First published in the Aug. 25 print issue of the Pasadena Outlook.
Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts recently awarded $500,000 in gifts and grants to 55 nonprofit organizations and schools throughout the San Gabriel Valley and greater Los Angeles area.
The grants help support music education and music enrichment in schools, youth orchestras and choruses, and music therapy programs, as well as underwriting concerts by the L.A. Philharmonic and other local cultural institutions.
This year’s awards bring the organization’s total investment in music and the arts to more than $24 million.
Undine Schwarz, chair of the 2021-22 gifts and grants committee, said that being nominated to chair the committee was a privilege and gave credit to the many members who served on her committee for their hard work and commitment.
“Serving on this committee is very rewarding since we get to see firsthand the results of the organization’s fundraising efforts,” Schwarz said.
A group of about 70 individuals, who included representatives from these organizations, along with Pasadena Showcase members, gathered at the 2022 Pasadena Showcase House of Design on May 6 for a reception.
Schwarz, along with 2021-22 President Marti Farley, presented each recipient with a certificate and a check for their projects. The recipients spoke about how the funding will benefit their organizations.
Carly Bidner, chief development officer for the Frostig School, a special education school for children with learning differences, said the grant money will support the school’s annual musical production, a much-anticipated highlight of the school year.
“We are so thankful for the grant, which really helped support this year’s production of ‘Beauty and the Beast,’” said Bidner. “The children look forward to this all year and are so excited to take part in it. It really allows them to cultivate connections and find their voices in a meaningful way.”
“We were so pleased that Pasadena Showcase was able to support the many worthwhile organizations who bring music enrichment to the greater Pasadena area,” Farley said. “Hearing the stories of grant recipients shows how much of a difference Pasadena Showcase makes in the community, and we’re very proud of that.”
2021-22 GIFTS AND GRANTS RECIPIENTS
• Gifts: LA Phil and City of La Cañada Education Foundation.
• Grants: Academy of Music for the Blind; American Youth Symphony; Angelica Center for Arts and Music; Arcadia Music Club; Assistance League of Los Angeles; Boston Court Pasadena; Boys & Girls Club of Pasadena; Burbank High School Instrumental Music Association; California State Summer School Arts Foundation; California State University DH Philanthropic Foundation; Center Theatre Group; Clazzical Notes; CoachArt; The Colburn School; Elemental Music; Families Forward Learning Center; Glendale Youth Orchestra; Global Arts Corporation; Grand Vision Foundation; Harmony Project; Hathaway-Sycamores & Family Services; Independent Opera Company; Institute for the Redesign of Learning; John Burroughs High School Vocal Music; Los Angeles County High School for the Arts Foundation; Los Angeles Master Chorale; Los Angeles Music and Art School; Los Angeles Opera Company; Los Angeles Philharmonic Association; Los Angeles Youth Philharmonic; Makoto Taiko; Marianne Frostig Center, Frostig School; MUSE/IQUE; Music Heals Minds; MUSYCA Children’s Choir; National Children’s Chorus; The Neighborhood Music School; Nevenka East European Folk Ensemble; Optimist Youth Homes & Family Services; Pasadena Conservatory of Music; Pasadena Senior Center; Pasadena Symphony Association; San Fernando Valley Youth Chorus; Santa Cecilia Orchestra; South Pasadena Educational Foundation; South Pasadena Middle School Music Boosters; Synchromy; The Music Center; The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts; Therapeutic Living Centers for the Blind; USC Thornton School of Music; Villa Esperanza Services; VOX Femina Los Angeles; Washington Middle School Glee Club; and White Hall Arts Academy Foundation.
Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts, an all-volunteer nonprofit, has been supporting local music and arts programs since 1948. With the hard work and dedication of its more than 200 members, the organization raises funds from its major benefit, the Pasadena Showcase House of Design — one of the oldest, largest, and most successful home and garden tours in the country.
Through its gifts and grants program, Pasadena Showcase has contributed more than $24 million to nonprofit organizations in support of music education, scholarships, concerts and music therapy, while continuing to support the L.A. Phil and its learning programs, for which the organization was first founded.
Pasadena Showcase also nurtures the study and appreciation of music among young people with its three annual music programs: the Music MobileTM, which has introduced orchestral instruments to more than 125,000 3rd-grade students; the instrumental competition, which has awarded more than $650,000 in monetary prizes for exceptionally talented musicians; and the youth concert, which has brought nearly 250,000 4th-graders to Walt Disney Concert Hall for L.A. Phil performances.
