm not wild and crazy or anything like that, but when I was in high school, I thought I wanted to be a nurse, and then I took an anatomy and physiology class and realized that was not for me, and then in college, I played sports. I went to a D3 school, and I played soccer, and at the time, I thought maybe I wanted to be a teacher, but the soccer schedule conflicted with the education classes, so I quickly pivoted to communication. degree. Didn't really know what I wanted to do with that. Still liked the idea of helping people. But when I graduated, I fell into more of a higher education track. So I did college admissions, student affairs, residential life, kind of did that for about 10 years in higher education. Previous to Berkshire Hills, I was at a gap year program in Worcester. So students that were college bound, but not college ready, learning differences typically. And then this position at Berkshire Hills kind of fell in my lap and I came back to, I relocated back to Western Mass. Is this where you're from, Western Mass? Yeah, from Westfield originally. And then was living in the Westborough Framingham area for about 10 years and this job brought me back. And so originally I was the VP of admissions and marketing. So in that role, I was working with families who were looking to join Berkshire Hills as kind of a long-term adult-based program. And then in December, through a search, I was appointed as CEO after about a three-month interim period from VP to CEO. So through your travels, and I love the story because there's so many people like that. I should say, so few people are, they go to college and that's the thing they do for the rest of their life. So I love your story. Through your travels, in looking at what you've done, do you find that what Berkshire Hills Music Academy is doing, there needs to be more of those? Western Massachusetts, if you will, is great in terms of resources for families whose loved one has a disability, intellectual developmental disability in some capacity. Berkshire Hills is very unique in that we have music at the core. I think a lot of programs offer music and see the value of music, but we were created off of music and life skills. I think that Massachusetts has a great grouping of programs, all of whom have their own niche, if you will. Um, I think that between music and life skills and a social peer community, that's what makes Berkshire Hills unique. Having those social connections, um, college-like if you will, kind of connections. Um, but our individuals are very social and while they thrive with music, they also thrive being social and having peers and hanging out and all the goods that come with that as well. I love it. We are up on our first commercial break. Please stay with us, folks. We've got plenty more to talk about when we come back. This is 22 News in Focus with Patrick Berry. This is 22 News in Focus with Patrick Berry. Welcome back, everyone, to today's discussion here on InFocus. We're talking about the Berkshire Hills Music Academy. Their president, CEO, grand poobah, top dog is sitting across the desk from me, Caitlin Chase. Thank you so very much for joining me. Thank you. You know, it's programs like what you offer, I think are extremely valuable, which is why just before we went to break, I was kind of asking you if you thought there should be more of these, you know, not only in our communities locally, but across the country. What does a day look like? So when somebody enrolls in the academy, you said some live there, some are day students, day attendees. What does a day look like? Yeah. So it's similar to that school model. We have our day program is Monday through Friday, nine to three. So individuals arrive at three. There's a morning two hour class. And if you're musically talented, you could be rehearsing with your band for those two hours, getting prepared for an upcoming gig that you might have in the community. If you're an art student or an art participant, you might be at our art space a couple of miles down the road near Chapdelaines Furniture If you are a dancer, a movement individual, you might be in the dance studio doing a rehearsal for an upcoming gig, we call them, or an upcoming performance. You could be in a life skills class. You could be in a service learning class. You could be in a cooking and nutrition class. You could be at money management. And so going out into the community and learning to live on a budget. So that is our morning two-hour block. We then have kind of a first lunch, second lunch. Two 45-minute sessions. How many students? We're 75 individuals. Keep going, students. How many attendees? 75. Wow. Yeah. So first lunch, second lunch, social time, hangout time. And then the afternoons, it's three 45-minute elective classes. So that could be Zumba. That could be yoga, Beatles appreciation, music appreciation. It could be self-advocacy. So it's an intermix of dance, movement, life skills. And how long? Is it like a four-year program? Is it a 10-year program? Is it? However long you want to be their program? That's exactly it. It's pretty much however long you would like it to be. For some of our individuals, maybe if they're out of state, they're looking at us as a two or three or four year option, kind of like a college experience. For others that are with us through DDS, if they're a day participant, there's no age cap to the program because day services in that world doesn't have an age cap. So our thought is as long as you're growing and evolving and you're benefiting from our programming, it makes sense for you to continue to stay. So there's no like graduation time? So we do, we initially have what's called a two-year transition track, which is a little bit more of that school model with the goal that you complete some life skills-based courses. And then you would essentially complete that and move on to a