By Andrea Stevenson, Community School of the Arts Community School of the Arts is preparing to launch the new Knight Artistic Engagement Fund, which will bring hundreds of low-income music and art students to professional concerts and exhibitions at no cost to the children or their families. Founded in 1969, CSA teaches private lessons, group classes and summer camps in music and the visual arts to more than 3,100 students each year. Throughout the School’s history, we have balanced excellence and accessibility, ensuring that financial aid is available for every paid program and that numerous free outreach programs serve students who could not otherwise afford outstanding after-school arts programs.

Thanks to a two-year grant from the Knight Foundation, CSA will provide free ticket packages to all 2011/2012 financial aid students, along with many of our after-school outreach students. CSA students and their families will receive more than 1,100 free tickets this year, enabling them to attend performances by the Charlotte Symphony, Opera Carolina and Charlotte Concerts, as well as exhibitions at the Bechtler Museum and the Mint Museum. Watching professionals work at the highest levels will inspire young musicians and artists and help them stay focused on their studies and the end result of their efforts.

By working closely with our five arts partners, we have selected the programs our students will attend, and we now have an entire year’s worth of tickets in hand. Students will enjoy programs including Il Trovatore, Salzburg Chamber Soloists, Sphinx Virtuosi, “Geometry and Experimentation: European Art of the 1960s and 1970s,” “Romare Bearden: Southern Recollections,” Joyce Yang (piano), Chad Hoopes (violin), and works by Rachmaninoff, Mendelssohn, Bach, Liszt and Tchaikovsky.

Later this week, we will be contacting our students and their parents to begin the ticket distribution process. The parents we’ve spoken with already are deeply grateful and incredibly enthusiastic, eager to bring their children to concerts and exhibitions that will broaden their horizons.