Every year, the Ravinia Lawndale Family Music School participates in a Night Out in the Parks in October, where people gather for a fun time and good music, sponsored by the Chicago Park District.
On October 2nd at Douglass Park, the Chicago Park District is hosting Kitt Lyles’ Arabic Jazz Project from 6-8 pm, a free event for all ages. The project features music with varied cultural influences, from several Middle Eastern and North African origins. Their music carries inspiration from Afro-Latin jazz, South American folkloric music, and contemporary jazz.
The performance is opened by students from the Ravinia Music School, children and adults who are at various stages of their musical education. The Ravinia Music School participates in and hosts many such musical events, with performances from Stella Cole, Kool & The Gang, and Ricky Martin in addition to student showcases happening in the last few months.
To understand and showcase their mission and events, I spoke with the Ravinia Program Manager Haley Brown. Brown’s cheerful disposition and infectious energy are immediately apparent upon meeting her and serves very useful in her work with and around children. Always wearing a smile, she greeted me as our zoom call began on a breezy Wednesday afternoon.
“[The Ravinia Lawndale Family Music School] is a community-based program that provides high-quality music performance education to students in the Lawndale community” She began, “[For] both younger children and adults. We start as young as 6 years old, and we provide tuition-free music education with piano, violin, guitar, trumpet, and we also have our children's choir, adult choir, and then for our little ones, ages 6 to 9 years old, they get the foundation of music through the preparatory program.”
Brown spoke about how the Ravinia Music school works closely with the Chicago Park District to deliver this quality education in Holman Square Park, Douglass Park, Piotrowski Park and Franklin Park. And in addition to the October 2nd event in Douglass Park, more events will be coming up in the month of October.
“We're also going to have another opportunity on October the 16th, where the main event is going to be the Hearing in Color Choir Ensemble. We're going to be opening for them with our adult choir and our violin intermediate ensemble.”
This event, occurring on Friday the 16th from 6-7:30 pm, is also taking place at Douglass Park. The event will showcase Chicago vocal composers such as Ayanna Woods and Jaylen Scott, performing music about justice and community.
As our call wrapped up, Brown made sure to express that the Ravinia Music School is always accepting students of any age who are willing to learn, and that the Ravinia Fall-Winter 2026 semester will be starting soon.
“So, we actually have flyers around the park districts, but [applicants] are more than welcome to reach out to me, to Haley Brown. Which is at [email protected], and they can always give me a call at 847-266-5479, and then I can give them more information on how to register for the upcoming terms.”
For all those curious or passionate about learning music, both Ravinia and the Park District are here for you. And with so many talented and unique students, teachers, and performers, you’re sure to have a good time. If you’re interested in attending the Douglass Night Out in the Parks, information on that and all upcoming park district events can be found here: https://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/night-out-in-the-parks#Events.
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