Fallbrook Music Society receives grant from National Endowment for the Arts

FALLBROOK – Fallbrook Music Society’s newly-elected president, Marlo Miller, announced that the organization is one of only a few nationwide to receive the invitation-only National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grant entitled, “Arts Engagement in American Communities,” which targets under-served areas. “We are thrilled to be recommended by the NEA for this award,” said Miller. “This new project will have a positive impact on our local community, and provide additional opportunities for children K-8 and their parents to participate in the arts, and fundamentally improve the educational outcomes for our children.”

Even as Fallbrook Music Society struggles for relevance with the changing demographics and the increased music festivals and outdoor programs within the community, its education and outreach efforts continue to be widely supported.

“This award validates Fallbrook Music Society’s commitment to world-class classical music performances and its youth education initiatives, and by extension, confirms that we are one of the leaders in arts education in Southern California,” said Miller.

The Music Society will receive $10,000 from the NEA to help support its inaugural youth education program. One of the requirements of the grant is that the NEA-supported award must be “matched,” and receipt is based upon the ability to find a local, matching partner, and this requirement has been met through a variety of sources – providing more than $20,000 in music education grant awards.

The Fallbrook Music Society Family Series is being dedicated to Dr. Brenda Montiel and Helen Lovaas, two women who pioneered FMS’s music education program.

“Both Brenda and Helen understood the broader value of arts education and I suspect they would be very proud of the way that we have integrated music into today’s curriculum standards,” said Ann Murray, executive director of Fallbrook Music Society. The objective of this three-part program is to improve literacy through arts engagement, and in partnership with the San Diego County Fallbrook Library and the Fallbrook and Bonsall school districts,

this unique concept links reading and music to the new California Common Core Standards in reading to improve literacy for children.

The upcoming Family Series program includes three free concerts at the Fallbrook Library, each beginning at 2 p.m. and based on a popular children’s novel:

• Sunday, Nov. 16 - “A Seriously Unfortunate Event,” Sarcasm and chaos reign when a soprano loses her voice! How will she deal with this seriously unfortunate event? Based on the popular Lemony Snicket series, entitled “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” this 13-book series has sold more than 60 million books, making it one of the most popular children’s series of all time.

• Sunday, Jan. 18 - “Diary of a Wimpy Instrument”

• Sunday, Mar. 15 - “A Wrinkle in 4/4” Time”

In addition to its youth education outreach programs, Fallbrook Music Society provides a series of five professional, classical music concerts at the Bob Burton Center for the Performing Arts in Fallbrook. For more information, visit http://www.fallbrookmusicsociety.org or call (760) 451-8644.