Church Street School for Music and Art (CSS), the only not-for-profit community music and arts school in Lower Manhattan, relocated to its new home at 41 White Street (the former Flea theater) at the end of January, ending a twenty year run on Warren Street. According to the Commercial Observer, CSS was facing an untenable rent at its former location. The White Street home comes with two fully built-out performance spaces, acoustical partitions that may be easily divided into classrooms, and several dressing rooms that will be converted into individual practice rooms. The new space will save the organization $200,000 a year.

Speaking to the The Tribeca Trib, Lisa Ecklund-Flores, founder of CSS, recalls finding the space that would help the school alleviate some of its financial burden. “When I saw the space and the way it was laid out,” she recalled, “I realized it really could house all of our programs without me having to go through an extensive renovation or a long period of time of trying to do a capital campaign.”

Like many other arts schools that have moved from a longtime home, CSS is thinking carefully about how to transition students to the new space. “We’re trying really hard to think of every nuance of that difficulty so that we can make that transition smooth for them,” Lisa said, speaking to the Tribeca Trib. “I hope that they’ll come to us on White Street, just like they came to us on Warren.”

You can read more about the move here.

The board of directors of San Diego Civic Youth Ballet (SDCYB) has promoted Molly Terbovich-Ridenhour to president & CEO of the organization, effective immediately. Terbovich-Ridenhour previously served as executive director of SDCYB for more than six years. Her promotion takes place in preparation of celebrating the Balboa Park nonprofit’s 75th Anniversary in 2020.

“As SDCYB looks to shape our future, it seemed only natural that we appoint a president & CEO to assist in developing and executing our strategic vision of accessible, affordable, family-oriented ballet,” said Michael King, chair of SDCYB’s board of directors.

SDCYB was founded in 1945 and has been the resident ballet school in Balboa Park ever since. In addition to offering high-quality, affordable, year-round training in the Casa del Prado studios, the nonprofit also brings ballet education to public schools and offers ballet classes for over 600 students through a thriving Outreach Program.

Learn more about the appointment here.

Henry Bridges Jr.—founder of Community School of the Arts (CSA) in Charlotte, NC; former Guild trustee; and 1994 Guild Leadership Awardee—passed away on March 20. Henry officially founded CSA in 1971 and became its first teacher, serving 20 second- and third-grade students, selected from an applicant pool of 150, who met with Henry at a Church five days a week to study piano, choir, sight singing, and music theory. While Henry served as executive director he led the School to expand its outreach lessons to nearby schools, centers, and the former Piedmont Courts housing community, and experimented with trends in private instruction.

"Religion, the arts and education are all central to life," Henry told an interviewer in 1989. "They are really three facets of the same thing. You don't go to a museum without having some kind of transcendental experience. The same can be said of dance, music and theater — they're all interrelated. Central to the core of the universe are a belief in God, creativity and consciousness. That's what the arts are all about.”

Henry was also a dedicated member of the National Guild community. Lolita Mayadas, former director of the National Guild, remembers Henry’s role in supporting the Guild during difficult times:

"In the early eighties, during one of the most critical periods in its history the Guild found itself without an executive director, without a functioning board president and without the means to survive. Into this vacuum stepped Henry Bridges, the founder and director of Charlotte’s Community Music School in North Carolina. Henry was the Guild’s Vice President, having served as a Board member since 1975. With his laid-back, courteous manner, and gentle sense of humor he could easily be taken for a classic Southern Gentleman. But behind that graceful façade there lived a determined and natural-born leader. Without fuss or fanfare, he just took charge. Never has a “coup” such as this been greeted with greater relief. This much is certain: were it not for Henry, the Guild would surely have folded."

You can learn more about Community School of the Arts and Henry’s legacy here.

Charity Navigator regularly features lists of 10 highly-rated charities that are within a specific focus area. In a recent post—focused on music-based charities—the organization highlighted five National Guild members. The post noted that “these organizations from around the country offer unique opportunities for musicians and music lovers to engage in this craft. If you believe in the value of music education, consider supporting one of these four-star charities today.”

The Guild members include in the list were as follows:

• Settlement Music School, Philadelphia, PA
• Merit School of Music, Chicago, IL
• Pasadena Conservatory of Music, Pasadena, CA
• Third Street Music School Settlement, New York, NY
• MacPhail Center for Music, Minneapolis, MN

You can read the full post here. 

A recent article in Nonprofit Quarterly (NPQ) details how the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music (Milwaukee, WI), once on the verge of closure due to financial difficulty, moved “beyond crisis-fueled fundraising to develop a much more sustainable business model.”

In 2015, the Conservatory has considerable structural debt and it was forced to furlough staff. By 2017, a focused board campaign had allowed them to wipe out debt, but they were still faced with a highly uncertain financial future.

According to NPQ, Eric Tillich, CEO Of the Conservatory, “made finding new revenue streams a top priority. A partnership with the public schools provided a good part of the answer.”

