D'Addario Foundation Renews Drum Roots Funding for 2005

The Percussive Arts Society (PAS) recently learned that the D’Addario Foundation for the Performing Arts has renewed a $3,000 grant to fund the popular Drum Roots program in Lawton schools from January through May of 2006. The funding allows for 26 Drum Roots sessions that will reach some 500 elementary school students in the Lawton area.

“The D’Addario Foundation’s funding helped us launch Drum Roots in 2003, and we greatly appreciate their assistance in continuing this beneficial arts appreciation program for Lawton children,” said PAS Executive Director Michael Kenyon.

Drum Roots is an interactive hand drumming program with arts education, music appreciation and wellness benefits. Presented by Lawton percussionist Jim Harris, the sessions provide exposure to basic rhythmic principles with a brief history of the origins of music in various cultural and performance settings.

PAS launched the program in 2003 to complement existing community programs that are focused on arts education and/or mental and physical health and wellness. The program encourages social interaction and cooperation, and enhances coordination, esteem building, wellness and learning.

During the 2003/2004 school season, PAS offered the Drum Roots program to 1,075 participants at 15 elementary schools and three public service and health facilities in Lawton. The number of participants during the 2004/2005 school year expanded to 1,729 persons in fifteen schools and at a local mental health center.

“We were able to expand our contacts with program participants by 60 percent last year thanks to the financial support from the D’Addario Foundation, the Lawton Community Foundation, the Leslie Powell Foundation, Southwestern Behavioral Health Center and the Oklahoma Arts Council,” said Kenyon.

The 26 sessions funded by The D’Addario Foundation for the Performing Arts during the spring of 2005 provided arts education instruction to 516 elementary students at the Geronimo Public Schools and the Sheridan Road, Lincoln and Washington Elementary Schools in the Lawton Public Schools system.

The D’Addario Foundation for the Performing Arts was established in 1981 as a non-profit corporate foundation committed to inspiring and assisting the growth and appreciation of music throughout the world.