GILROY
– Aspiring violinists from Antonio Del Buono Elementary School
will give a musical thanks to the community members who made their
lessons possible this year.
By Lori Stuenkel
GILROY – Aspiring violinists from Antonio Del Buono Elementary School will give a musical thanks to the community members who made their lessons possible this year. The students, participants in the Suzuki Violin Program, will join program supporter Theater Angels Art League in dedicating a “Wall of Fame” tonight for those who have donated at least $150 to keep the music playing.
“We’re acknowledging all of the businesses, foundations, individuals, service clubs, parent groups, etc., that have helped make financial contributions to keep the program going,” said Bill Flodberg, Theater Angels’ fund development officer.
During a ceremony held at the Willey House at 6 p.m., 24 groups and individuals will be honored with a plaque containing each of their names that will be displayed in Del Buono’s foyer.
In its fifth year, the program provides Del Buono students with twice weekly violin lessons taught by Gilroy musician and music teacher Lori Franke.
For three years, the California Arts Council funded Franke’s school residence. After the Council’s $12,000 contribution and some funding from Gilroy Unified School District, there was little need for significant community donations, Flodberg said.
But when the residence ended this year, Theater Angels launched the Adopt-a-School program to raise money to keep Franke at Del
Buono.
“The idea of that in the com-munity is to take care of pro-grams for which the school
district doesn’t have complete finances,” Flodberg said. “The funds, if anything, are going to be less for these kinds of programs in the future. Music has not been totally de-emphasized by the school district, but it’s certainly not its highest priority.”
Theater Angels needs to raise $21,650 to pay Franke through the 2003-04 school year. Del Buono paid $6,330 of that from its school budget and committed another $4,500 through school fund raising, said Keiko Mizuno, GUSD’s director of business services.
“As soon as we found out that there wasn’t going to be anything in the budget to keep anything but a skeleton of the California Arts Council, the artist in residence programs would virtually die on the vine,” said Flodberg, who acted as project coordinator for Gilroy’s artist in residence chapter. “Therefore, the parents and other groups have to make up the difference in order to keep the program going.”
Thanks to generous donations, particularly those of the 24 groups and individuals honored tonight, the group only needs to raise an additional $2,000, Flodberg said.
“This is a thank-you for all these people that have made contributions, and shows that without the community’s support, all these school programs won’t continue,” Flodberg said.
The Arts Council of Silicon Valley, the Gilroy Rotary Foundation, Gilroy Foundation and Community Foundation all made significant contributions, as well as 14 businesses and several individuals, Flodberg said.
The donations continue to grow, so several spaces on the plaque remain vacant.
To donate money to the Suzuki Violin Program at Antonio Del Buono or Gilroy High School, call 683-4683.
