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Stony Point School
VCU professors Russell Wilson (left) and Antonio García gather
with the faculty of Stony Point Middle School at the orientation
workshop beginning VCU Jazz’s residency.
During the summer of 2004, García led a presentation for Richmond-area teachers sponsored by Partners in the Arts, Stony Point School music faculty member Alice Hammel approached García in November 2004 with a proposal to link the two schools via a grant from PIA for the 2005-06 school year. The grant would focus on the teaching of jazz elements and history across the core curriculum from grades K-8 as a vehicle to excite SPS students about all forms of learning.
The grant was the dual inspiration of SPS first grade teacher Blair Grigg, who had attended García’s PIA workshop, and Alice Hammel, who had suggested that a link with VCU Jazz would be ideal. The three worked on the grant application for months. It was approved by PIA in June 2005 and led to an August 2005 in-service workshop by García for the SPS teachers and a kick-off concert at VCU for the SPS students, as well as neighboring St. Andrew’s.
Throughout the academic year, this collaboration brought VCU Jazz faculty and Jazz and Music Education students to SP to teach specific music and non-music classes. Some SP students also received private lessons. The residency concluded in May 2006 with a Closing Concert hosted at VCU by Tony and VCU’s Mary Morton Parsons Jazz Masters, a faculty ensemble that presents solo and group sessions at schools throughout Richmond and beyond to acquaint children with jazz (funded by a permanent endowment donated by patrons of jazz through a challenge grant from The Mary Morton Parsons Foundation). That group included Profs. Skip Gailes (sax), Mike Ess (guitar), Victor Dvoskin (bass), and Howard Curtis (drums), and former VCU Jazz faculty Bob Hallahan (piano).
