L-R: Eileen Reilly, PSHA Gifts & Grants Chair, Marcos Arizmendi and Marleena Barber of the Braille Institute, Katherine Watkins, PSHA President
On a beautiful afternoon earlier this month, Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts (PSHA) held their annual Gifts & Grants Awards reception at the 51st Pasadena Showcase House of Design. This year, PSHA awarded 67 gifts and grants totaling $630,000 to non-profit organizations, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, for music education, school music programs, instruments, music therapy, and underwriting of concerts.
“While it is a huge responsibility for the members of PSHA’s Gifts & Grants Committee to decide to which organizations to award funds, it is very rewarding to know that these organizations are doing their part to promote music and the arts, especially with regard to children and young adults, and particularly to those in under-served areas of our local communities,” said Gifts & Grants Chair Eileen Reilly.
About 180 guests were in attendance at this year’s reception. They were treated to classical music performed by an ensemble from USC Thornton School of Music’s Cardinal Winds made up of Catherine Baker (flute); Zach Pulse (oboe); and Alex Garcia (bassoon).
Reilly, with the help of member Mary Ann Clayton, the Benefit Chair for the 2014 Pasadena Showcase House of Design, the proceeds of which funded this year’s Gifts & Grants program, presented each recipient with a certificate and a check for their project. A representative from each organization spoke about how the funds would be used while President Katherine Watkins congratulated the recipients for bringing music directly to the community.
“It is an absolute privilege for us to play a small part in the work that these incredible organizations do in the community. And, it is profoundly motivating,” said Watkins. “Tomorrow, we will go back to work with their stories in mind, more determined than ever to be successful so that we can make even larger contributions in the future.”
