The very week that Alex Ross writes a terrific article about the great Marian Anderson and the current status of African Americans in classical music, the news comes from Juilliard that they will have no new students in their Music Advancement Program, which provides music education for poor minority children. In New York City, that mostly means African American and Latino children.
What makes this particularly sickening is the amount of money Juilliard needs to continue the program as it has been for some 20 years: $400,000, which is chump change in the philanthropical world. I also note that Juilliard's annual operating budget is around $50 million.
The Juilliard School has a whole bunch of illustrious graduates out there, working musicians with important careers. You're telling me that the school's fundraising staff can't persuade these musicians to collectively come up with a measly $400,000 to keep this program going? I know times are tough all over, but if that's the case, they should all be ashamed of themselves.
2 comments:
"You're telling me that the school's fundraising staff can't persuade these musicians to collectively come up with a measly $400,000 to keep this program going?"
I wonder if the money was coming from Wall St. types who are now stone cold broke? Saw "American Masters" last nite on PBS and it was about Philip Glass. He was a child prodigy of sorts and a Julliard alum - and maybe he has some bucks to put into a program like this. But it seems to me this should be funded by a wider community.
The program is 20 years old. It can't all be Wall Street moguls.
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