“Growing up, music was in our house all the time,” said Truckee Meadows Community College engineering teacher and panelist Jim Nichols. “And as I see it, there are five benefits to being involved with music. You have to learn to follow a leader, prepare and practice, learn to do your part and you can’t mess up since people will hear it. Once you’re done, you also get to celebrate your results.”
For the third year in a row, the district has been named one of the Best Communities for Music Education in America by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation. One-hundred seventy-four school districts from across the nation were named in this year’s announcement. The districts were measured across curricular and programmatic criteria as well as public support of their music programs.
Given that fact, piano teacher Maria Gradier said that it is “important that we really strive to enrich our music and other arts programs.”
“Arts programs are always the first ones on the chopping block,” Gradier said. “We really do have amazing arts programs, and while I’m most familiar with music, I do know that our theater and art programs have really helped to develop our young people’s creative talents.”
Gradier said her daughter's participation in the marching band at Reno High School shaped who she was.
“It’s about a lot more than just playing music,” Gradier said. “My daughter learned a lot about hard work and discipline, and made some great friends and had a lot of fun while doing it.”
Programs that were formerly at risk of being cut under current budget slashing are now being spared at many Washoe County schools due to a federal grant. In December, the Washoe County School District announced that it had received a grant of $967,132 for three years from the U.S. Department of Education Professional Development for Arts Educators Program. The district received one of only five grants in the U.S. that were awarded through the program.
“Now that budget issues don’t have to be our number one concern, we can take steps to really develop these programs to benefit the kids the best we can and foster the growth of all of their individual talents,” Gradier said.
The other panelists represented a group of people with a wide range of professions and backgrounds. They included B.J. North of Plumas Bank, Turkey Stremmel of Stremmel Gallery, Dr. Steve Rubin from Gerolesence, Inc. and Dr. Louis Bonaldi from the Center for Plastic Surgery and Dermatology.
Painter Aaron Donohue of Sparks said that if it weren’t for the arts programs he took part in when he was in high school, he would never have discovered that he could become a professional artist.
“I hope that we can make it clear that these programs are really worth it for our community,” Donohue said. “Arts education is a way to really invest in our kids. I don’t like to think of what my life would look like if painting weren’t as big a part of my life as it is now.”
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