KEYS Founder Rob Silvan set to retire on September 1, 2023

The Board of Directors of KEYS shares the news of Founder Rob Silvan’s plan to retire on September 1^st, 2023.

Nearly 20 years ago, Rob was invited by a music teacher at Columbus School in Bridgeport to come and teach piano to a few students. He brought his electric piano to the school and gave four students music lessons in a stairwell. Other students, seeing what was happening, wanted music lessons as well.  As more and more students expressed an interest in music lessons, it became clear to Rob that a formal music education program was needed. He established KEYS (Kids Empowered by Your Support), as a nonprofit 501(c)(3), and began raising funds and hiring faculty to expand the program one Bridgeport school at a time.

Since that auspicious day in 2004, Rob has overseen the expansion of KEYS to become an essential part of music education in Bridgeport.  He has dedicated himself to KEYS’s mission of providing free music lessons and performance opportunities to under-resourced students of Bridgeport. Over the years, Rob has guided the program to expand its offerings to 21 Bridgeport schools, to Saturday group ensembles in concert band, chorus, jazz band, and orchestra and to summer camps.  In 2022, KEYS formalized its presence at The nOURish Center in Bridgeport, with new teaching studios, offices, and a performance space.

Rob served as Executive Director of KEYS until June 2022 when Karen Cobham joined as the new Executive Director and Rob became Artistic Director. Karen worked closely with Rob during this transition year, and she will continue to oversee the operations of KEYS.

The Board of Directors of KEYS along with Karen Cobham, Laurie Bradbury (Assistant Executive Director), and Jen Bartlett (Marketing & Communications Director) thank Rob for founding KEYS, and for his many years of tireless service. We are so grateful for his commitment to a quality music program, for bringing people together that shared the mission, and for his dedication to KEYS’ vision of a world where every child has access to the transformative experience of studying and playing music regardless of circumstances.

KEYS will celebrate Rob and his legacy at the KEYS fall benefit on November 3, 2023, at Shorehaven Golf Club in Norwalk. We hope you will join us at this event as we honor Rob’s accomplishments.