Grand Vision Foundation

PROVIDE INCLUSIVE PERFORMING ARTS EVENTS AND MUSIC EDUCATION TO OUR DIVERSE COMMUNITY.

Underlying Grand Vision’s efforts is our belief that local arts have the power to bridge cultural bo

Goal One: The Grand Annex provides high-quality and accessible cultural experiences for the underserved San Pedro/Wilmington communities.

Goal Two: Grand Vision engages the next generation through Meet the Music (MTM), a three-part youth education program for local underserved schools.

Goal Three: To act as the Warner Grand Theatre's official Friends’ Group. As the Friends, we assist the theater with advocacy, a corps of trained volunteers, restoration projects and the marketing of its events.

Grand Vision Foundation encourages employees to participate in professional development courses offered through the Nonprofit Partnership, the Nonprofit Learning Lab, Patron Manager, and other sources.

The pandemic both exposed and intensified systemic inequities that disproportionately affect our students and their families. For example, of the nearly 1,800 students served by Meet the Music (MTM) during the 2020-21 school year, about 70% experienced significant technological challenges, such as unstable internet connection, that substantially limited their ability to participate in distance learning. Added to this, most schools lack the resources to support comprehensive remote learning, and few parents work from home, making it impossible for them to supervise their children’s progress. In order to address these challenges, we grew our communication networks with teachers and parents. This included troubleshooting glitches and adopting strategies during remote lessons like verbal call-and-response and text check-ins to keep students without video capability engaged. It also involved realigning our lesson plans to maximize student participation while also addressing the stress that distance learning can cause, by nurturing students’ sense of belonging, connectedness and self-worth. Under normal circumstances, MTM is an in-person, in-school music education program. During the 2020-21 school year, despite LAUSD’s many protocols and scheduling adjustments, MTM delivered each lesson to each classroom without exception, using Zoom and an assortment of online resources customized for each classroom. In situations where our regular programming couldn’t be easily replicated for safety reasons, such as large concert gatherings, we improvised, drawing on the collective wisdom of our teaching artists and community partners. For instance, the LA Opera concert, normally a single, massive event, became three virtual ones: a Zoom training for classroom teachers, the virtual concert itself and to wrap up, a live Zoom Q&A session during which students had the chance to chat with LA Opera cast members.