BLOOMINGDALE SCHOOL OF MUSIC INC
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Mission Statement
Bloomingdale School of Music's mission is to provide open access to high-quality music education to anyone who seeks it, regardless of economic status, ability level, ethnicity, or religious affiliation.
About This Cause
In 1964, our founding director, David Greer, was the organist at West End Presbyterian Church, and a true visionary of his time. Combined with determination and perseverance, he opened a community music school in the basement of the church by talking to kids on the street about studying music and attending concerts. His own dedication to music must have been infectious and the school’s initial enrollment included 75 students in 1964 taking lessons for 50 cents or a dollar. The poster of the opening of the school is to the right. From its beginning, the Bloomingdale House of Music, as it was first known, brought amazing vitality to an Upper West Side community that was already growing in diversity. The neigh- borhood was filled with opportunity to establish greater musical awareness and David hit the ground running. By 1966, the enrollment had reached 500 and after the school moved to its new home on 108th Street in 1972, Bloomingdale had a roster of 1000 students each week. David’s ambition for the school went on to create a concert series of weekly recitals performed at the school and at Symphony Space by established, emerging, and faculty musicians, as well as the Bloomingdale Orchestra. His most significant contribution to the community was his commitment to an “open access” policy – the mission to provide music instruction to students regardless of their financial means. This mission has been and still remains central to the Bloomingdale School of Music and has been supported by the efforts of subsequent executive directors, Paul Fran (1988-1991), and Lawrence Davis (1991-2013) and Erika S. Floreska currently. Throughout the history of Bloomingdale, the school has engaged an exceptional faculty roster of professional musicians trained at the most prestigious music conservatories and universities throughout the world. As directorships changed, the school continued to grow with new programs that raised the standard of performance by the student body. Under Lawrence Davis’ leadership, the school initiated the advanced Music Access Project (MAP) and the Professional Training Program in addition to the yearly all-school “Performathon” fund-raising events, yearly department festival concerts – the Piano Project Concert, the Guitar Festival, the Voice Festival, the Percussion Festival, and A4TY (Student Composers Concert) – while he also condcuted the Bloomingdale Chamber Orchestra in two concerts each year and supported a vital faculty concert series of over 40 recitals each year. Lawrence always kept pace with new innovations and during his tenure established internet concert projects on Bloomingdale’s website as well as insightful blogs by faculty. He also worked with the entire administrative staff and selected faculty members in the ambitious two-year project to develop the first online theory program by a community music school – Theory in a Box – which has benefitted Bloomingdale students and schools throughout the U.S. Currently, students perform in all of these programs as well as in student “Sharing Hours” several times throughout the academic year. The first 50 years were very busy and productive at the Bloomingdale School of Music, and in 2014 we welcomed our fourth director, Erika S. Floreska. Erika has a vision to deepen the Bloomingdale community connections, broaden the access to our offerings, and uplift our community through collaboration, innovation, and excellence. We are proud to be a vital part of the broad cultural fabric of New York City as we look forward to greater accomplishment with each new year.