Palm Springs High School

Palm Springs High School strives to build a strong technical theater program that will prepare high school students for college and industry standard readiness. The primary purpose of these funds is to modernize the technical theater equipment for the Richards Center for the Arts at Palm Springs High School for not only the students, but for the community as well. The facility has not been updated in terms of lighting, music equipment, tools needed to construct sets, and other technical needs that the students need in order to be prepared for post-secondary education and immediate workforce entry (such as the entertainment industry). Beyond the physical upgrades of the facility, these funds will represent an investment in workforce development and allow Palm Springs High School to remain a hub for the arts and a premier training ground for the next generation of technicians. Any student who works on a production at Palm Springs High School will be able to expand their scope of design possibilities, allowing for more ambitious productions that will increase community engagement. Palm Springs High School wants their students to develop a highly specialized, technical literacy that translates directly to the modern workforce so they don’t fall behind. Access to this type of equipment allows students to explore multimedia storytelling which is a field that is currently exploding throughout the industry, especially in theater, concert venues, and theme parks. With the help of the Anderson Children’s Foundation, Palm Springs High School will be able to tackle the most challenging technical musical to-date, Disney’s Frozen, where all elementary and middle school students from the surrounding communities will be able to participate in this production as well, so we can inspire future performers and artists within our surrounding communities because the theater programs at the lower grade levels have become obsolete. With the grant, Palm Springs High School is hoping that the technical theater program will continue to build so we can expose more and more students to theater industry standards and provide families with high-quality theater performances and musical events.

The Palm Springs High School Symphony Orchestra and Classical Guitar classes have requested financial help from the Anderson Children’s Foundation to purchase 5 mandolins with hard shell cases. Current PSHS students who take the classical guitar class and want to continue growing as musicians do not have a second level class for guitar to continue their studies in. The mandolin is a plucked version of the violin, making it a perfect transition instrument for the guitarists to continue their studies by transitioning into the symphony orchestra classes for the remainder of their high school careers. With the help of the ACF, we will be purchasing 5 mandolins for students to begin their transitions from the guitar classes to the symphonic orchestra. These five mandolins will be loaned out to students to begin using right away. When the student graduates, we will then pass the instrument on to a new student to use until they graduate. This will continue to happen for the life of the instrument.

The Palm Springs High School Symphonic Orchestra is a huge success in their home town of Palm Springs as well as throughout the entire the Coachella Valley. This group is currently in their 12th year after having been removed back in the early 1980's. As the only public high school orchestra in the Coachella Valley, this group performs standard classical literature as well as popular pieces, movie scores, jazz standards, folk songs, and festival works. Over the past seven years, this group averages an amazing fifteen performances a year and performs around twenty pieces of music a year. This group is also proud to be part of starting several elementary school feeder programs in the local valley as well as the Palm Springs High School's Valley Strings Community Orchestra.

The Palm Springs High School Band Department consists of more than two hundred music students that encompass the marching band, jazz band, mini-marching band, wind ensemble, symphonic band, and visual teams. The band travels throughout the Coachella valley, Southern California, the United States, and indeed the world performing for community and civic events, charitable organizations, music education exhibitions and festivals, professional concerts, and wherever live musicians might provide an enjoyable experience for spectators and those who appreciate music. The Band has also offered special programs in addition to their performances to benefit the community. This includes after school instruction for Elementary students and supporting Middle School Flag Programs. They also provide concerts with world class entertainers, bands, and orchestras that come to play to support music education at the 1000 seat Palm Springs Auditorium. From Glenn Miller, Count Basie Orchestra, Maynard Ferguson, Stan Kenton Alumni Band, to the Dallas Brass, and “Beatles” tribute bands, they share their gifts with the students and the community. Selected from more than 2800 applications to be one of ten bands at the 57th Inaugural Parade in Washington DC, the band was the sole representative group from California. The band proudly demonstrates the outstanding youth that are such a vital part of Palm Springs and Coachella Valley communities.

The Anderson Children’s Grant Foundation has been integral in ensuring that students have instruments to perform on and in providing extraordinary experiences for our youth. It is through generosity such as theirs that allows the band to fulfill it's mission to allow students to undertake participation and involvement in those activities that the band undertakes, and the expanding size of the band (expected to crest 200 this year), will ensure that all students have an opportunity to participate. The band program funding is based not based on size or the number of performances it undertakes (thus increasing the wear and tear on instruments) but on a flat budget item per group. We continue to fundraise, perform, and work to ensure that all students have access to this instrumental program regardless of financial need and so appreciate the generosity of the Anderson Children’s Grant Foundation in providing much needed instruments for our students.

The Palm Springs High School Academic Booster Club aims to increase the number of students who take AP exams every year. This program will encourage students to work hard academically, take AP exams, and get into competitive colleges and universities. Students interested in receiving a fee waiver will describe their financial needs in a brief application. Low-income students on the free or reduced lunch program will automatically qualify. Over time, the PSHS Booster Club hopes to see an increase in AP students as they realize that the $90 exam fee doesn’t need to be an obstacle.