by Gweneth Ngo, Classics 4 Kids Intern Dana Zimbric is not only our visionary conductor and educator here at Classics 4 Kids, but also an advocate for classical music and its accessibility to everyone, especially children across San Diego County. She has dedicated her 20+ career and her work to making music not only relevant and meaningful, but engaging for diverse communities. This Women’s History Month, we are proud to highlight our very own Artistic Director and Conductor: Dana Zimbric! She continues to inspire future generations, share the beauty of classical music, and most importantly, refine what it means to be [...]

We are proud to share our progress in providing equitable access to music education in 2025: 45,092 people were reached through our virtual and in-person programming, with 31,975 from Title 1 (under-resourced) communities. We served 276 schools across the nation, with 183 of these qualifying as Title 1. 75 bus scholarships were awarded to Title 1 schools, ensuring transportation access to our concerts. 90 professional artists were employed, enriching the experiences of our students. Over 10,000 students at 32 schools received our assemblies on campus with professional musicians from the Classics Philharmonic Orchestra, reflecting a 76% increase in demand. Our [...]

We are excited to invite you to support Palm Strings: A Ukulele Fundraiser — a special event to explore the ukulele while enjoying tiki-themed food and drinks and learning about our newest initiative! This event takes place on Sunday, May 18th – 3-5 PM at Vinya (6185 Balboa Avenue, San Diego). This event will raise funds for our Ukulele Scholarship Program, which places skilled music instructors directly into classrooms to provide hands-on ukulele lessons. This experience will ignite passion, build confidence, and nurture a lifelong love of music. Our goal is to raise $7,500 for our scholarships to support underserved [...]

We are delighted to extend an invitation to support the 2025 Classics 4 Kids Gala, to be held at The Country Club of Rancho Bernardo on October 5, 2025 from 2-5 PM. This event will raise funds to support our critical programs that bring live music programming to elementary schools in underserved communities through professional orchestra concerts, assemblies and music-teacher-residencies. Moreover, it is an opportunity to help ensure the continuation of our mission to transform children's lives through innovative educational concerts and music programs that inspire learning, creativity, and community. We expect 150 patrons-of-the-arts to attend this event to participate [...]

Since our inception in 1994, Classics 4 Kids has been dedicated to addressing educational inequities by providing critical music education to students in San Diego County. Our programs cater to TK to 6th grade students, comprising of professional orchestra performances, on-campus assemblies, and virtual programming. In our last season alone, we impacted over 40,000 students, teachers, and families across 312 schools nationwide. 27,000 of our audience represented under-resourced Title 1 schools. We believe in the power of arts integration, and therefore we incorporate science, literacy, and math into our music education programs. Our innovative cross-curricular approach is aligned with CA [...]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9d7ZGhKZck&t=2s San Diego Foundation recently posted this video about how Classics 4 Kids utilized funding from the Jay Kahn Endowment Fund to impact low-income students throughout San Diego. Their astounding surprise donation enabled us to expand programming to the Joan B. Kroc Theatre for the first time in November. This inclusive location enables access to schools from high-poverty neighborhoods located in the San Diego Promise Zone. The expansion increased access to our programming for students from low-income schools by 16%, comprising 84% of our audience during November's performances of The Conductor's Spellbook. Read their full blog post. [...]

Would you or your company like to be a sponsor of the Classics 4 Kids Gala? Click here to learn more about the promotion opportunities we offer at a variety of giving levels: Sponsorship Package 2023

C4K's Executive Director Kiran Shelat was selected as a Finalist by San Diego Business Journal. Her collaborative leadership style and excellent organizational skills have helped C4K achieve amazing results!