About

Orgelkids USA was incorporated as a 501c3 not-for-profit, all-volunteer organization in 2016. Our mission is to serve as a pilot program, bringing Orgelkids from the Netherlands to the USA and help grow Orgelkids into a nationwide program with a network of independent kits available across the States.

Volunteer Executive Director: Erin Scheessele, PhD

Volunteer Board of Directors:
Bart Eleveld
Lydia Vroegindeweij, Founder of Orgelkids (Netherlands)
Erin Scheessele

Kits worldwide: map
Contact: here
Orgelkids USA kit specifications & costs: here

Our Story

Peter was a frustrated six-year-old. Frustrated at not being able to build a working pipe organ, even though he was sure he had the theoretical components: several ranks of pipes (a gift from our piano tuner) and a squirrel cage blower (a gift from his great grandmother and audible upgrade from the shop vac).

So, it was in desperation in March 2015 that we turned to the font of all knowledge and Googled “pipe organ kit for children”. Google rose to the occasion and found a video of a gentleman serenely assembling a petite organ. He was demonstrating a kit he had designed specifically for children to build a two octave, two rank pipe organ. With no glue or screws, the kit was intended to be reusable, assembled time and time again.

It was beautiful. It was perfect… It was in the Netherlands.

“Let’s bring it here”, said Peter.

Deeper investigation lead us to the organization responsible for the kit, Orgelkids, and its founder, Lydia Vroegindeweij. Ms. Vroegindeweij founded Orgelkids, a pipe organ education and outreach organization, in 2009 to address the issue of how to engage the younger generation with the Netherlands’ rich cultural heritage of pipe organs. In 2012 she teamed up with Wim Janssen, the retired organbuilder whom we had first seen in the video, to design and build what they call the “do-organ”, an organ to build. With the Orgelkids organ, young children are empowered to build a working, two-rank, two-octave mechanical-action pipe organ.

Peter wrote to Ms. Vroegindeweij, asking if he could work towards bringing her program to the States. Ms. Vroegindeweij promptly replied, “Yes!” It was like Christmas morning around the breakfast table for Peter and his younger brother, Simon, when Mr. Janssen’s hand drawn plans arrived.

2016 was a year of fundraising

We set a fundraising goal which would commission the first two organs in America and cover initial operation costs. A grant from the New York City’s AGO Centennial Millennium Fund kicked off our fundraising efforts. That, combined with additional support from the San Francisco & Seattle AGO Chapters’ Special Projects funds met two thirds of our goal. The purpose of these funds is to do the work of the guild by supporting innovative programs that promote the pipe organ to the general public.

The final third of our startup funds were raised with a social media campaign reaching organ enthusiasts from eleven states, good old traditional lemonade stands, and a not-so-traditional virtual busking campaign… even five-year-old Simon got in on the virtual-busking action (video to right). We were awarded our first funding in January 2016 and by January of 2017 we had realized our fundraising goals.

Orgelkids USA becomes a nonprofit to serve as a pilot program

The appeal and broad application of Orgelkids was apparent early in this process. Therefore, we broadened the scope of our efforts to not just procure an organ for our local community but rather to serve as a pilot program for the States. We established Orgelkids USA as an all-volunteer educational nonprofit organization with 501c3 tax exempt status, and Ms. Vroegindeweij serves on the board. Orgelkids USA’s mission is to help facilitate the growth of a network of independent organ kits nationwide.

As a pilot program, we laid the groundwork for such growth:

  • identified and engaged world-class organ builders,
  • worked out transportation and insurance logistics,
  • developed curriculum,
  • and put the States’ first organ through its paces, providing proof of concept as we grow Orgelkids USA’s outreach portfolio.

We offered the kit for low-cost introductory visits around the States from 2017 to 2022 to help generate awareness and interest in a local kit.

2017 was our innaugural year of putting the kit through its paces

Uses for Orgelkids are a spectrum, from small, tightly choreographed groups to being at the mercy of heaving throngs in a public space, from deep multi-faceted and impactful to fleeting, cursory interest (but new awareness nonetheless). We have been testing Orgelkids in every possible setting for meaningfully engaging the public with the pipe organ: public schools, outdoor markets, Bach in the Subway and Maker Faires, Organ Unleashed at the steps of Montreal’s Notre Dame Basilica, adult education programs, museum workshops, pre-concert workshops.

 

Thank You to Our Partners: