A Worthwhile Project

March 22, 2019 the Mu Lambda Chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi had the opportunity of performing for a special community in Central Texas. Those with sensory processing disorders unlike others of us have a hard time and often-adverse reactions to loud noises such as concerts. Knowing that this community exists and is often not catered to especially in the entertainment industry the Mu Lambda chapter made it their mission to create an event that would provide entertainment and culture safely and comfortably.

This event was by no means planned overnight. The idea initially started as wanting to sponsor showing a spectrum friendly movie, but in order to align more with our purposes a couple of our brothers brainstormed and ended with the vision of a sensory friendly concert; thus, the planning began during the summer months of 2018

The initial part of planning was intensively conducting research and making connections with other performers who had performed or attended any kind of sensory friendly production. One of the biggest aids we receive were from the team that put on the sensory friendly version of the Lion King Broadway production. They were the ones who gave us helpful tips such as having the lighting evenly toned throughout the entire theatre and allowing the audience to move around freely. Another great resource for finding ways to cater to our targeted audience was asking family, friends, and other students with sensory processing disorders how they wish concert could be.

After Celica Castro, Jacob Dellinger, and Jacquelyn Gonzales gathered much of the research needed for the event, found potential places where we could hold the concert. The chapter was pitched the idea, and approved with enthusiasm. Our brothers immediately volunteered with their wide variety of talents. With the combined preporational efforts of all of our brothers, we were able to have posters, informational flyers, media to document the event, media coverage advertising the event, and hundreds of interested patrons. Even our Alumni were able to assist bringing this event to fruition by advertising the event to the different schools. Even the theater owner, although not a brother was an alumnus of our University, was overjoyed with the idea, and turned out to have experience hosting sensory friendly events.

March 22 at first felt like it could not come fast enough until suddenly it was here! All of the time we spent planning definitely helped though. We started the event with something that we like to call an “Instrument Petting Zoo”, which took place at 6:30 PM, where families and concertgoers could walk around meeting our brothers who allowed them to hear and interact with the instruments breaking the barrier of mistrust or confusion some of the potential audience members may have had previously. Although this part of the event was earlier than the concert portion for the evening with a much earlier call time, we had no problem-acquiring volunteers for the “Instrument Petting Zoo”. This portion of the event proved to be an exceptional experience for many of the audience members, even though a couple of our younger guests were confused as to where the animals were.

[endif]--The concert portion was no less spectacular than the festivities beforehand. The brothers who emceed the event made sure to let audience members know that the lights would remain on, they were encouraged to get up and dance if the urge came, and singing was completely permissible. After this, there was no stopping the joy, fantastic dance moves, and verbal accolades after and during pieces performed by our ensembles comprised of brothers and other band members alike.

Although our chapter were the ones who did much of the preparatory planning, we were not the only ones who made this event possible. A huge thank you must go out to the band members from different ensembles who took time out of their schedules to rehearse pieces specifically for this event for months, most of which rehearsed every week for three months up until the concert.

Some of the real unsung heroes of the night however were the stage-hands/ushers of the event. These amazing brothers although not on the stage displaying their musical abilities were there with us serving by providing comfort and guidance for any audience members in need of taking a break. They were also our stagehands for the event though, which meant between pieces performed they would walk from their positions all the way to the stage, set it up, and return to their stations. The same brothers who had one of the more tasking jobs of the night were also the same brothers who were there at the theater since 3:00 PM as well as some of the last people to leave.

The months of preparation could not touch the amount of joy we were all able to see come from our audience members that night. All of the time and effort was rewarded by the countless number of audience members who came and spoke to our brothers after the performance, posted on the Facebook event page that we had made, and those who personally new brothers of our chapter who asked that we all got there message of thanks and gratitude. We managed to have some media coverage, an article written and some brothers interviewed about the event.

Some of the feedback we got throughout the night melted the hearts of our brothers with testimonies such as,

“It was nice to go to a concert like a normal kid without my headphones! I loved that they left the lights on – that was so much better! I hope they do this again” - Ameira

“It’s nice to see an event that wasn’t about looking good you can tell that time and effort was spent to make this enjoyable.” - Isabella Carruth

Considering our target audience is a community that typically requires credibility before taking their family member with any kind of sensory processing disorders to an event labeled as “sensory friendly”, we are ecstatic that so many families were able to come out and enjoy an evening out catered to everyone in their family. It was an honor to be able to serve the community and share our musicianship in such a positive way and I hope that our chapter is able to make it a tradition as we grow.

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#sensoryfriendly #concert #service