To the editor:
Re: “Vancouver DPAC chair gets vocal about budget cuts,” April 11.
In 2007, Access to Music Foundation received an urgent plea from a music teacher in Vancouver’s West End. Sixty Grade 6 and 7 students wanted to learn how to play an instrument so they could take part in their school band. However, the school had just a handful of instruments, most that were old and broken, to share among all the students that wanted to participate. The bigger challenge was that the VSB had defunded music programs.
We raised $40,000 through an anonymous donor just in time to prepare for a holiday school concert. Thanks to these efforts 60 students succeeded in learning to play new instruments and had discovered the real benefits of playing in a band. And that, we thought, was the end of our work. But in fact, our work was just beginning.
Over the next few years we received dozens of urgent requests for assistance from other Vancouver schools. From dedicated music specialists who could no longer teach effectively on broken instruments to parents who could not afford instrument rental fees and enthusiastic new teachers who wanted to start a band and string program that the VSB board could not or would not fund.
And so, Access to Music became the “first responders” to music education. We responded to the most critical needs by contributing $85,000 to the most needy elementary and secondary schools. We recognized that it was a simple triage approach, but it meant a world of hope and opportunity to students and their parents. It brought sense of pride to their schools. Your schools.
Seven years later, the budget proposal to cut elementary school band and strings is, again, extinguishing every hope and putting at risk every opportunity for young people.
This single act will have disastrous effects on the overall learning experience for thousands of elementary students now and for generations to come.
I am extremely dismayed to learn of these proposed cuts. I now find it hard to believe that the VSB is not as committed to supporting music programs as our individual and corporate donors.
Our donors are not parents of children in your schools. They are not people of extreme wealth nor are they elite musicians. They are regular people who understand that for elementary school children, playing in a band or orchestra is key to building literacy and math skills, developing self-esteem, and yes, playing in a band is fun!
I hope the Vancouver School Board will invest as enthusiastically in the future of Vancouver’s children as do our foundation, our board, the corporate and private donors who support our efforts and our partners in education.
Elka Yarlowe, President
Access to Music Foundation
