ARTS NEWS SCENE
By Preston Turegano
ARTS WRITER
March 19, 2006 Classics endowment
Classics for Kids – a small local nonprofit arts organization that for the past 12 years has provided professional and educational music performances to children – is preparing to start a fundraising campaign to establish a $5 million endowment.
Marion Scire, executive director of Classics for Kids, said board members and supporters of the organization next month will attend endowment creation workshops offered by the San Diego Foundation, with the fundraising campaign starting in late spring or early summer. The plan is to raise the money over five years.
Classics for Kids currently runs on a budget of $245,000, and for the first time has received support from such corporations as Sempra Energy, Qualcomm and Solar Turbines. It expects to serve 20,000 children this year.
“The (public) schools aren't engaging them (in the arts), so we try to fill the gap,” Scire said.
In January, Classics for Kids offered seven performances of Mozart's “The Magic Flute” at the North Park Theatre and California Center for the Arts Escondido. City Ballet, opera singers and the Classics Philharmonic performed in the opera.
At 2 p.m. April 2, Classics for Kids will present “Notes From Paris” – a melding of impressionist art, music, puppets, mime and dance – at Rolando's Joan B. Kroc Theatre. Tickets are $11-$15 for children and $19-$22 for adults, and can be purchased by calling (619) 435-9111.
The violin, part of the string family, has 4 strings.
