THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 7, 1996 TAG: 9607040193
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Ida Kay's Portsmouth
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: 81 lines
Portsmouth schools have budgeted several thousand dollars to enable elementary students here to see live Young Audiences performances next year.
Ray Lowther, school music supervisor, said Superintendent Richard Trumble has committed $2,500 or more to help pay for the programs. Trumble, incidentally, attended the annual meeting of the Young Audiences board, where the Portsmouth schools allocation was announced.
Lowther, who came here five years ago from Ohio, said that nothing has been budgeted by the Portsmouth schools in recent years for Young Audiences concerts. Portsmouth was the only school system in the region that received no school money for the programs. Whatever programs were booked here were paid for by Parent-Teacher Associations or other organizations connected with a school. A school without a strong support group could wind up with no live performances.
Lowther said he was delighted that Trumble was willing to match a grant of $3,000 the Portsmouth Museums and Fine Arts Commission made to Young Audiences for the schools.
The combined money will be allocated to 19 elementary schools in the Portsmouth system, enabling each to contract for two programs for $150 per concert.
Most school principals will be able to come up with $300, he said, either from PTA donations or other available money.
With the budget allocation and the grant, all Portsmouth elementary kids can be assured of participation.
That's really good news for the children.
I always found irony in the fact that so much leadership for Young Audiences comes from Portsmouth, where so little support comes from the public schools.
The leadership from Portsmouth continues.
Gladys Maxwell was named Young Audiences volunteer of the year at the annual luncheon. She was cited for all of her money-raising efforts last year, including a scholarship raffle.
Mary Ruffin Hanbury Viles, a Portsmouth woman, was installed at the recent luncheon for a second term as president. She follows a long line of Portsmouth women in the job.
Over the years many of those important to the success of the statewide Young Audiences program have been from here: Phyllis Rapoport, Bruce Robinett, Ramona Mapp, Jean Shackelford, Gladys Maxwell, Harriett Heath, Wanda Russo. . barely over the line in Chesapeake) was a stalwart.
At the luncheon, Minette Cooper of Norfolk (the YA national volunteer of the year) spoke of Jiral, who died unexpectedly last winter while preparing to go to Richmond to lobby the legislature for the arts.
``We miss Shirley Jiral,'' Cooper said. She added that not only did Shirley do a lot of work but she also did it graciously and happily.
And, I might add, tenaciously. Not many Young Audiences events occurred in Portsmouth that Shirley Jiral didn't call and tell us about.
All of those from Portsmouth who have worked so hard to keep YA not only alive but thriving must feel some real pleasure that every small child in Portsmouth will have a chance to see live performances next year.
Why all the ruckus over getting arts into the schools? Well, for starters, there are many kids who never would have the exposure if they didn't get it at school. People don't just magically become opera lovers or symphony aficionados. The ear must be tuned early in life. The heart must be opened while it is still malleable.
Now I don't expect everybody who hears two brief concerts during a school year to grow up gaga over classical music. But I do believe that exposure to live performances is going to goad many children to explore the arts further.
The arts help us look into our souls and to express our feelings in a positive way.
``The arts help children grow wiser as they grow smarter,'' Eilene Rosenblum, executive director of Young Audiences, said.
And, she added, the arts are ``the primary vehicle for instilling values'' into school days.
That is a particularly important point because it seems pretty evident that today's children are smarter than the generations before the information explosion and its tools. But, for all their knowledge, many do not have the wisdom their grandparents and even their parents got from a variety of sources - from discussions that today might be prohibited in the classroom or from reading books or from talking to older people.
If only one child in 100 gains from exposure to live performances, that is a good return on the public dollars. by CNB