The Ellington - Outreach

While we cater to the adults in our community with our regular shows, we think it's crucial for children to get an appreciation for music early in life. With budget crunches, comes the belief (mistaken, in our opinion) that music and the arts aren't crucial for our children's learning. That's where we come in.

In keeping with our mission statement "to identify, cultivate, and expose artistic talent in our community", the Ellington has instituted the Ellington MusicBridge-a program for at-risk children. Think of all the great artists out there who had some small influence when they were kids. By presenting live musical performance coupled with the fundamentals of music, the program "bridges" a connection between these children and local musicians—encouraging interaction between the children and the artists and creating opportunities for interested and talented children to begin musical study. Yes, that probably means that they'll be driving their parents crazy while practicing, but hey, we drove our parents crazy, didn't we? The value of a child's exposure to quality musical performance and the opportunity to study an instrument is well documented, as is the fact that the music and arts programs are suffering the first cutbacks from school budgets. The opportunity to study music is almost non-existent for low-income children. Obstacles such as transportation worries and expense prevent these children from participating in these types of programs. So we're bringing the music to them.

Here's what we're doing with the Ellington MusicBridge. In 2003 we got off the ground with a series of concerts presented at Lynchburg's Parks and Recreation Centers. Lynchburg musician Lew Taylor helped us create “From Louis to Nelly—Pops to Hip Hop," and his group Jazmine played it out. The kids seemed to love it! (Either that, or they were being polite).

This year we will keep a more regular presence at the centers with visits from music educators and by developing computer based music education opportunities. Our goal is to identify future musicians who attend these programs, and give them the instruments and lessons they need to move forward with their musical interests. (For detailed info about the MusicBridge program, you can download a pdf of the brochure.)

How can you help?

So you haven't picked up your instrument for years, and you doubt you ever will? We'll take it! We'd like to be able to give these kids what they need, whether it's a used or new instrument. And if you know how to teach, we'll take that too! Okay, you can't do either of these? Then why not give us your money, and we'll pay for what the children need!

Please e-mail musicbridge@theellington.org to find out more about how you can become a part of this program. And a big "thank you" to our new community partners! The Ellington MusicBridge program has been awarded grant money from the Junior League of Lynchburg and BWX Technologies, and if you have any ideas of other potential donors, well, please let us know!

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