Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Song and Dance: Michael Maietta, 10, (right) and next to him (from left) Vivian Nguyen, 10, Emma Perotti, 9, and Meghan Garrett, 9, practice their dance moves to 'A Christmas Rockin' Eve' along with other fourth- and fifth-graders at Booksin Elementary School. They are taught by Booksin music teacher Laura Longshore and are benefiting from a grant from Willow Glen's Cultural Initiatives Silicon Valley.
WG's Cultural Initiatives provides funding for arts in local schools
Booksin Elementary among nonprofit's first beneficiaries
By Moryt Milo
When Willow Glen's Booksin Elementary School welcomed students back in the fall, the school's music program was singing a happier tune. Willow Glen-based Cultural Initiatives Silicon Valley, 1153 Lincoln Ave., a nonprofit organization created to augment educational arts in Santa Clara County public elementary schools, awarded Booksin a $50,000 arts grant in June 2000.
The funds will be used to augment the school's music and drama programs.
During the next five years, the school, at 1590 Dry Creek Rd., will receive $10,000 per year to continue building its cultural arts program.
Principal Nancy Carlson heard about the program from another principal and says she wanted to do the same thing for Booksin.
This year's funding enables Booksin to bring in cultural art consultants, an art education mentor and instructional materials for its music department.
Art Education Mentor Bobbi Ausubel says, "The funds are being used to work with the San Jose Children's Theater on a grade-level presentation and the acquisition of theatrical equipment."
This initial year of funding helped Booksin music teacher Laura Longshore purchase recorders and a set of videos on musical instruments.
"Before the funds from Cultural Initiatives, we didn't have any materials to work with," Longshore says. "Last year all the parents had to buy the recorders. Now everyone will have one to play at school."
She says the infusion of funds has generated a lot of excitement. The holiday program in December, which includes parts for dance and drama, had more than 70 children vying for dance parts and 100 children trying out for drama parts, Longshore says.
Encouraged by the strong student interest, she says, "I'm writing script parts for as many children as possible."
Carlson and Longshore say the ability to add visual and auditory tools to the music program is increasing student interest in all the arts at Booksin.
Future grants from Cultural Initiatives will enable Booksin to hire part-time teachers to help in the areas of art, drama and dance, Carlson says.
The Cultural Initiatives program was initiated by former San Jose Mayor Susan Hammer and her interest in developing a stronger cultural arts curriculum within the public school system.
"To say it was my brainchild is a bit misleading," Hammer says. "There were a lot of people working together to make it happen."
But many credit Hammer with taking the lead in stirring the program into action, says Jennifer Leclerc, the organization's communications coordinator.
Hammer says the idea was first discussed back in the 1980s when she was a member of the San Jose City Council. It was during her tenure as mayor, between 1990 and 1998, that the idea became reality.
In 1999, the first year the program actively distributed grant money, it awarded $90,000 for arts and cultural education programs to 15 local schools and one public agency, the Children's Shelter of Santa Clara County in San Jose.
In March 2000, the organization received a big boost in grant funds when it teamed up with the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. The foundation contributed $2.1 million. This generated a second round of program funding in June 2000, and Booksin became one of the beneficiaries.
With a total of $50,000 coming into Booksin's arts program, Longshore says, "The goal to have a program that incorporates all of the arts at all grade levels is what we are putting together right now."
Carlson says the amount of money coming in through the program is impressive and she only wished "she had that same kind of program funding for reading and math."
For more information, contact Cultural Initiatives Silicon Valley, 408.283.7000.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
