Will private funding save public music education?

Is a restoration of serious arts education to the lives of our children finally within reach? A lot is riding on the answer. Ask any arts leader why getting audiences is so hard and you’ll get the same response: Lack of arts in schools.

Children today aren’t growing up with the sound of an orchestra in their heads, so, naturally, they aren’t becoming ticket buyers, the mantra goes.

I’m not convinced that the return of arts to schools will repair the pipeline to concert halls, but that doesn’t mean that every child shouldn’t be getting a sustained, sequential education in the arts. After all, what about simply wanting our children to have access to a cultural tradition that contributes to the common good by turning out well-rounded human beings?

Whatever the motivation, there are signs that music education in the city may be on the way back up.