The Conservatory Connections program now works with 11,000 students in 52 schools in six Wisconsin counties, according to Conservancy figures, including over 5,000 Milwaukee public school students. In two years, program income has climbed from $275,000 to $1.1 million, with Milwaukee public schools contributing about $400,000 of that total.

“We had a lot of amazing faculty that are trained and qualified that contribute to the creative economy here in Milwaukee and were ready to work, so it was a great match for us to have these faculty in schools,” notes Shalisa Kline Ugaz, executive vice president of advancement and education for the conservatory.

Read more about the Conservatory’s approach here.

The Turtle Bay Music School (TBMS) board of trustees has announced Lorna Jane Norris as the next executive director. Lorna Jane most recently served as vice president of education at South Shore Conservatory (Duxbury, MA), a position she had held since 2006. She will begin her appointment at TBMS in mid-march.

TBMS president Jeffrey Schlosser said, “Lorna Jane is a demonstrated leader who cares deeply about community and the arts. She brings a wealth of experience, dynamism and passion to Turtle Bay that will propel us forward at this exciting moment in the school’s history. Our faculty and staff, parents and students, and many community partners will find an engaging collaborator in Lorna Jane. The board and I are all very excited to work with her.”

Alongside Lorna Jane’s 12-year tenure at South Shore, she was also a participant in the inaugural Community Arts Education Leadership Institute (CAELI) in 2010. In 2016, she returned to CAELI to serve as practitioner faculty.

“I am so honored and excited to be part of the TBMS family,” Norris said. “It is clear that the community is deeply committed to ensuring that the transformative power of music is accessible to everyone; we need it now more than ever.”

About Turtle Bay Music School

Turtle Bay Music School is a nonprofit community music school in east midtown Manhattan that serves over 5,000 New Yorkers each year through lessons, classes, and community programs. Founded in 1925, TBMS strives to share the transformative power of music with all those who seek it.

On Tuesday, January 9, Laura Brief, board chair at Youth Speaks (San Francisco, CA), announced that Cristy Johnston Limón will take over as executive director. Johnston Limón, former director of Guild member Destiny Arts Center (Oakland, CA), replaces James Kass, founder of Youth Speaks and 2017 National Guild Milestone Awardee. Cristy Johnston Limón serves on the National Advisory Council for the Creative Youth Development National Partnership.

As noted by Brief, “at Destiny, [Johnston Limón] ensured the financial sustainability and growth of the organization, found and financed a permanent home for the center, and created an artistically rich and welcoming cultural destination for thousands of youth and their families.”

“Access to the arts gave me hope and a vision for what our communities could be when our voices were driving the conversation. It is an honor to now lead an organization that harnesses a powerful platform for young people to find, express and apply their voices for change. I could not be more excited to lead Youth Speaks and continue to build on our values-driven work and mission,” said Johnston Limón.

About Youth Speaks

Youth Speaks believes that having knowledge, practice, and confidence in the written and spoken language is essential to the self-empowerment of an individual. We fill a need for creative approaches to literary arts education and literacy development; we believe it is crucial to provide spaces where youth can undergo a process of personal growth and transformation in a program that enriches their educational, professional, artistic and leadership skills.

After a six-month, nationwide search, Big Thought (Dallas, TX) has appointed Byron Sanders as its new President & CEO. Sanders joins Big Thought after serving as vice president and institutional client advisor for U.S. Trust where he advised nonprofit institutions on investment management strategy. He previously served as executive director of the Dallas Education Foundation and in 2011, helped lead Group Excellence, an educational services company, which was named the 5th fastest growing education company in the country and featured on the prestigious Inc. 500 list.

Big Thought’s work to close the opportunity gap resonates personally with me,” said Sanders. “I grew up in southern Dallas and I benefited from programs very similar to what Big Thought provides to Dallas students. Today we are at a critical juncture. Closing the opportunity gap means that in addition to high-quality education programs that unlock creativity, we also must provide our children with social and emotional learning skills that will prepare them for careers that are yet to be created,” Sanders explained.

“The future of Dallas is in the hearts, hands and minds of our city’s youth. Byron Sanders has had a passion for our city’s youth for years. I applaud the board’s decision and believe he will lead Big Thought – and our city’s children – into this new era,” said Dallas mayor, Mike Rawlings.

About Big Thought

For 30 years, Dallas-based education nonprofit Big Thought has worked with local and national partners to ensure all students have access to creative learning opportunities that prepare youth for success in work and life. Big Thought brings relentless optimism, innovation and imagination to the biggest problem facing education today: The Opportunity Gap. The organization’s programs and services are designed to make imagination a part of everyday learning, through after-school, in-school and summer learning opportunities. Together with its partners, Big Thought offers students access to personalized, high-quality, creative learning experiences that form the foundation for the crucial job and college readiness skills necessary for the future. Learn more at bigthought.org.