At Sound Impact, we believe music and storytelling can be a lifeline. Our Use Your Voice program brings transformative residencies into juvenile detention centers — empowering youth to speak, sing, and express their truth through art.
Guest Collaborators
Chris Timbers Band
Tawny Chatmon, photography-based artist
Soloman Howard, bass
Chaz’men Williams-Ali, tenor
Use Your Voice Residencies at Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Center
Sound Impact partners with the Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Center in Alexandria, VA in 3-day Use Your Voice residencies. Through storytelling, music, composition, public speaking, and visual art, students explore new ways of expressing themselves and connecting to their creativity, each ending in a final performance by the youth.
Collaboration with Washington National Opera
Through songwriting, storytelling, and collaboration, students developed their own reimaginings of Fidelio and Porgy and Bess — blending classical opera with their own voices, experiences, and ideas.
Collaboration with University of Maryland
In collaboration with the University of Maryland, flutist Sarah Frisof commissioned new works by composers Josanne Francis, Sky Macklay, and Daniel Pesca, premiered at the Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Center. Students also engaged in a hands-on workshop with photography-based artist Tawny Chatmon, blending composition, poetry, and visual art into a powerful, creative experience.
Chris Timbers Band
The Chris Timbers Band, led by Chris Timbers, collaborated with the teens, inspiring them with his personal story of self-reinvention. The residencies introduced diverse music genres, emphasized finding their unique "voice," and incorporated self-regulation techniques.
Use Your Voice residencies at Foundations, Fairfax, VA
At Fairfax’s Foundations program, girls engaged in residencies centered on expression, resilience, and community, incorporating music, movement, and creative writing.
“They way they see me is black and uneducated
They blame me without a hesitation
But some people call it discrimination
They said she ain’t nothing but a black little girl that’s a criminal
I see myself as a black intelligent young girl who will get on the right path and wants to make something out of life than being in the hood as they say the streets don’t love you.”