Orchestral Getty Grants: The Community Work of Four Orchestras

The summer issue of Symphony magazine had an article by Michael Stugrin about the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation’s Education and Community Envestment grants, awarded to 22 orchestras in 2014-15. The grants rage from $13,000 to $27,500, and are granted to orchestras of all budget sizes.
Mr. Sturgin’s article focuses on four recipients:

• The Central Ohio Symphony’s Reconnecting program, which runs a series of drumming circles in the Delaware County Juvenile Treatment Court, working with Maryhaven, a provider of mental health services.
• The Yakima (WA) Symphony’s Yakima Music en Acción program, which has created an El Sistema-inspired after-school program that is hosted by the Yakima school district, Garfield Elementary School, the state Opportunities Industrialization Center, and the Yakima Symphony. The program is intended to counter the gang problem in the area by creating “positive gangs that stand on street corners, talking about going to college, choosing a profession – and talking about music.”
• The El Paso Symphony’s Tocando program, a partnership of the El Paso Symphony and the IGNITE Initative of the El Pase del Norte Health Foundation that runs an intensive after-school El Sistema program in El Paso’s El Segundo Barrio neighborhood.
• The Spokane Symphony’s Music Heals program, which involves students from the Spokane Indian Reservation in the Wellpinit School District in a music-education and cultural-renewal initiative. In addition to learning to read music and play Western instruments, the students have built native drums and flutes, and are learning the Salish language, which is in danger of extinction.

Polyphonic salutes these and the other 18 recipient orchestras for the excellent community work they do. Please take a look at Mr. Sturgin’s article, Heroes, starting on page 48 of the Summer Symphony magazine.
We are also pleased to point you to an Orchestra Spotlight, published recently, that explores the work of the Central Ohio Symphony in much greater detail.