Culver City High Wins A GRAMMY® Signature Schools Enterprise Award

The GRAMMY Museum® announces that Culver City High and six other economically underserved across the United States have been selected as GRAMMY® Signature Schools Enterprise Award recipients for 2017 and have been awarded cash grants totaling up to $106,500 for their quality music programs. Created in 1998, the GRAMMY Signature Schools program is a GRAMMY in the Schools® initiative that recognizes U.S. public high schools that make an outstanding commitment to music education during an academic school year. “We are honored to receive this special recognition by the Grammy Foundation,” said Dr. Tony Spano, Culver City High music teacher and AVPA Creative Director of Music and AVPA Co-Executive Director. “In order to provide the opportunities our students deserve, it takes a variety of support – from grants, fundraising, and donations. It takes the school, District, Culver City Education Foundation, and partnerships to help us sustain an active music program. With this grant, we can continue to be an innovative and challenging arts education program.”Each of the seven GRAMMY Signature Schools Enterprise Award recipients will receive a custom award and a monetary grant to benefit its music program. The GRAMMY Signature Schools Enterprise Award is made possible through the generous support of the Chuck Lorre Family Foundation and theFord Motor Company Fund. The Grammy Signature Schools Enterprise Award will give $5,000 per year for three years to the Culver City High music program to support the professional teaching artists who work with the music students in the Academy of Visual and Performing Arts. An additional $2,500 per year for three years will be available for field trips, festivals, and other needs of the program. Each of the schools selected for his honor was also given a full-tuition scholarship to Grammy Camp this summer, valued at $2,500. Music teacher Dr. Tony Spano and AVPA music faculty member Dr. David Brennan chose freshman Rowan Adams Waters to represent Culver City at the Grammy Camp. “I am very grateful to Dr. Spano, Dr. Brennan, and the Grammy Foundation for selecting me to go to Grammy Camp this year,” said Adams Waters. “I am very excited and looking forward to everything that I will learn this summer. We’re very grateful to have the support of the Grammy Foundation to help continue what we’re doing in the music program.”Simply put, AVPA is changing the lives of students participating in the program. “My experience in AVPA has been an incredible transformative experience,” junior Mikael Nida, CCHS Marching Band Drum Major and vice president of the AVPA Pink Elephant Music Company. “I have learned so much about music and discovered my inner creative self. Winning the Grammy Signature Schools Enterprise Award is an amazing honor because it means I will be able to continue expressing myself through music every day, and it also means that I am getting recognition for the wor k I am doing.”“The GRAMMY Signature Schools program is one of the most far-reaching of our key education initiatives and it has grown significantly since its establishment,” said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy® and Chair of the GRAMMY Museum Board. “Especially now, when we are engaged in a critical national discussion about the importance of the arts and the role of our educational institutions, it seems

Culver City Unified School District Administration Building 4034 Irving Place Culver City, CA 90232-2810 (310) 842-4220BOARD OF EDUCATION Ms. Anne Allaire-Burke Dr. Kelly Kent Dr. Steven M. Levin Ms. Summer McBride Ms. Katherine Paspalis imperative that The Recording Academy continues to lend its resources and reputation to underscore the fundamental necessity of these in all of our lives.”“Music education plays a critical role in the success of students throughout the U.S.,” said Pamela Alexander, director, community development, Ford Motor Company Fund. “Ford is honored to reward high-performing music programs in partnership with the GRAMMY Museum.”2017 GRAMMY Signature Schools Enterprise Awards supported by the Chuck Lorre Family Foundation: Culver City High School—Culver City, Calif. Huntington Park High School—Huntington Park, Calif. Manual Arts High School—Los Angeles Robert Fulton College Preparatory School—Van Nuys, Calif. 2017 GRAMMY Signature Schools Enterprise Awards supported bythe Ford Motor Company Fund: East Anchorage High School—Anchorage, Alaska Chicago Military Academy at Bronzeville—Chicago Overton High School—Memphis, Tenn. CAPTION: Jazz Combo 2017.jpg– students, from left, Angel Sanchez Perez, Vicente Valdebenito, Rowan Adams Waters, James Tingle, Asis Prieto, Satori Adler