Samohi choir to compete nationally in Honolulu
CITY HALL — A group of 42 Santa Monica High School students will head to Hawaii this spring, courtesy of City Hall.
Members of the City Council have awarded the Samohi choir a $25,000 matching grant to send 42 of its students from low-income families to sing in Honolulu with 115 other members of the school choir.
Several dozen parents and students crammed into the council chambers last month to ask for the money, saying art programs were left out of a recent deal that guarantees at least $6 million a year in city funding for schools.
The $25,000 matching grant will come from what the council calls its “discretionary” fund. After approving the grant, the council retained $46,400 in that fund to spend as it chooses, City Manager Susan McCarthy said.
A small group of designated speakers who addressed the council said every local choir student should be able to compete in the national contest, which will be held in Hawaii in March.
“We are asking for your support so that we can achieve the goal of funding all students who need financial aid,” said Samohi student and choir member Allegra Fonda- Bonardi. “Choir is like a sport.
“Choir is like a sport. Every single team member is vital, and no singer should be denied this wonderful opportunity to be a musical ambassador for our city based on financial need.” — ALLEGRA FONDA-BONARDI SAMOHI STUDENT
Every single team member is vital, and no singer should be denied this wonderful opportunity to be a musical ambassador for our city based on financial need.”
Choir director Christopher Rhodes said the trip to Hawaii would mean a whole lot more to students than sun and fun. Rhodes said he picked the long-distance choir trip carefully, based on its educational value, adding the skilled choir recently was invited to a national convention to be held in Los Angeles in February by the National American Choral Director’s Association. The choir did not apply for that honor, he said.
“I know that Honolulu seems like it’s going to be a day at the beach,” Rhodes added. “It’s very packed and there actually is not a whole lot of time at the beach because there’s more to Honolulu than Waikiki, and this festival and this tour opportunity really presents students with an overall picture of the culture of the Hawaiian islands, and not simply a tourist destination.”
As well as competing in the National High School Choral Festival, choir members will tour Pearl Harbor, climb a volcano, snorkel, learn about Polynesian culture and participate in a choral exchange with a Hawaiian high school, according to the Choral Parents Association at Samohi.
Council members supported the matching grant unanimously.
“I asked for this in the belief that it’s an important and appropriate cultural and educational opportunity for the young chorale singers of our community who are here tonight to support this,” City Councilman Kevin McKeown said.
City Councilman Bob Holbrook also voted for the grant, but took exception to the way the $6 million in city funds was earmarked.
“I hope the city manager heard that comment and I’d like to think our $6 million donation filters down even to the arts,” he said. “That’s important, at least to me.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 4, 2005. Read the original PDF.