long-term vocational track. So the graduation component is that two-year transition option. You leave that, but most individuals after a two-year track will stay on. Are there certain... What measurables that you that you try to achieve with each person that attends like, you know, this this quarter, this semester, whatever the terms are, or by the end of the year, we need you to achieve X. Yeah. And everybody's a little bit different with that. Some come in musically talented and their goal might be booking so many gigs individually or their goal might be to try out for a band and to join that band. So everybody has a little bit different benchmarks based on interest and skill set. For some, if they're an art participant, it might be creating so many pieces and selling those on the website to generate an income. For others, it might be some paid employment. Do you have people that, like if somebody's, you know, if you set the bar, like you need to start selling art pieces, does somebody help them? Yes. Yes, yes. We have vocation staff. We have a website called BHMA Makers. And so we sell any of our goods there that are being created. We have life skills staff that help oversee kind of our experiences in the community with money management or cooking and nutrition, volunteer work, Neighbors helping neighbors is a great partner of ours. So yes, there are staff kind of helping individuals navigate what those benchmarks might be and help them obtain those goals throughout the year. So from a staffing perspective, You're not looking for traditional teachers, per se, are you? Some have a teaching background. Some might have a special education background. Our music instructors obviously have a music background or maybe a social worker, a mental health counseling background. It really depends on the interest and the skill set and the level. Most come from a human services world or a nonprofit world, but certainly some have more of an education focus and background. That must make for a fun day. I mean, just hearing you talk about how the academy is structured, it just seems like I mean, it's different from, you know, no offense to Smith College, which is around the corner, but it's much different than that. It's a happy place. It's a loud place. We've got jokes. We're big on knock-knock jokes. We're big on karaoke. We're big on lunchtime sing-alongs. We're big on dance parties in the backyard. So every day is a day. Every day is a unique experience, but there's a lot of smiles that happen. So if there's something... Is there something that you guys have been trying to accomplish that you haven't been able to bring to the attendees? I think just evolution and programming. I think for those that don't age out, how do we continue to grow and evolve and make things unique? You know, I think of those folks who haven't aged out. You know, you've got to create new things. How do you capture that? And you've got to... Keep making it interesting to them. So I think for us, I think for us, it's evolving. It's we've got 22 year olds coming in, but we have people in their thirties or forties. And so how do you, that's a good question. What if like, so you've got, what's the youngest and the oldest person? So 18 adult services, everybody has to at least be 18. But we range between 18 and 40 early forties. So, and some of those that are in their forties have been with us for the 27 years that we've been around. Really? Yeah. It's kind of neat. Yeah, it is cool. Yeah. Like underclassmen, upperclassmen. Do you at any point have like everybody, like all the music students perform a concert? All the artists do an art show? Great question. So every Friday at two. Every Friday. We have what's called Variety Hour. And so Variety Hour is like a mini concert that we have and we end our week with it. A grouping of eight to ten individuals will go up and perform what they've been rehearsing in a private lesson or in an ensemble class. Somebody's also always the emcee, so we're working on public speaking skills. But the whole audience, the community comes together and we cheer everybody on. So every Friday at two is a little concert. And now within the last six to eight months, we started doing monthly concerts on campus. So tonight, actually, we have a flute trio that's coming to campus to perform with our flute ensemble. And in November, we will also do another concert. Are those open to the public? They are. Or is it just for families? Nope, those are open to the public. Fantastic. We are up on our second commercial break. Still more to talk about when we come back. Join us. This is 22 News in Focus with Patrick Berry. This is 22 News in Focus with Patrick Berry. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to this edition of In Focus. I'm your host, Patrick Berry. Today, we are talking about what shouldn't be a little-known music academy in our midst in South Hadley. It is the Berkshire Hills Music Academy. Their president and CEO, Caitlin Shea, joins me today. Thank you very much for joining me. I appreciate you. Your CEO, not president, right? I don't know. CEO, but we'll go with that. You run the place. Yeah. But during the commercial break, I said this to you. That seems like such a fun environment and not only a fun environment, but you're doing great things for people who. I can't even begin to imagine what those people would be doing if they didn't have this resource. Yeah, it gives them an opportunity to be their unique selves. It gives them an opportunity. Yeah, Shine, that's the name of our dance group, is Shine Capabilities is one of our bands. But yeah, I think it just gives people an opportunity to be their unique selves and to be with a grouping of people who have similar interests and similar expression styles. And I think the social peer community is a huge hallmark of our community as well. Yeah, that's a very good