NOW was founded by Artistic Director, Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez from Mexico and Executive Director, Grace Cho from South Korea with the belief that music has the power to connect people and bring communities closer.

NOW in Schools

NOW is taking a major step forward in its commitment to community engagement, beginning in the current 2022–23 school year.

NOW musicians will visit schools from as teachers and mentors to grade level students and their music instructors. The NOW@Schools Program rests on three pillars: Access, Equity, and Motivation:

Access:  To assure that students are able to utilize our teaching materials, NOW will make our instructional content virtual and free of charge.

Equity:  At selected Title I schools, NOW musicians will make multiple in-person visits providing vital in-person assistance.

Motivation:  NOW’s videos, teaching guidelines, and in-person visits are designed to help prepare students for a live concert performance in a classroom or at an end-of-semester concert. In addition, selected student musicians will be invited to NOW’s rehearsals and concert at Kennedy Center. 

This program is funded in part by a grant from the Montgomery County Arts & Humanities Council. To help make transformative musical experiences available to school age students, please consider making a donation to NOW’s Community and Outreach programs.

NOW for young audiences

We love our young audiences! NOW offers many opportunities for families with young children to enjoy great music together. We'd love to see you at our summer outdoor concerts at local parks, annual Winter Family Concerts, and soon-to-be-released YouTube Series for PreK.

Ticket Assistance Program

We love to help our community enjoy the arts!
Does your group or organization serve community members who are unable to afford cultural events in the DC region? We offer a certain number of free and discounted tickets to many of our concerts. Please contact Abby Carlson at abby@neworchestraofwashington.org to discuss what arrangements we might make to help your group attend.