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4TH STREET ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 715 FOURTH STREET ATHENS, GA 30601 (706) 369-1893 April 11, 2000 To whom it may concern: I am writing this letter in support of Pam Blanchard and the Sunny Side Up Band and their application for a grant to provide performances for elementary students. Fourth Street Elementary School is very supportive of the arts and tries to provide many opportunities for our students to participate in the arts in a variety of ways. Students attend weekly visual art and music classes and every child gets an opportunity to perform on stage in a musical program each year. In addition, students create their own scenery and costumes for these performances. Our school's music teacher, Teresa Granger, and I work closely with our grade level teachers and their students to produce these performances on a very limited budget. Another way we support the arts at Fourth Street is through our annual SuperstARTSfest. This is our arts festival held each spring. We invite local artists and performers to come and share their work with our students. We see this festival as having two major goals. First, it provides all our students an opportunity to be consumers of the arts; to learn appropriate audience behavior and interact with artists and performers. The majority of our students are from extremely low-income families and they would rarely, if ever, get the chance to attend quality, live, artistic performances. Second, It gives those students who may someday be performers a chance to find role models. Unfortunately, there have never been any funds available to pay artists and performers for their services. Instead, we have to ask them to perform for free. This often imposes a hardship on the performers as they have to take time away from paying jobs to perform for us. This year, Ms. Blanchard agreed to provide a free concert for our students and staff, but was unable to bring her band because they were unable to leave paying jobs to come and perform for free. Ms. Blanchard did an excellent job, however, the experience would have been even richer with the addition of her other band members. Ms. Blanchard's abilities are exceptional. From the moment she took the stage, our entire student body of over 400 children ranging in age from 4-12 years responded positively. Ms. Blanchard provided opportunities for the children to be involved in the performance by moving and singing along and they all enjoyed it greatly. She enthralled everyone present; students, teachers and parents. Your grant would allow Ms. Blanchard, along with her band, to share their delightful songs and unique gifts with many students in our area. I heartily support Pam Blanchard and the Sunny Side Up band in this endeavor. Sincerely, David Harvell Art Teacher Fourth St. Elementary School
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