THAT’S MUSIC TO THEIR EARS
EMPOWERMENT ZONE AWARDS $150,000
GRANT TO
OPUS 118 HARLEM SCHOOL OF
MUSIC
New York, N.Y. – Whether it has been music, dance
or art, culture has always been an integral and essential part of Upper Manhattan.
As such the Upper Manhattan
Empowerment Zone Development Corp. (UMEZ), through its Cultural Industry Investment Fund (CIIF), seeks to develop and
build mid-size organizations in Upper Manhattan that have been identified as cultural assets to
their community.
On Monday, June 9th,
UMEZ awarded Opus 118 Harlem School of
Music, a $150,000 grant to assist in strengthening the
school’s infrastructure and simultaneously increasing community outreach and
involvement. With these goals in mind,
the school intends to increase both contributed and earned revenue; and achieve
a greater presence in Harlem through performances at community venues and
public, community events.
“UMEZ’s grant to Opus 118 Harlem School of Music will allow
it to further improve upon an outstanding and internationally heralded
reputation as one of the finest educational institutions of its kind,” said Kenneth J. Knuckles, UMEZ’s President & CEO.
Maurine Knighton, UMEZ’s Senior Vice-President for Program and
Nonprofit Investments said, “Opus 118 is an essential Upper Manhattan cultural organization. We are
pleased to count them among the impressive array of local cultural producers
and look forward to partnering with them in the weeks and months to come.”
ABOUT THE Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone
DEVELOPMENT CORP.
UMEZ seeks to revitalize distressed communities
by using geographically targeted public funds and tax incentives as catalysts
for private investment. In Upper Manhattan, the communities that
lie within the Empowerment Zone's borders include Harlem, East Harlem,
Washington Heights and Inwood.
ABOUT THE CULTURAL INDUSTRY
INVESTMENT FUND
UMEZ’s CIIF celebrates
Upper Manhattan’s rich past
while creating new legacies. The work of
the CIIF is two-fold: community building
through a cultural and economic lens; and, a marketing of place that
repositions Upper Manhattan
as one of New York City’s
primary cultural districts. The goals of
the CIIF are sustaining the local economy by promoting development,
revitalization and tourism; making strategic cultural investments; and, strengthening the cultural
ecosystem.
The CIIF provides support to
cultural organizations that use the arts as a tool for economic development,
job creation and growth of cultural tourism, within the five communities of Upper Manhattan.
Primary means of support include funding and provision of technical
assistance.
ABOUT OPUS 118 HARLEM SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Opus 118 Harlem School of Music is a Harlem-based
community music school that provides high-quality music instruction to over 600
students each year through In-School, After-School, and summer camp
programs. It was founded in 1991 by Roberta
Guaspari, Harvard Educator Ed Miller, authors Barry Crumbly and Ellen Weiss,
and parents Gene Horton and Dani Toomer. Impelled by budget cuts that would
eliminate the public school violin program Ms. Guaspari had conducted for many
years in East
Harlem
elementary schools, these six decided to create a private, nonprofit
organization to save the program and to continue to serve public school
students in low-income areas.
In the 15 years since its founding, Opus 118 has provided
instruction to some 5,000 students and given significant cultural enrichment
opportunities to students, their families, and others in the Harlem community through public
performances and other cultural activities.
Moreover, the national visibility of Opus 118 has brought positive
attention to Harlem:
In addition to the two films that have been produced about Opus 118,
appearances outside of Harlem and internationally broadcasted events and features about
the organization have fostered perceptions of Harlem as an exciting, vibrant community
that values and celebrates its residents.
# # #