point because the social aspect of it, I think, is crucial. You know, I don't know if enough people, I think we now notice it because of COVID. We were all isolated. But being social, even some of our students, our regular kids, you know, in our schools are. Still suffering from that isolation. So the socialization side of the academy is crucial. Yeah. Social skills classes out in the community. So certainly we're our own little small community, but we do try and get out as much as possible, do our volunteer work. The bank knows us. The big Y knows us. So there's value in that. And I think bringing happiness and joy, and our individuals are happy. And music is... There is therapy too, right? It certainly can be. Yeah, I think a lot of our individuals had music therapy growing up or were in music therapy-based programs. And so for them, music is just an opportunity to, I don't know, just relax almost sometimes too or find enjoyment in what that looks like. Speaking of the socializing side, I can't even speak right now. Yeah, that's good. When you take a step back and you watch how the attendees Are you happy with the way it works or do you still see some of them kind of shy, kind of reserved, keep to themselves? Or is it? They get in that environment and the walls come down and they love having fun. Yeah, I think there's definitely some that join us and they're shy and they're quiet. And then I think those that still want to remain shy and quiet may decide that we're not for them because we are a little bit loud or we are musical or we're any of the above. But I think most find their voice and most develop their way about the community. And you said these... attendees, they come from everywhere. They're from all over. We have individuals from New York City, from California, New York, Metro West, Boston. The majority are Western Mass. And some of us or some of them have been with us, again, for an extended period of time. But it allows them to have a musically excellent experience and just be a part of something. So do you do any like outreach or is it all people know of you because? They know of you. I mean, I'm trying to figure it out. Yes, a lot of people don't know about you. You say California, New York. Yeah. New York, I can kind of understand, but California. Yeah. A lot of Google searches. A lot of people see us just out in the community when we're performing. So there's some recognition there. I think a lot of individuals also maybe through their school district have heard of us or somebody might be musically talented in high school. And so they have heard of us just through music channels and music networking. But yeah, everybody comes to us a little bit differently. Sometimes it's, I belonged to a local resource group for families and somebody knew somebody that came to Berkshire Hills and now we're looking at Berkshire Hills. So it's, we're our own little unique pocket of how everybody finds out about us. But certainly DDS, Department of Developmental Services will be a part of that, school districts, resource groups for families, Google search. That brings up a very good point. Are you in contact with? Like local organizations, just to say, hey, we're here if you have people in your community that could benefit from these programs. Yeah, we'll do that. And then we'll do different conferences and events locally when we can. Or sometimes our individuals are performing at some of those events. There could be a Best Buddies walk. There could be a Best Buddies, any of the above. We have some good working relationships with other organizations where they hire our performers. We have individuals that will sing the national anthem at the Celtics games. So sometimes small performances, sometimes larger performances, but a lot of people hear about us through that as well. And then attending conferences. So autism conferences, Down syndrome conferences, Williams syndrome, all of the above. Is there help from the state budget or federal budget to help families pay for this? So for a lot of families who have a loved one with an intellectual or developmental disability, typically throughout schooling, especially as they hit that 18 to 22 range, they are in partnership with DDS, Department of Developmental Services, to find adult-based transition programming. So for a lot of our families, they're in that DDS pipeline, and then they might be working with DDS for funding at 22, or some of our families will explore us before DDS funding, and they might private pay or utilize a school district to help fund them to come to Berkshire Hills. This is such a fascinating program. You know, and I started this conversation by saying there are so many unique things in our community. You know, when you think about it, it's Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin County and Berkshire County, four small counties. I don't even know for half a million people, but there are so many great opportunities for people and you are one of them. Thank you. So I'm so glad that you were able to join me today to talk about the Berkshire Hills Music Academy. I'm going to, bear with me folks, I'm going to pull it up, but there it is. It's berkshirehills.org is the website. So if folks want to learn more, they can go there. Tours, can people come? Check it out. Yeah, for sure. We love tours. Our individuals love when people come to visit and tour. So, yeah, the more the merrier. Most likely they would end up connecting with me and we would coordinate a time to come visit or check out any of our public performances. That's what I was just going to say. Go to the website, find out when the public performances are and go check it out. Yeah. Awesome. I can't thank you enough for joining me. Thank you so much, Patrick. This was a fantastic conversation. Yes, thank you. Best of success. Thank you. This is 22 News in Focus with Patrick Berry.