“The Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra’s instrument library will expand for practicing students this year, aided by a $100,000 grant awarded Tuesday” by the Raleigh-based John William Pope Foundation, writes Alicia Banks in Tuesday’s (1/12) Fayetteville Observer (North Carolina). “The grant will fund the new instrument lending library for the Fayetteville Symphony Youth Orchestra. The ensemble will now take home a range of strings, percussions and horns after Sunday practices to prepare for concerts and more, said orchestra president and CEO Christine Kastner. ‘This is a great standard for other organizations to meet in the future,’ Art Pope, the foundation’s chairman, said about the lending library…. Kastner said,… ‘Many schools own large string instruments, but [students] can’t take them home. They can’t advance in the same way as a peer whose family can pay for, or rent, the instrument.’ … The youth orchestra is comprised of roughly 45 students from Cumberland County and outside.… With the grant, Kastner hopes the orchestra continues reaching more students…. The youth orchestra practices during the school year with many out-of-town students returning home [at] 9 p.m.” Says Kastner, “That’s a huge commitment from them and their families. Those students deserve an opportunity.”
Posted January 14, 2016
