PASCO COUNTY, Fla. - Charlotte Lewis is sharing her love of music with a new generation.

She teaches kids how to play violin and keyboard, at no cost, at the Boys and Girls Club in Dade City.

The students are part of the Prodigy Cultural Arts Program, which works to keep kids out of trouble through things like performing arts. The classes are free.

“We target at-risk youth in general,” Lewis said. “We see the results pretty quickly when they learn to get excited about something new. When they learn how to be self-disciplined and positive with themselves and each other.”

The classes are not just about how to play the instruments. They’re also about teaching life lessons, like problem solving, communicating and anger management.

Charlotte believes in teaching so much that she and her husband recently opened their own music studio in Dade City, the Prelude Academy of the Arts.

It’s an area that didn’t have many music education options before. Many students she takes on there have the chance to get sponsored lessons, so the cost is more affordable.

“The best part was our students coming and being excited,” Lewis said. “We have space, we have room. We have a place to put our instruments, a place to tune to put our things we didn’t have before.”

Between her studio and the Prodigy classes, she’s hopes that sharing her love of music is filling a need her community.

“I get a lot of satisfaction at seeing people succeed at something new,” Lewis said.

Prodigy has several different programs across west and central Florida. It’s part of the University Area Community Development Corporation. For more information visit, https://www.uacdc.org/index.php/prodigy-home