Artists to visit Lopez schools

Lopez students will get to learn directly from professional musicians, actors and lecturers thanks to two grants that have been received by Lopez Center for Community and the Arts.

One grant, for $10,000, came from the Northcliffe Foundation. The other, for $6,000, was compliments of the Wallace Foundation.

Specifically, the grants will enable performers booked by Lopez Center to stay an extra day and go into the classrooms, where they “will talk about what it is like to be a professional,” and give the students a hands-on experience in the performing arts, Executive Director Susan O’Neill said.

The Wallace Foundation grant went to 17 different states, all of which will be participating in a research project on how best to promote the arts. Washington was one of the states chosen, and its State Arts Commission then selected 15 communities to participate in the project. Lopez was chosen because it is an isolated community, according to O’Neill, who wrote the grant proposals.

The 18th Century Concert Orchestra will be the first to visit the Lopez school, on Oct. 18. The group, which is from Oxford, England, will present exquisite performances of popular baroque music on authentic instruments, and in full 18th century costume. The orchestra will also perform at Lopez Center.

The visit will be in conjunction with a tour it has scheduled in Canada. Its stop on Lopez will mark the first time the orchestra will perform in the United States.

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