“Andrew Lloyd Webber is calling for the government to recognize the transformative effect that classical music tuition can have on the lives of children in disadvantaged communities,” writes Dalya Alberge in Wednesday’s (1/12) Guardian (U.K.). “The … composer … spoke of his despair over the lack of adequate public funding for music, despite its life-changing benefits.… He pointed to the work of the Music in Secondary Schools Trust (Misst), which partners with schools in disadvantaged areas to provide regular classical music tuition. Its latest report, which will be published on Thursday, presents compelling statistics on the impact of such programs on 11- to 18-year-olds, such as improving self-confidence and resilience…. Misst … provides 8,030 students with regular tuition and instruments through programs that would otherwise not be available to them. However, the trust [has] a waiting list of more than 30,000 children…. Its education program costs about £200 a year for each child. The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation has donated £3.4m to the main Misst program…. Rachel Landon, the chief executive of Misst, said: ‘We’ve done this completely through philanthropy.’ Having been turned down recently for government funds, the trust has submitted another proposal.”
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