By Evy Schiffman

CSMA breaks ground for new center

In a region where creativity, innovation and building for the future count as the cornerstones of success, the Community School of Music and Arts made its mark Sept. 21 under a sunny sky in the middle of an open field at San Antonio Circle, Mountain View.

With 150 people in attendance, musical fanfare by the French horn ensemble Quadre, and shovels in hand, supporters of the 35-year-old non-profit organization broke ground to build its first permanent home and Silicon Valley’s first-ever center for music and arts.

“Today we are raising the bar for the arts and for the cultural future of this region,” Angela McConnell, CSMA executive director, told the crowd. “From this new address, CSMA will dramatically expand programs, increase services to local schools, provide teacher training opportunities, and significantly expand access to arts programs for youth, seniors and low-income communities.”

Backed by strong community support, CSMA is building a 25,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility centrally located at the nexus of Mountain View, Los Altos and Palo Alto. The 1.6-acre campus will include 17 music studios, electronic/digital art classrooms, a ceramics studio, recital and 200-seat concert hall, and a teacher resource center.

Attendees at the groundbreaking ceremony could take a virtual tour of the new building by noting clusters of different colored balloons situated on the field to mark off the facility’s rooms.

McConnell told the crowd that the school has already raised close to $7 million for the $11.2 million project. Cornerstone Program members, those who have given $100,000 or more, were invited to the stage to receive one-of-a-kind “art shovels” painted by children from the school’s art programs.

Lead donor Steve Finn, who has pledged $2 million, spoke to the crowd, noting that he became engaged in supporting the project because of the “integrity of the organization” and because it represented what a “community can do when it invests in the community.” When the building opens, it will be formally named in Finn’s honor in recognition of his contribution to the project. Finn, a successful businessman, is president and CEO of Trust Company of America and a Los Altos Hills City Council member.

Other Cornerstone Program members invited to the stage included representatives from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Franklin and Catherine Johnson Foundation, and Sobrato Family Foundation, along with CSMA board of directors chairpersons Bob Reay and Judi Fan, and capital campaign committee co-chairpersons Roger Brunello, Sue and Bob Larson, and Los Altos Hills Mayor Bob and Jan Fenwick. Capital campaign co-chairpersons and Cornerstone Program members Ruth and Roy Rogers of Los Altos Hills were out of town for the event.

McConnell thanked all who attended, including city council members, representatives from the offices of Supervisor Liz Kniss and Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, Mountain View-Whisman School District Superintendent Jim Negri, school board members and others.

McConnell also made special presentations to the school’s original founder, Natalie Werbner, who had flown in from Southern California, and to Mountain View Mayor Sally Lieber. McConnell commended the city for providing the land for the project and investing more than $1 million to date on road and site improvements to the city-owned property.

In addressing the gathering, Mayor Lieber stressed the long-standing partnership between the city, the school districts and the arts school to ensure accessibility to arts education, the core of the school’s mission. CSMA board chairman Bob Reay spoke of how his involvement in the project had shown him the value of collaboration. “As an investor in CSMA’s future and the future of Silicon Valley, I join CSMA in its commitment to ensure that music and arts programs exist in public schools for our children,” he said.

Both McConnell and Reay often speak of the important role that CSMA plays in public schools, funds for which were severely cut back after the 1979 passage of Proposition 13. They see CSMA as playing a key role in providing arts education to the generation of Silicon Valley residents whose schools lack these programs and experiences.

“CSMA’s impressive record of consistent revenue growth, program expansion and its strong business model are all indicators of the demand and critical need for our programs and services,” McConnell said.

The school serves over 20,000 people annually, including 10,000 children through its arts-in-the-schools programs, Arts in Action and Music in Action, at 15 schools from San Jose to San Mateo. At the new location, CSMA will reach even greater numbers through its lessons, classes, camps, free family concerts, art exhibits and other outreach events.

The Financial Aid Program, which awards more than $145,000 annually, will continue to ensure CSMA’s mission of Arts for All, regardless of age, level, ethnic background or ability to pay.

CSMA alumnae and Los Altos residents Melissa Pak and Freecia Wang also addressed the audience. Now college graduates, both spoke of the impact that their CSMA teachers and studies had on them, providing them with self-confidence, self-discipline and critical thinking skills. The women noted that these skills continued to benefit them today by broadening their “creative horizon and by providing a lifelong appreciation for the beauty of the arts.”

The festivities concluded with a final thanks to the crowd and a call to action to help raise the $4.2 million remaining to reach the campaign goal. And then, with French horns playing, the entire crowd, many of whom had donned hard hats to commemorate the event, made a processional walk out to the middle of the field.

Against a backdrop of brilliant blue sky and with construction equipment parked on the perimeter of the property, the shovels went into the ground. With that groundbreaking event, CSMA moved one step closer to ensuring the cultural vitality of Silicon Valley for generations to come.

CSMA’s Center for Music and Arts Education is scheduled to open in January 2004. The school is currently located in a refurbished building at 220 View St. in downtown Mountain View.

For more information about the school, its programs and the new center, call 961-0342 or logon to www.arts4all.org.