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L.A.’s solution to cuts in school arts funding: Could it work here?

Note to readers: A short vacation trip took Editor Don Kirkland to Los Angeles and the opening night of Hollywood Bowl. There he learned of an innovative, community-based enterprise that has successfully replaced music-education funds removed two years ago from the budgets of the city’s elementary and middle schools. If projects like this can succeed in other cities, we think they could be likewise beneficial here.

By Don Kirkland

Students in the Kyrene school district may be better off than their L.A. counterparts, but it seems likely they’ll eventually face the same problem: funding cuts that force the abandonment of yet more “quality of life” programs.

To be sure, the flow of state education dollars continues to decline in Arizona, and although elementary-school students still receive 50 minutes a week of fine arts-related curriculum, Kyrene officials worry that cultural programs such as music and the arts will continue to be at risk.

It’s a scenario that’s all too familiar in many U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, where a massive movement is under way to prop up sagging school revenues through a variety of community-based initiatives.

For the thousands of Angelenos who don’t want their community’s children deprived of the joys of music, a program known as Music Matters has become not only a major funding source; as Arlo Guthrie might have said, recalling his memorable ‘60s anti-war hit Alice’s Restaurant, “it’s a movement.”

Evidence of the movement’s success was imprinted on the June 27 opening-night performance at Hollywood Bowl, featuring appearances by an array of music notables, from the Los Angeles Philharmonic to The Smothers Brothers to The Who’s legendary lead singer Roger Daltrey.

Thousands of dollars from the evening’s ticket sales were set aside for Music Matters by the sponsoring Philharmonic, helping the program to maintain its impact on more than 150,000 elementary, middle and, this year, high school students.

Woven into the Music Matters program for children are concerts, hands-on music instruction and workshops for teachers and parents.

Cornerstone of Music Matters is the School Partners Program, in which community

members and businesses work intensively with selected schools.

Parents also get into the act, attending workshops about the importance of music in their children’s lives and receiving extensive lists of free or nearly free family music opportunities.

“This (partners) program has surpassed our expectations,” says Llewellyn Crain, the association’s director of educational initiatives.

“Teachers and students are thrilled with the opportunity to learn about music; teachers feel more comfortable with classical music and are using music to teach other subject areas.

“One principal is even learning the cello and has joined his school’s orchestra.”

While each school approaches music education differently, according to Crain, the teachers agree that music is vital to the education of young people and that all children, regardless of ability or talent, should have music as part of their lives.

“The effect on our students has been profound,” says Seneca Hennrich, a middle-school teacher whose classes are involved in the program.

“(The program) opened our students up as they learned to listen to different kinds of music, and even perform. These kids had never seen a play or attended a concert before. Now they’re going to concerts and performing at our school.”

Another teacher, Odette Guzman, was likewise enthusiastic.

“Kids who were disengaged last year are now walking around school humming Beethoven. They want to meet a composer, they ask what composer they will study next year and they want to compose themselves.”

Success stories abound as a result of the program, which includes such sponsors as Citigroup, The Los Angeles Times, Toyota, Wells Fargo Bank, Washington Mutual and various county agencies, among others.

While potential support may not be quite as abundant in the Valley as in Los Angeles, it would seem that nothing should stop a similar effort by Kyrene Corridor parents interested in sustaining arts education for their own children as well as for future generations.

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