Getty Grant Awards Announced

Intended to help stimulate growth and excellence in education and community engagement programming, the grants will fund orchestras’ long-term in-school and after-school music programs with social development components, as well as orchestras’ health and wellness programs for populations including hospital patients, people with developmental disabilities, homeless mothers, and the families and healthcare providers of these groups. Details of each grantee program can be found here.

For first-hand video accounts from grantee program stakeholders and others, visit the League’s online story bank. Health care providers, parents, musicians, orchestra administrators, and students are featured in videos and articles showing the many ways in which orchestras serve communities.

“We are grateful to the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation for continuing to support this critical program,” said League President and CEO Jesse Rosen. “Orchestras continue to expand their vital role in civic and community life, with musicians acting as ambassadors, advocates, and educators. The League is a catalyst in this work, as we share success stories and ideas with the entire orchestral field, helping orchestras deepen their relationship with their communities and develop diverse audiences.”

Getty Education and Community Investment Grants recipients for 2015-16 are:

• Allentown Symphony Orchestra, for El Sistema Lehigh Valley
• Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, for OrchKids
• El Paso Symphony Orchestra, for Tocando
• Empire State Youth Orchestras for CHIME: Creating Harmony Invigorating Music Education
• Grand Rapids Symphony, for Music for Health
• Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, for Metropolitan Youth Orchestra
• Juneau Symphony for Juneau, Alaska Music Matters (JAMM)
• Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, for Kalamazoo Kids in Tune
• Kidznotes
• Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, for KSO Music & Wellness
• Los Angeles Philharmonic, for Youth Orchestra LA (YOLA)
• Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, for Soul Strings
• New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, for NJSO CHAMPS (Character, Achievement and Music Project)
• New West Symphony for Harmony Project of Ventura County
• Orchestra of St. Luke’s, for Youth Orchestra of St. Luke’s (YOSL)
• Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra for RSO/SPHERE Partnership
• San Diego Youth Symphony and Conservatory, for Community Opus Project
• Seattle Symphony, for Lullaby Project
• Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras, for SYSO in the School
• The Phoenix Symphony, for The B-Sharp Music Wellness, a W.O.N.D.E.R. Project: Alzheimer’s Expansion Initiative
• Waterbury Symphony Orchestra for Bravo Waterbury!
• Yakima Symphony Orchestra for Yakima Music en Acción (YAMA)

A total of $425,000 was awarded for this year’s grants, the fourth year of the $2 million re-granting program made possible by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation. The orchestras, encompassing a full range of budget sizes, will receive individual grants ranging from $15,000 to $27,500 for a variety of community-based programs taking place during the 2015-16 season. A prerequisite for qualifying orchestras was the existence of partnerships with local community or social service organizations.

The initial 115 applicants were narrowed by an independent advisory panel of experts to 32 semi- finalists; all programs were then judged on a number of criteria, including innovation and relevance to community needs, strength of partnerships, extent and quality of professional development, and strength of evaluation activities, among other assessment categories.