About YPI

Young Performers International is a non-profit children's performing arts company whose mission is:

To create a sense of community among the children of the world through music and the performing arts;
To provide for all children, regardless of their economic status, the very best instruction in these arts;
And through this, to foster in each child competence, self confidence, fulfillment, and an open heart.

Beginning as a summer program in a corner of the Oakland Mormon Temple Auditorium in July of 2000, Young Performers International, or YPI, has grown to include schools in 3 Bay Area counties, a staff of 17 musician/teachers and interns, and a student population of almost 250. Our outreach program includes schools in Zimbabwe and El Salvador.

YPI—which we sometimes call "yippee!" since that represents our philosophy of making music while having fun—is based in experiential learning. We believe that expressing oneself through the performing arts is a natural component of childhood, and should be fostered as such. We begin with the doing—whether singing, drumming, dancing or acting—and add the theory later as the child gains confidence and competence.

Children love our classes; one parent remarked, "It's his reason for coming to school!" Our teachers are all respected professionals in their fields, and all of them teach not because teaching beats waiting tables, but because, somewhere down the line, someone had inspired them, and now they want to give that back.

YPI tuition is set at what it actually costs to run the class: $15/class or rehearsal for large group classes, $20 for smaller groups, and $35-$40 for private lessons. However, full or partial scholarships are offered to any student who cannot afford the full fee. For more on getting help with the tuition fees, call Leela at (415) 420-2960.

YPI has three major components:

In-school Programs: offering a complete curriculum for grades Pre-Kindergarten through 8th Grade with year-long, sequential instruction in music through singing, eurhythmics, and instrumentation and percussion.
After School Programs: offering advanced choral work at 2 grade/skill levels (K-4 and 4-8), jazz/rock band, Orff band, ensemble drumming, Brazilian/Salsa/Latin dance, and private lessons in voice, piano, percussion, guitar, flute, saxophone, trumpet, bass guitar and song-writing.
Outreach Programs: On a local level, we have two concerts a year that combine all three Bay Area schools. Students meet and renew friendships at luncheons held after the rehearsals, which both students and parents find almost as much fun as the concerts!

At the global level, we are developing relationships with performing arts schools in several countries around the world, including Zimbabwe and El Salvador. We have an email list exclusively for YPI students, so they can talk to other kids interested in the performing arts in many corners of the globe.