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What We Do
We designed our flexible, best-in-class programming in music, dance, and creative arts therapy with our students in mind.
Who We Are
Our highly credentialed and dedicated faculty bring years of professional experience to the classroom, customizing their approach to provide exceptional training for our students.
Our Branches
Our six branches serve the Greater Philadelphia region, ensuring that excellence in arts education is available to all, regardless of location.
Our History
Settlement has served as a community hub and trusted resource for music and the creative arts since 1908.
Research
Proven Success in Early Childhood Education
The Kaleidoscope Program has been proven, through rigorous research by West Chester University, to prepare children for kindergarten more successfully than peer pre-K programs without intensive arts-based programs. Our students have shown an increased ability to manage emotions and greater receptive vocabulary than those at comparison preschools.
1908
Our Origin Story
Settlement Music School was founded in 1908 by Jeanette Selig Frank and Blanche Wolf Kohn as the music program of the College Settlement in the Southwark section of Philadelphia. The College Settlement was a typical turn-of-the-century settlement house offering a variety of services to the newly arrived immigrants in the community. The music program grew rapidly, from volunteers offering piano lessons for a nickel to a full program of instruction in all musical instruments taught by professionals, including several members of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
1940s – 1960s
Our Origin Story
In the 1940s and ‘50s, Settlement experimented with various remote satellite and branch locations, and by 1960 had established the Germantown and Northeast (later the Kardon-Northeast) branches.
1970s – 1980s
Our Origin Story
In the 1970s, Settlement undertook an ambitious program of education and therapy in music and dance for children and adults with disabilities, and in the mid-1980s incorporated the Kardon Institute of the Arts for People with Disabilities as a separate but allied institution. In 1985, the Kardon Institute formed its own independent 501(c)3 organization. In the late ‘80s Settlement merged with the Jenkintown Music School to create a fourth branch and founded a fifth branch in West Philadelphia (now the Wynnefield Branch).