PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Symphony’s Adventures in Music program, which sends a variety of musicians out to schools in Jefferson and Clallam counties, has received a $2,500 donation from 1st Security Bank.
Adventures in Music, or AIM, operates solely on donations such as this, said Jonathan Pasternack, symphony conductor and music director.
Tyrone Beatty, an officer at 1st Security who is also a violist in the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra, explained the inspiration for the bank’s gift.
“We are committed to giving back to the communities we serve, whether it is through food drives, volunteering or, in this case, helping and sponsoring organizations that we know give back, too,” he said.
In AIM, professional musicians, such as singer Amanda Bacon of Sequim and percussionist Angie Tabor of Port Townsend, travel to schools across the North Olympic Peninsula, meeting young people, giving concerts and discussing their favorite kinds of music.
To go with each concert appearance, AIM director Al Harris, himself a local musician and educator, provides curricular materials for the teachers.
“Having been in the symphony since 2013 and a musician since I was 10, I know the impact the arts have had in my life,” said Beatty.
“The Adventures in Music program reaches kids at an early age, creating yet another path of growth for them,” he added, noting that the program connects the Port Angeles Symphony with students in Forks, Clallam Bay, Joyce, Sequim, Quilcene and Chimacum — rural places that “may not get this type of musical experience otherwise.”
For more about AIM and the symphony, contact Pasternack at 360-457-5579 or PASymphony@olypen.com.
