The city of Palmdale has announced a new partnership with local nonprofit Music and Kids to provide continued support and community outreach for the city’s Gabriel’s House program.
“Music and Kids will be the engine that will provide qualified instructors to develop and implement arts related activities through our Gabriel’s House program,” said Mike Miller, director of Palmdale Neighborhood Services.
For more than five years, Gabriel’s House has provided free musical instruments, equipment and instruction to youth ages 8 to 18 years, thanks to generous financial donations by groups such the Warnack Foundation and the AV Business Expo. Instructors have graciously volunteered their time.
Under the new partnership, Music and Kids will take the lead in providing quality instruction and programming at no charge to the participating youth.
“Especially for music lessons where individualizing the lesson is so important, having students learning in a one-on-one environment with a paid, qualified instructor provides a much more stable program for both the students and the teachers,” said singer-songwriter and recording artist Chuck Murphy, who founded Music and Kids in 2016.
Fundraising efforts are underway to provide adequate staffing to meet the needs and provide learning opportunities for the students. Donations for Gabriel’s House programming may be made at www.musicandkids.org. In spring 2019, the Gabriel’s House program will move from the Neighborhood House location on 6th St. East to its new location at Courson Arts Colony East, 939 East Ave. Q-12.
Gabriel’s House was created in memory of eight-year-old Gabriel Fernandez who was tragically killed. “Gabriel’s House” serves as a music, visual and performing arts center to provide children in the area with the opportunity to develop their creative talents.
Music and Kids is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established to bridge the growing gap between government-funded educational programs and private funding. As there is less and less funding allocated from state and federal budgets for Music and Arts education, the shortfall needs to be picked up by private funding.
Music and Kids is focused on helping bridge the divide in three ways: by raising awareness, giving opportunity and building a community of love through music. Their goal is to enroll 10,000 kids in the Antelope Valley of California, Southern California, and beyond in one-on-one, after school music lessons with qualified, paid instructors. Through fundraising and sponsorships by local, regional, and national businesses and foundations, Music and Kids helps to brinig money into the economy of the regions where they provide scholarships by providing funding for teachers to work with talented students. These lessons allow students to develop their vocal and instrumental talents, as well as their knowledge of music theory and performance skills.
Music and Kids is raising awareness of the need for and benefits of music education through promotional efforts in the community, as well as providing opportunities for people to come together through the love and joy of sharing music.
Support from the community, including volunteerism and donations, is always needed to allow Music and Kids to serve more students as our program and our waiting list of student participants continue to grow.
For more information, visit www.musicandkids.org/contact.html.
