Keeping the arts alive in local schools

Amid the perpetual push to raise test scores and boost science and technology in public schools, one Mountain View nonprofit has fought to make sure music and art aren’t lost in the bustle.

The Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA) has been instrumental in guiding thousands of young children towards a lifelong love of music and art for decades, providing lessons in schools from San Jose to Daly City. But CSMA, with its headquarters nestled next to the busy San Antonio Shopping Center, commits most of its limited resources in its hometown of Mountain View, hosting subsidized, weekly art and music programs at every elementary school in the Mountain View Whisman School District.

Through the nonprofit, kids from kindergarten through fifth grade get to break up the normal routine of academic classes and flex their creative muscles, delving into painting, ceramics, singing and playing instruments. The one-hour classes are taught by professional musicians and artists with CSMA, and students get the opportunity to showcase their work at exhibitions including the first floor of City Hall every February, according to Sharon Kenney, CSMA’s marketing director.

CSMA is one of seven nonprofit organizations that benefit from the Voice’s annual Holiday Fund. Donations to the fund are divided equally among the nonprofits and are administered by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation at no cost, so 100 percent of contributions go to the recipients.

CSMA’s latest goal is to help aspiring musicians with support that bridges the gap between elementary and middle school, including an intensive three-week summer program and reduced-tuition private music lessons known collectively as the Young Musicians program. While kids try recorders in fourth grade through CSMA’s in-school program and later get to experiment with brass and woodwind instruments, they aren’t always prepared to take the lead in band classes or perform in ensembles without a little extra help.

Music tends to fall by the wayside when kids hit sixth grade, as academic pressure ramps up and kids have to decide whether to use their elective period on band or competing extracurricular activities, said Petra Clark, the music program manager at CSMA. She said music unfortunately has taken a smaller and smaller role in the public education system — generally taking a backseat to other initiatives — despite being such an important part of peoples’ lives.

“In the past, the arts were a real instrumental part of education for a very long time,” Clark said. “It was core, but it’s not so much anymore. It’s seen a bit more as a hobby.”

Through CSMA, children can get exposed to a broad range of string instruments like the violin, the viola and the cello, or can dig into wind instruments including the flute, the clarinet, the saxophone and the trumpet. Students in middle school are able to try their hand at the French horn this year, but it’s going to be discontinued due to the difficult learning curve.

“For some kids, they do feel like it’s their calling — they know they want to play the trombone, and we hope that their arms are long enough because it’s a big instrument,” she said. “Others pick their instrument randomly.”

One of CSMA’s primary missions is to provide music and art for everyone regardless of family income. Children who qualify for free and reduced lunch are automatically eligible for financial aid, reducing the cost of private lessons by up to 80 percent, from $88 per hour to $18 per hour. CSMA updated its income guidelines in the fall so everyone who needs the help can qualify, Kenney said.

“We wanted to make sure financial aid eligibility reflects what is happening in Mountain View right now and the true cost of living here,” she said.

CSMA’s in-school lessons for the Mountain View Whisman School District also extend to the district’s “Head Start” preschool program, with more than 160 children from low-income families benefiting from early art and music activities.

CSMA’s services to the community are focused here in Mountain View, but it’s not just because of its central location within the city’s limits. Clark said there’s a robust partnership with Mountain View’s city government, the Mountain View Whisman School District, the Mountain View Education Foundation and CSMA to contribute to supporting the arts. That special partnership, she said, means they can overcome the region’s inequities and guarantee no school has to throw the arts overboard.

“There’s a push, a recognition of a need for equity. Otherwise, Mountain View would be like other districts where schools like Castro or Theuerkauf might not have music and art if the PTA can’t pay for it,” she said.

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