Tucumcari schools receives grant for music program

Tucumcari Public Schools recently received a $6,614 state grant for its elementary school music program.

Andrew Kesten, the elementary school’s music instructor, said in an email the grant will be used for an African music residency with Sowah Mensah, Ghanaian master drummer, a professor of music and ethnomusicologist at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Kesten said it will be Mensah’s third residency for Tucumcari Elementary students since 2017.

“He will teach classes for a week, and we will present a concert in the gymnasium Thursday afternoon of the residency week,” Kesten wrote in the email.

“The children enjoy his music and instruments. They are always excited and inquisitive, asking relevant questions about life in Ghana. The exposure to a person of a different culture as well as his music is a great opportunity for them.”

The date of the concert will be announced at a later date.

Kesten also guides the school’s Nyoka Miramba Band.

New Mexico Arts announced in a news release last week it was awarding more than $1.05 million in grants to 182 cultural organizations and folks artists in 23 counties.