Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Making a Difference

Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Making a Difference

Posted by CNN   
February 18, 2015   Beverly Hills, California

East truly meets west at the Lunar New Celebration at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. It was presented via a concert featuring the world renown artist and pianist Rueibin Chen and L’Ensemble du Ciel, his traditional Chinese instrumental ensemble.

This was an evening of introspection and celebration bridging past and future and East and Western cultures. It was held in the new performing arts facility of the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.

I was fortunate to be able to interview performing artist Rueibin Chen and Tania Camargo, the Managing Director of Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in the Education Courtyard.

The project is a throwback to earlier projects that had been done for Los Angeles school system, but have long since abandoned due to budget cuts. There was a time in the LA school system in schools would simply take the day off and be bussed to concert halls to listen to performances by great artist from around the world.

The day before this concert was held for the public, it premiered and was held privately as a matinee for students for free. There is a back to the future goal with the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts to once again bring students and artists together so that students can truly appreciate the art of music in a setting that truly shows the grandeur of the arts vs. watching on a television set or listening on their cell phones. Starting this summer there will be a performance arts curriculum for people of all ages from babies to adults with specific programming for specific age groups.

“The performing arts is incredibly important in the growth and education of people,” shared Camargo inthe vision of Inspiring the future audience and creating well rounded human beings. They are hoping that once students see this live in front of them it will profoundly change their lives for the better. It worked for decades. As an individual that was able to see this being done when I was younger, I developed an appreciation for how magnificent it was to actually see it being done right.

As was originally done in the LA school systems, it is only meant for small groups, with only 500 seats for a more intimate setting. As in the case when I was in school, you only get the people that truly want to enjoy the arts then it is left up to them to tell the others what they missed.