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The Children of Willesden Lane Multi-Platform Public Media Project
Hold On To Your Music will present The Children of Willesden Lane, a 90-minute feature documentary for theatrical and television release on PBS stations and internationally. The true story of a seemingly ordinary young girl caught up in the rising tide of Nazi persecution in wartime Europe, this story is also an extraordinary testament to the power of music to transcend the overwhelming tragedy of war, and the benevolence of the British people. The documentary, based on the nonfiction memoir by Mona Golabek and Lee Cohen, will dramatically recount a compelling tale of music, love and survival. Renowned Academy Award®-winning actress Meryl Streep has agreed to bookend the program with her personal observations of this powerful story.
Lisa Jura, an accomplished 14 year-old pianist living in Vienna, is the only one of three daughters sent by her parents to England via the legendary Kindertransport train. Eventually she finds her way to 243 Willesden Lane, a hostel in Northeast London that is filled with a variety of young Jewish refugees. Here begins the powerful account of one girl surrounded by a disparate community that unites both in its faith and love of music. Young Lisa expresses this unshakable force in her music, and ultimately creates a legacy that resonates in the lives and music of multiple generations today.
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PBS crew with
Mona Golabek and Willesden Lane alumni
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The WFMT Radio Network, the international syndicated division of award-winning classical music station 98.7WFT and one of the world’s most well-regarded sources for fine arts radio programming, will produce and distribute a one-hour radio program to parallel the documentary, following closely the story and the beautiful classical music WFMT listeners cherish. The WFMT Radio Network will offer the program to its 700+ affiliates throughout the United States as well as satellite radio and in Europe through the European Broadcasting Union.
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“In all my years as an educator, I have never seen so many students
anxious to ask questions about a book.”
Christopher Mazzino
High school English teacher, Scranton, PA
In partnership with Facing History and Ourselves, an expansive educational campaign will be designed around the message of The Children of Willesden Lane and the suite of resources that will include the documentary, music, book and Teacher’s Resource made possible by the Milken Family Foundation, with videos produced by The Annenberg Foundation. The educational initiative will teach social studies, language arts, music and inter-disciplinary studies and reach across grade levels, races, religions and academic disciplines, promoting acceptance between cultures and inspiring courage and hard work. |
Students facing some of the challenges that Lisa Jura faced are motivated to overcome adversity – growing up without parents, dealing with prejudice, moving to another country. Teachers who’ve used The Children of Willesden Lane educational tools report that their students are learning they, too, can “hold on to their dreams” and go on to accomplish extraordinary things, particularly if guided on their way by even a few caring and committed adults.
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Outreach Extensions (OE) will develop and implement a national campaign for The Children of Willesden Lane. Outreach Extensions will utilize an extensive strategic planning process to engage these key project stakeholders, as well as sponsors, to discuss campaign issues, audiences, and strategies and to make certain that the campaign utilizes all resources available and ties into existing events and overall plans. Designed to accompany the film’s national broadcast, the media outreach campaign will extend the conversation into local communities for dialogue and action—greatly expanding the film’s reach and impact.
The public dialogue will center on issues such as these:
- Identity in a time of change
- Being uprooted;
- Race and exclusion
- Faith and perseverance, or the “universe of obligation”
- The power of music to enable individuals to triumph over adversity, to relieve the suffering of oppressed people or to unite a community.
The campaign will capture the power of media—especially radio, video and popular multimedia social networking sites—in concert with curriculum materials for formal and informal learning to share the personal dreams and stories of viewers, listeners and Web visitors moved by the message of Willesden Lane. Because Willesden Lane outreach is designed to inspire personal stories of the dreams and hopes of youth and their families, we'll seek inclusion of those whose lives are challenged economically or in other significant ways.
Vital to the campaign is the involvement of youth themselves. We envision hiring a core group of young “web wranglers” to create content for blogs and social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, engaging youth to build the buzz that will bring scores of their peers on board.
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The Children of Willesden Lane is being directed and produced for live theater by the prolific actor/musician Hershey Felder, founder of Eighty-Eight Entertainment. Centered on Mona Golabek’s concert performance of some of the most revered music ever composed—Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Chopin, Greig, Beethoven and more—the theater version will tell the story of Lisa Jura’s journey from Vienna to London to realize her musical dream and help her family to safety during World War II. |
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