The extraordinary response of American students to the tragic shootings at schools across the country inspired Ron Ramin and Portia Kamons to create SEVENTEEN, a new work featuring symphony orchestra, narration and multimedia projection design by Virtua Creative.

The piece salutes and amplifies the voices of young citizens whose grief and anger have fueled a powerful national campaign for gun violence prevention in the United States. SEVENTEEN invites this rising generation to join classical concert audiences for conversation and debate about this movement.

Seventeen people were killed and a further seventeen were injured in Parkland on Valentine’s Day 2018. Seventeen is the age of many young activists who have assumed the national stage to lead the gun safety movement. Seventeen also marks the threshold of adulthood and its concurrent rights and responsibilities, including the right to vote.

If you are a young activist, SEVENTEEN’s creative team would like to hear from you.  Please contact us: seventeen@virtuacreative.com

SEVENTEEN is available for programming from autumn 2020.  For more information about commissioning or programming, contact Trudy Chan; tc@blackteamusic.com

For all other information, email us at seventeen@virtuacreative.com

The Advisory Council for SEVENTEEN is comprised of experts in the fields of gun policy, gun safety advocacy and social impact through the arts. Their expertise nurtures, guides and informs the on-going development of the work. (List in formation.)

• Brady United Against Gun Violence – Bettina Lanyi, National Partnerships Director.
• CeaseFire PA – Rob Conroy, Director of Organizing;  Pittsburgh-based attorney, former prosecutor, journalist and activist.
• Everytown for Gun Safety – Noelle Howey, Director of Cultural Engagement; Keni Nooner, Associate of Cultural Engagement.

• Alliyah Logan – Director of Community Outreach, Youth Over Guns; Teen Advisor, Girl Up; Leader, Teen Activist Project, NYC Civil Liberties Union; Bronx native, age 17.
• Daniel Webster – Bloomberg Professor of American Health, John Hopkins Center for Gun Policy & Research.
• Dave Cullen – Journalist and Author of COLUMBINE and PARKLAND, BIRTH OF A MOVEMENT.
• Jamie Bernstein – Author (FAMOUS FATHER GIRL) narrator, and filmmaker.
• Joe Melillo – Executive Producer Emeritus of the Brooklyn Academy of Music; International Artistic Advisor, Columbia Artists.
• John J. Donohue – JD, PhD, Professor of Law, Stanford University; known for using empirical analysis to determine impact of law and public policy.
• Kim Russell, executive advisor for Women’s March, previously the Brady Campaign. Helped launch Moms Demand Action. Gun violence survivor.
• Kofi Ademola – Activist and Organizer in the movement for Black Lives. Adult advisor for Chicago’s youth-led gun violence prevention group GoodKidsMadCity.
• Mary McBride – Musician, humanitarian, Cultural Envoy for the US Department of State.
• Marcel McClinton – Candidate Houston City Council, Founder, Orange Generation, Co-Director, March for Our Lives/Houston, 2016 Memorial Drive Methodist
  Sunday School shooting survivor; Age 18.
• Molly Lavoie –  Founder, March for Our Lives, Oseola County School of the Arts; current Freshman at the University of South Florida; Age 18.

Special thanks to our interns: Isabel Siragusa, Sienna Lake, and Michaela Hook