[ "Do Your Thing" playing ] Children: [ Lyrics ] I don't need no TV.

I don't need no news.

All I need is a bumping beat to bump away my blues.

[ Song continues ] I don't really care what the people say.

I'm gonna do it my way, gonna do it my way.

I'm gonna let it all out, do my thing.

Boom, boom, boom, and a-bang, bang, bang.

Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba da.

Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba da.

[ Cheers and applause ] Souder: If you ask me, I think the arts is the most important thing that all people should do.

I think that it gives us access to who we are on the inside, for real.

It allows us to commune with ourselves, but then to also be in community with others.

Lopes: I am a youth leader and a teacher here at the Institute of Music for Children.

I've been here since I was 6 years old and now I'm 20, so it's been quite a while.

It really builds you as a person.

There's many art spaces around New Jersey, around America that you can find and learn how to draw or whatever it may be.

But unlike those places, this place is like a home to you.

They really make sure that everybody is accepted and loved from the moment they step into the building.

And I think that's what really makes this place special.

[ Soft music playing ] Souder: The Institute of Music for Children is a community art school, which focuses to provide access to as many children as possible to a wide variety of art forms.

Of course, music is -- was our core art form.

That's where we started.

But since then, we've branched out.

So we do instrumental music -- piano, guitar, violins, drums.

But we also do singing, acting, multiple types of dance, from break dance to ballet to salsa dancing.

They do visual arts.

We have anime and cartooning and 3D and 3D art, as well as podcasting and other media arts as well, DJ.

We even have a culinary arts program.

So there's just a ton of arts for kids to explore and learn and grow through.

[ Rhythmic beating ] Man: Yeah.

Yeah.

Hey.

Hey, Nick.

Nick, you know what to do.

[ Rhythmic beating continues ] Souder: The summer, they spend all morning rotating through different art forms.

They get to choose eight different art forms that they rotate through throughout the summer.

But in the afternoon, we have a group of kids that want to be in the show, and they will pick a major.

So their major art form, which will either be play production, which is the acting portion, musical theater, which is singing, dance, band, set design or music production.

So this year's play is called "She."

It centers around a little girl named Sheema, who is separated from her mom, who's ill, and her father, who's away.

He's in a war.

She begins to go into her imagination.

These toys come to life.

But then kind of the twist is that she really wants to just stay in that world and doesn't want to live in the real world.

So it becomes this sort of battle between living in a fantasy and coming back to her reality.

Girl: [ Lyrics ] As you hear yourself.

You gotta believe in yourself.

Be yourself.

Boy: You know my good friend Al?

Albert Schweitzer?

Boy #2: The one that won the Nobel Peace Prize?

Boy #1: Yep.

That's him.

He's a cool cat.

Anyway, he told me this once.

Eventually, all things fall into place.

But until then, laugh at the confusion.

Live for the moments and remember, everything happens for a reason.

Chorus: [ Lyrics ] Be yourself.

Trust yourself.

Souder: Some of them are artists.

Some are kids that love it to begin with.

Some of them have never done it before.

Some of them come because they need more confidence.

Some come because it's one of the most affordable programs around.

But in the end, what happens is that kids fall in love with being here, with finding their creative sides, with being in a community that supports them and -- and really nurtures them.

And that's why we have so many kids coming from year to year to year, literally growing up here.

Young man: I've been in the institute since 2013.

Boy: I've been going here for, like, 4 or 5 years.

I don't really know.

Young man: This is the first play that I've ever done in my life, and I look forward to doing more.

Girl: I used to have, like, severe stage fright, and now I'm up here talking to everybody.

Mullings: Here at the Institute of Music, I started off as a student just doing piano and drums, and then eventually once I found, like, my calling, I guess, and what I just liked to do, I started doing more, like, music production, sound engineering.

I'm taking a gap year, and then I'm going to transfer to Montclair State.

And my major is, like, recording arts.

Morales: It's a paid job that the Institute offers, which is great, so...

So the kids can graduate and they get their first job already, like, working in the program that they already know.

[ Rhythmic beating ] We don't realize how much it means for children to be able to explore through the arts, to explore themselves.

You know, some of them end up being musicians, but even if they don't go into the arts, you know, just to know themselves and to be able to carry music for their life, for their lifetime or any art form through their lifetime, I think, to me, is invaluable, you know.

It gives a sense of well-being beyond, you know, whatever profession you go into in your lives.

Lopes: My favorite part about working with the students is seeing them grow.

You're ushering them into their, you know, being.

Woman: This is an incredible community that continues to re-create and regenerate the next artists and educators here.

We appreciate you so much.

Good night!

[ Cheers and applause ]