Our Story
Vision Statement
We envision a caring city where vulnerable persons are encouraged and affirmed through the arts.
Mission Statement
The Norfolk Street Choir project will engage the community to encourage and support our neighbors in need through service and arts opportunities in a joyful, affirming and safe environment.
Programs
The Norfolk Street Choir
o Year round activity
o Weekly Tuesday morning rehearsals and instruction
o Performance and collaborative opportunities
o Participants earn bus passes at every rehearsal
o Led by Artistic Director Robert Shoup
Expressive Arts Collaboration with EVMS
o Year round activity
o Weekly Friday morning group art activity
o Opportunity to paint, draw and create individually and collaboratively
o Collaborative projects with the Choir including performance components
o Participants earn bus passes for participation each Friday
o Led by EVMS Graduate Art Therapy program faculty member Matthew Bernier
Breakfast
o 100-160 served each week morning prior to Choir and Art
o supported by community based team of volunteer partners
Showers
o NSCP provides showers in our 4 unit shower trailer each Tuesday and Friday with support from community organizations and volunteers
Mail Service and Document Assistance
o Through our dedicated Outreach Coordinator, Stephanie Van Leeuwen, our neighbors are able to reliably receive mail and get help in a number of areas including phone acquisition, ID and other document services, and connection to other sources of assistance.
Liason to services
o Freemason Street Baptist Church’s clothing closet
o Case workers and representatives from the City of Norfolk/Community Services Board
o Eastern Virginia Medical School Street Medicine services
o Haircuts
Possible expanded programming (in development)
o Advanced musical training for select NSC members
o Neighborhood sings for jail/prison/hospital communities
o Support for recently housed individuals
A Valentine’s Day Origin
By Robert Shoup
Not every organization or program has such an easily pinpointed beginning as ours. On February 14, 2016, I was co-directing a brass choir concert program at Freemason Street Baptist Church, a congregation situated in the heart of Downtown Norfolk. The date had been the only one available to the musicians involved, so we constructed a program that would express love not in a romantic Valentine’s Day context, but in the vein of agape love – universal love for all of humankind. To set the tone for this event, a student from Old Dominion University was invited to speak about the role of music in marginalized communities. At the moment I heard her speak the words “homeless choirs,” my imagination was immediately energized. After more than two decades of leading choirs of all kinds, I had never heard of – let alone considered leading – a choir comprised of people experiencing homelessness.
That was the spark – and in the months that followed, research led me to discover exceptional individuals around the world who were at the forefront of a new and exciting movement. With direct and generous input from Jonathan Palant of the Dallas Street Choir and Dónal Noonan of Atlanta’s Homeward Choir, a proposal was presented to the leadership of the church that summer, and The Norfolk Street Choir was launched in September. From the beginning, we have been gifted with involvement and input from the greater community, a hallmark that remains vital to our operation.