Arts Program Created for Low-Income Kids

The Country School has received a $75,000 grant to create a community arts program targeted to low-income public school students in the Valley.

The new after-school and weekend program will be known as the Valley Community School for the Arts. Classes will be held at both Country School and Burbank Boulevard Elementary School, its public school partner, said Paul Singer, president of the nonprofit private elementary and preschool.

“It’s something we wanted to do for a long time,” Singer said. “There’s a lack of these kinds of programs in the public schools.”

The arts school will feature a variety of classes on subjects such as percussion, guitar and perhaps even clowning, Singer said. Teachers are being interviewed for the school, which will open in the fall.

Singer said fees will be kept low to make the classes available to as many children as possible. Financial aid may also be available, he said.

“There’s nothing else like this in the San Fernando Valley,” Singer said. “We want to make sure any child who wants to come here, can.”

The school received the grant from the Ahmanson Foundation after writing a joint proposal with the Crossroads School in Santa Monica. Singer said the arts program was the brainchild of Crossroads President Paul Cummins.

Each school received $75,000 to start the programs.

With the southeast Valley and the Westside covered, Singer said his next goal is to place satellite arts schools throughout the region. Talks have already begun to start one in Sylmar, and Singer said he hopes to one day reach as far as Palmdale and Lancaster.

“There’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to provide these kinds of classes to our children,” he said. “It’s our responsibility.”