The North Carolina Symphony has received a $59,400 grant from the State Employees’ Credit Union (SECU) Foundation for the purchase of a custom-designed van to be used for its music education programs. The van will transport orchestra musicians, their instruments, and staff members for interactive programs such as Ensembles in the Schools, which brings the Symphony’s string quartet and woodwind quintet into elementary school classrooms; Music Discovery, a music and literacy program for preschoolers; and the Instrument Zoo, through which children try out the instruments of the orchestra. The programs travel statewide, including to areas of the state that otherwise would have little or no access to music education. The van, officially unveiled on May 15, already has been used to bring a woodwind quintet to Randall David Shughart Elementary School at Fort Bragg. Owning the vehicle will be more cost-efficient than vehicle rentals, the orchestra says, allowing the orchestra to reach 1,000 additional students each year.
Posted May 20, 2019
