York Named Gold Medal Finalist in National GRAMMY Signature School Program

The York High School music program, under the leadership of Performing and Visual Arts Division Chairman Bill Riddle, is one of three Gold Medal finalists in the GRAMMY Signature School program.

The GRAMMY Foundation announced last week that 10 schools nationwide have been selected as GRAMMY Signature Schools for 2013 and were awarded cash grants totaling $56,000.

The GRAMMY Signature Schools program recognizes top U.S. public high schools that are making an outstanding commitment to music education. Each of 10 GRAMMY Signature Schools will receive a custom award and a grant to benefit their music programs. The top three schools are designated Gold recipients.

Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville was named the National GRAMMY Signature School and received $10,000. The remaining Gold schools, York and Marcus High School in Texas, each will receive $5,500.

In the Enterprise Award category, which recognizes efforts made by schools that are economically underserved, six schools in Alaska, California ,Washington, Texas and Arizona will receive a grant of $5,500 each. And, 86 schools received a $2,000 Community Award, presented in partnership with Best Buy and the Hot Topic Foundation.
 
"For the past 15 years, our GRAMMY Signature Schools program has been providing much-needed financial resources and recognizing excellence in schools across the U.S. whose music programs have a positive impact on the lives of their students," said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy and the GRAMMY Foundation. "We're extremely grateful to our sponsors, whose generous support has allowed this initiative to grow."
 
The GRAMMY Foundation mails notification to more than 20,000 public high schools in August. Applications are submitted in October, and finalists are identified and asked to submit additional documentation, such as recordings of school concerts, sample concert programs and repertoire, which is then reviewed by an independent blue-ribbon committee of top music educators and professionals.

Local finalists this year, including New Trier, Stevenson, Evanston Township, Waubonsie Valley, Metea Valley, Elk Grove, John Hersey, Glenbard East and Homewood-Flossmoor high schools, joined 121 more finalists across the country, including a number of “arts magnet” or “academy for the arts” high schools.

The foundation and its founder, The Recording Academy, bring national attention to the value and impact of music and arts education. They also are partnering to present the first Music Educator Award, open to U.S. music teachers in kindergarten through college. Nominate a teacher online; deadline for submissions is April 15.
 
The custom award and monetary grant will be presented to York High School later this spring or early summer.

Let Patch save you time. Get more local stories like these delivered right to your inbox or smartphone with our free newsletter. Fast signup here. For a different take, like us on Facebook.