Young Artists in Harmony (YAH) is a unique music composition program offered in partnership with A Reason To Survive (ARTS) in National City, where advanced music students have the opportunity to:
Explore musical composition with professional musicians
Create and be part of a live performance at ARTS, which will also be professionally recorded
Meet and collaborate with other like-minded music students
Build a musical composition portfolio for college
Participants in YAH receive mentoring from professional Art of Elan musicians, and meet weekly on Saturdays from 1-3pm in person at ARTS, with optional individual workshops available via Zoom during the week, personalized for each participant. Saturday afternoon sessions will involve professional musicians from Art of Elan to help coach, workshop and give feedback on student works.
Important Information for Spring 2026 Coming Soon
Please contact David (Deejay) Rich, YAH Program Coordinator, with any questions:
davidrichmusic@gmail.com
For the past 10 years, Art of Elan has offered its “Young Artists in Harmony” (YAH) program in partnership with the nationally recognized A Reason To Survive (ARTS), an organization that believes in the power of the arts and creativity to literally transform lives. YAH consists of weekly workshops where high school and community college students have the opportunity to explore musical composition with professional musicians, to create and be part of a professionally recorded public performance, to meet and collaborate with other like-minded music students of high school and college age, and to build a musical composition portfolio. Participants in YAH receive weekly mentoring and coaching from professional Art of Elan musicians who workshop and provide feedback on student works. This unique program culminates each semester with a multidisciplinary and collaborative concert that showcases original compositions the students create over the 6-10 week period, performed by Art of Elan musicians. Each concert is professionally recorded and made available for free streaming and download on Instant Encore, as well as for viewing on Art of Elan’s YouTube channel.
2014-2025:
135
Original Compositions
created by Young Artists in Harmony participants
32
Professional Musicians
have participated as mentors and performed works for the program
20
Showcase Performances
served over three thousand listeners
TEACHING STAFF
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Thomas Dougherty
Director of Composition Studies
Composer and violinist Tommy Dougherty was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA and currently lives in Philadelphia, PA. Recent commissions include a new work for Copland House Ensemble through a Cultivate 2025 Fellowship and for Roots in the Sky through his participation in their Choral Composition Program. Tommy’s music has been performed by the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Johnstown Symphony Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Modern Violin Ensemble, Kinetic Ensemble, and Alarm Will Sound. His orchestra piece Restrung is the recipient of ASCAP’s 2019 Leo Kaplan award, and he has won two other ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Awards for his Three Dances for Orchestra and large ensemble piece Quartets. As a violinist, Tommy regularly performs with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony Orchestra, and has served as guest concertmaster with the Bozeman Symphony Orchestra. Tommy is a passionate educator, teaching privately and through Art of Elan’s Young Artists in Harmony program.
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Fernanda Baltodano
Teaching Artist
Fernanda Baltodano is a music composer, tutor, and teacher, with guitar as her primary instrument. She has seven years of tutoring experience at Mesa College, where she earned three certificates in music theory, composition, and technology. She was a student in Art of Elans Young Artists in Harmony program for seven seasons, creating some of her strongest work during that time. Now a teaching artist for the program, she is inspired to guide and support young composers. Fernanda is deeply committed to expanding her creativity and contributing to a vibrant music community that continues to nurture artistic expression.
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David “Deejay” Rich
Teaching Artist
A San Diego native, David “Deejay” Rich has dedicated over 15 years to music education within the nonprofit sector. Studying under the late Bob Boss, Deejay is a Jazz trained session guitarist and performer with experience in multi-genre performance and composition. Deejay holds a Master of Arts in Philosophy and an advanced certificate in Women’s Studies. Their teaching pedagogy and educational philosophy centers around marginalized and underserved students, with a particular focus on disability, LGBTQIA+ communities, and promoting diversity and inclusion.
Watch Young Artists in Harmony compositions performed live at
the Spring 2025 Cohort Concert in the Video Below.
The Young Artists in Harmony program is generously supported by Elaine Baldwin, financial support provided by the California Arts Council, the City of San Diego, the Clare Rose Foundation, the Find Your Light Foundation, the Jason Mraz Foundation, The Prebys Foundation, the Samuel I. and John Henry Fox Foundation, and the Schoenith Foundation.
ELAINE BALDWIN
Financial support is provided by
the City of San Diego
SAMUEL I. AND
JOHN HENRY FOX
FOUNDATION
THE SCHOENITH FOUNDATION
In Partnership with
A Reason to Survive (ARTS)
Established in 2001, ARTS’ mission is to lift young people to become confident, compassionate, and courageous community builders through the transformative power of creativity and the arts. In 2012, the ARTS Center opened in National City, with the goal of becoming a South County hub for creative youth development, or CYD: a theory of practice that integrates creative skill-building, inquiry, and expression with positive youth development principles, fueling young people’s imaginations and building critical learning and life skills.
Today, ARTS offers creative arts programs for youth and young adults ages 6-24. Through a combination of after-school classes and community-based art and design projects, ARTS connects young people with opportunities to elevate their creativity and artistic skills, build strong foundations of social-emotional well-being, grow meaningful relationships with peers and role models, and engage deeply with their own communities and the world around them.
With our focus on the historically disinvested South County region of San Diego, ARTS believes: 1) young people should be given more power to make decisions and play a role in the shaping the spaces and systems that affect their futures; and 2) place-based art practices implemented with a health equity lens are essential for building vibrant, resilient, and inclusive communities.
To find out more, visit www.areasontosurvive.org