California Music Educators Association – 2021 Music Industry Leadership Award
San Diego, CA – The California Music Educators Association is honoring San Diego nonprofit Classics 4 Kids with their 2021 Music Industry Leadership Award. The award honors an organization or individual for outstanding leadership in music education, which Classics 4 Kids has illustrated numerous times in its almost 30-year history. Other notable winners of the award include the Disney Performing Arts in 2016 and Macmillan/ McGraw Hill Language Arts in 2007.
The California Music Educators Association is a federated unit of the National Association for Music Education that seeks to support new and existing music programs and to create a greater awareness of the value of music education. This is the first state level award that Classics 4 Kids has received from the California Music Educators Association, and they are extremely grateful to be recognized for their vigorous work to provide critical music education through professional orchestra concerts and new virtual programs for elementary students across San Diego.
“It is a great honor to be granted this distinguished Music Industry Leadership Award,” said Dana Zimbric, Artistic Director of Classics 4 Kids. Zimbric has worked with Classics 4 Kids since 2003 when she became Conductor of the Classics Philharmonic Orchestra, which performed over 30 concerts annually for up to 30,000 school children in San Diego County prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Classics 4 Kids has particular outreach to Title 1, low-income schools with the goal to inspire children through the experience of music, generating creativity, academic success and cultural understanding. “To be able to see the constant growth and recognition for our programs’ impact on under-resourced communities is very rewarding. We hope to reach even more schoolchildren once public health restrictions are lifted and we can get back into the theatre!”, Zimbric added.
Classics 4 Kids is currently engaged in virtual programs to support distance and hybrid learning classrooms throughout San Diego County. With community support from private donors, foundations and municipal grants, the 25-minute music education sessions are provided for free to elementary schools. They have already benefitted over 4,500 students since the program was launched in March 2020, with over 2,000 students scheduled to receive the innovative “virtual field trip” this Spring.
The California Music Educators Association award ceremony takes place virtually on February 18, 2021, and more information on how to attend the ceremony will be released in the upcoming days.