More than US$11,500 worth of new musical instruments recently arrived on Grand Cayman, destined to end up in the hands of the children who participate in Cayman Arts Festival’s student music education programme.
Bought separately at retail shops, the instruments would have cost twice as much, but there are several manufacturers and wholesalers in the United States that have taken a shining to what Cayman Arts Festival is doing here with its musician education programme and are willing to offer deep discounts on instruments.
Now in its 21st year, Cayman Arts Festival is well known for presenting performances of elite musicians from around the globe — as well as the best homegrown talent — but the other main focus of the not-for-profit organisation is to provide music education to the youth of the Cayman Islands.
Through its afterschool programme, Cayman Arts Festival has enabled thousands of students to learn to play a musical instrument. Not only does the programme create a strong music foundation for future generations, but it is also leading to scholarships and career opportunities, ranging from performance and teaching to piano tuning and the repair of musical instruments.
To enable its music education programmes to operate, Cayman Arts Festival purchases musical instruments from overseas and lends the instruments, free of charge, to children so that they can learn and participate in lessons throughout the school year.
Children being children, some of the instruments get damaged and those that are not repairable have to be replaced. In addition, the increasing number of children who enrol in a music education programme has created the need to purchase more instruments. Young children who stick with the programme as they get older will also need to start playing on bigger and higher quality instruments so they can progress as musicians.
The 45 instruments in the recent order included 10 flutes, 10 clarinets, 10 cellos, eight alto saxophones, five full-size violins and two double basses.
While the new instruments were much needed for the students, Cayman Arts Festival must now seek the community’s help to absorb the costs, says Cayman Arts Festival Executive Director Marius Gaina.
“Back in 2014, we appealed to the public to donate instruments and that was the spark to get the afterschool children’s programme up and running and drive it forward,” he says.
“Now we want to engage with the community once again so that we can evolve our programme, especially to ensure that any young musicians who need an instrument do not fall behind.”
Gaina says that people can also choose to sponsor groups of instruments or even just one instrument as a donation.
“Any help we can get is greatly appreciated,” Gaina says.
“This programme has a huge impact on young people. It helps them to learn discipline, commitment and responsibility, all of which helps set them up for future success, no matter what their career is. And fostering a love of music has an ongoing social impact on the community overall.”
For more information or to donate to the programme, visit caymanartsfestival.com, email [email protected] or call 922-5550.
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