Culture & Community | Music | Arts & Culture | The Shack
Jamire Casteel has loved singing for as long as he can remember. Now, the senior at Hill Regional Career High School is hoping that his voice can be a creative launchpad to the City of Light.
Casteel, who grew up in the city’s West Hills neighborhood, is trying to get to the Paris Performance Experience, a two-week arts workshop in Paris, France that invites emerging artists to refine their craft and learn about professional opportunities in the arts. At 17, the singer and student is asking New Haveners to lend a hand in getting him there, with a GoFundMe campaign from Ward 30 Alder Honda Smith.
Smith, who also founded and runs the 333 Valley St. community hub known as The Shack, is also his grandmother.
“Him being a part of this [program], it has changed his ways, totally,” Smith said, remarking on Casteel’s newfound drive and energy into his artistry.
This year, the program runs from July 17-31. It is held at Le Château Chaumont-sur-Yonne, with visits to historic sites like Le Théâtre du Renard in Paris and the church of Notre-Dame de Chaumont. The two week intensive culminates in a concert on July 30 at the Théâtre du Renard, where participants show off their newly acquired skills.
“I've always been singing any opportunity I got from a young age, whether it was, like, a talent show at school or something like that,” Casteel said. “It’s such an honor to be able to go out of the country and, you know, sing, and do what I love to do the most, and I'm gonna be learning so much … All that's gonna do is make me a better singer, performer, songwriter, so I'm looking forward to it.”
The program, and Casteel’s path to getting there, is as much a New Haven story as it is an international one. Three years ago, Dr. Tiffany Renée Jackson—a soprano who grew up in the Elm City, and went on to study opera at the University of Michigan and the Yale School of Music—was a founding member of the program, which she runs in partnership with YXIE - Manoir des Arts.
In just a few years, it’s become a testament to not only the power of arts education, but also the talent coming out of New Haven, with instructors like Avery Wilson (who belonged to Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School before he belonged to Broadway) and Heritage Chorale Founder and Director Dr. Jonathan Berryman in the mix.
The final student concert on June 30, 2025. Patrice Bryant Contributed Photo.
This year's cohort of 65 students—double last year’s enrollment—is slated to be the largest in the program's history. Its uniqueness comes from its interdisciplinary nature, different from other classical programs because “it decenters Eurocentrism and classical music exclusively,” Jackson said in a phone call Wednesday. Instead, it includes other genres such as contemporary commercial music—gospel, jazz, and R&B—theater arts, entrepreneurship, dance, fitness, song composition, and instrumental studies.
“I see up close and personal some of the disadvantages, and one of them is the lack of accessibility,” said Jackson, an assistant professor of music at Hampton University. “So the future of the program, I see, is that it becomes even more accessible to people like Jamire throughout the country, through arts organizations, high schools, and colleges.”
That connection also led to Casteel’s interest in the program. Last year, Smith learned about the program through her longtime friend Patryce Bryant, a musician and gospel artist who is now also a Paris Performance Experience instructor. When she participated in the program, Bryant had been a caregiver for her aging mother for seven years, a process that took a toll on her physical and mental health. An insurance agent by day, she hadn’t made time to care for herself as an artist until she was there.
During her time in the program, she had the chance to learn from seasoned and acclaimed professionals in the field, including Beyoncé’s vocal coach, David Brewster. It was, in every way, “a life-changing experience,” she said. She credits Brewster with her vocal recovery, noting how specific sound exercises can assist with vocal healing.
“I didn’t realize how much stress and other things could affect your voice, and it took a man to tell me some things about my vocals,” she said. “I’m so happy now to not have to sing so smart, but to be able to sing easy now.”
“I had such a good time that when I came back, I vowed to find some young people,” she added, stressing the importance of accessible arts opportunities for youth. “Had I had this experience when I was younger, really, where would I be?”
That passion is very much alive for Casteel, who plans to begin his studies in psychology and human services at CT State Gateway this fall, and then transfer into Southern Connecticut State University. While his academic work is focused on his more practical interests—and the realities of an economically harsh job market—his singing career has never gone on hiatus. This year, he dove into songwriting, completing several new songs and projects.
He knows that the Paris Performance Experience may be the “best next move,” to advance his artistic career, he said. Even as he begins to think about life after high school, Casteel still plans to stay in the arts by continuing in music production and performing at local clubs and venues. He credits his life experiences as major inspiration, using songwriting as a medium to recount difficulties and challenges, and reflect back on his progression.
“The best part about, like, the songwriting is growth,” he said. “It's like, you write a song about something that bothers you, but you can go back, like, a year later and go back and listen to that and remember what you went through and how you overcame it.”
Donate to the GoFundMe campaign here.