The Toronto Sun n Friday, April 15, 2011
School for arts
The University Settlement Music & Arts School has
been teaching and mentoring kids for 90 years
The fear is very real that the
arts will become the province
of the well-off as provincial
and federal funding to arts
organizations dwindles. Even
more worrying is the pros-
pect of cuts to arts education
programs that give disadvan-
taged young people opportu-
nities to learn to play musical
instruments, perform on stage
and attend concerts.
Here’s hoping that our city
leaders don’t set their sights
on institutions like the Univer-
sity Settlement Music & Arts
School, which has been offer-
ing a wide range of private
lessons and community pro-
gramming at affordable rates
for those living in the Grange
neighbourhood and the GTA
for the last 90 years.
There are individual les-
sons on band and orchestral
instruments, piano, guitar,
voice and theory, Anne Yard-
ley, the school’s director tells
me. Group classes include
chamber music, a commu-
nity choir, children’s choir, ear
training, theory, drumming
circle, computer music and
dance classes for kids in bal-
let, jazz and tap.
“Regular student concerts
are an integral part of our
programming and this gives
them performing opportu-
nities that are low stress and
family oriented, and offers the
community low-cost or free
access to musical perform-
ances throughout the year,”
she adds.
The school’s 90th birthday
celebration at Glenn Gould
Studio Sunday features per-
formances by Indo-jazz funk
outfit autorickshaw, Kathak
dancer Joanna deSouza, the
Fan Shang-E Zheng Music
Association, the University of
Toronto Klezmer Band, Ira-
nian drummer Manouchehr
Chahardooli, Chinese erhu
player Yuan Wang, and the
University Settlement Music
& Arts School students. Pro-
ce e ds from t h e e vent g o
toward supporting University
Settlement’s programs and
services.
University Settlement is
a multi-service agency that
was founded in 1910 and has
the distinction of being the
first community-based social
service agency in the City of
Errol
Nazareth
Rhythms N Rhymes
Toronto.
“The variety of programs
we offer at University Set-
tlement means that a client
may take a music lesson, get
help with their income tax,
take an English as a Second
Language class, work out in
our gym, swim in our pool,
drop their kids off at our day-
care, get assistance in find-
ing employment, take Tai chi
or Cantonese opera, come
to after school or youth pro-
grams, learn computer skills
and much more — all in one
place,” Yardley says.
When University Settlement
Music & Arts School began
operating in 1921, it had only
two students.
Today, more than 280 stu-
dents of all ages, levels, eth-
nicities and socio-economic
Now
HEAR
This!
t:
Errol’s can’t-miss lis
1
Ace drummer Tony
Allen, who created
Afrobeat with Fela
Kuti, plays a rare show
at The Phoenix tonight. 9
p.m. $30. 410 Sherbourne
St.
2
Singer-saxman Lester
Mclean is at The Rex
every Saturday this
month. 7 p.m. 194
Queen St W. 416-598-2475.
3
King Cobb Steelie
marks 20 years of
making genre-bending
music with a benefit
show at Lee’s Palace
Saturday in support of
Ontario Hands & Voices. 9
p.m. $15. 529 Bloor W. 416-
532-1598.
SHOWBIZ 69
backgrounds study music
and dance with the help of
25 highly qualified teach-
ers “whose careful selection
is based on a combination
of skills relating to perform-
ance and teaching, as well as
a demonstrated commitment
to the community we serve,”
Yardley says.
To emphasize the impor-
tance of the unique school,
Yardley, who began her 22
years of work at the school
as a music teacher, shares
the inspiring story of one of
USMAS’s graduates.
“John (not his real name)
lived in this community with
his mom, a single parent
who was studying to become
an ESL teacher,” she says.
“She understood that John
had a real love of music and
she wanted to offer him the
opportunity to study music,
but realized that the cost of
music lessons in most places
was prohibitive.
“She found University Set-
tlement and enrolled him at
age 7 in piano lessons,” Yardley
adds. “She was able to receive
a subsidy to help pay for the
lessons and John excelled at
piano and also began study-
ing violin. He accompanied
our students on piano in recit-
als and was a frequent schol-
arship winner.””

Yardley says John went on
to study at the prestigious
Glenn Gould Professional
School at the Royal Conserva-
tory of Music and now makes
a living accompanying ballet
classes at the National Ballet
School.
The school’s mandate, she
says proudly, hasn’t changed
in 90 years.
“Fre d Skitch, a for mer
music school director who
ran the school for many years
starting in the 1950s, said,
‘Our philosophy is that the
arts should be a right, not a
privilege, and that lessons and
classes should be available to
everyone, regardless of age,
ethnicity, perceived talent,
disability or ability to pay.’”
NOTE: The concert starts
at 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are
$45 adults/$20 for seniors and
children 18 and under. Glenn
Gould Studio is at 250 Front
St. W. For tickets, call 416-872-
4255. Autorickshaw play a birthday celebration for University Settlement Music & Arts School.