documentary work: marching band

The Brooklyn Steppers Marching Band is an ensemble within the Brooklyn Music and Arts Program, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide musical training to inner-city youth. Many of the kids in the band come from the most economically depressed and high-crime areas in Brooklyn: Bed-Stuy, East New York, Buswick, and Crown Heights. Despite the fact that many of the youth have no prior music training, they are considered to be the best "Show-Style" high school marching band in the country. My interest in photographing these teenagers was not only to document the importance of community arts programs, but also to capture a critical moment in their lives. Many of them have matured far beyond their years because of their enviornment, but they are still children who are on the cusp of adulthood with all of its changes, possibilities, and responsibilities. Many of the photos from this project came from their trips outside Brooklyn. This program has given them the chance to see a world outside their urban environments; a world that some of them view tentatively; a world that some of them will embrace.