THE ASCAP FOUNDATION

Summer 2004

THE ASCAP FOUNDATION

Music Education,
Talent Development
and
Community Outreach

With support from our donors, The ASCAP Foundation funds many music education, talent development and humanitarian programs that serve the music community. Here are a few examples of those programs.

Film composer-in-residence Jason Goldman instructs students working in the Henry Mancini Electronic Music Composition Lab at The Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. The composer-in-residence position is partially funded by The ASCAP Foundation through a bequest from the estate of John DeVries.

Student and teacher work together at the Special Music School at Kaufman Center in New York. The ASCAP Foundation provides a grant to support the Special Music School, a New York City public school for musically gifted children, through The ASCAP Foundation Joseph and Rosalie Meyer Fund established by a gift from the Estate of Joseph and Rosalie Meyer.

Still going strong in its 22nd year, The ASCAP Foundation Country Songwriters Workshop takes place annually in Nashville. Bonnie Baker was the moderator for the workshop which featured guest panelists from the entire spectrum of country music, including composers, lyricists, publishers, producers and arrangers. The Workshop meets for six consecutive weeks each spring. Cris Lacy, Creative Director, Warner/Chappell Music Publishing is shown leading a session at the Workshop. The Workshop is funded through the generosity of our donors.

The International Music Camp (IMC) in Minot, North Dakota, received funding from The ASCAP Foundation to support a composer-in-residence to develop and instruct a composition program for IMC’s music honors curriculum. Support for this program is made possible by The ASCAP Foundation Joseph and Rosalie Meyer Fund.

Guitar teacher, Stacy Labriola explains a new chord to young players at the Fresh Air Fund Summer Guitar Project at the Fresh Air Fund Camp in Fishkill, New York. The ASCAP Foundation Joseph and Rosalie Meyer Fund is the source of support for this program.

Middle school students practice at The Manhattan School of Music Summer Music Camp. This five-week summer camp for New York City public school students is made possible by a grant to The ASCAP Foundation from the National Endowment for the Arts and The ASCAP Foundation Irving Caesar Fund, as well as the New York City Department of Education with additional funding from the Music for Youth Foundation and a special grant from the Altman Foundation.

Band members practice from method books supplied by The ASCAP Foundation Mancini Music in the Schools program, which provides sheet music, band arrangements, folios and method books to public schools nationwide receiving instruments through the VH1 Save the Music program. Warner Bros. Publications provides the music materials. Mancini Music in the Schools is funded through a gift from Ginny Mancini.

The ASCAP Foundation Lester Sill Songwriters Workshop, held annually in Los Angeles, is for advanced pop songwriters. In addition to meeting and collaborating with other writers, the workshop features prominent guest speakers giving advice on a variety of music industry topics. In this photo, Lester Sill Workshop participants Oren Hadar and Libbie Shrader rehearse their material. This workshop is funded through the generosity of our donors.

Wynton Marsalis works with campers during a practice session at the Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong Summer Jazz Camp in New Orleans. What started as a one-week program in jazz music education for thirty-five students has grown over the past ten years into a three week program with 110 students. The curriculum includes a music composition course, vocal music classes and a music/engineering workshop. The camp is partially supported by The ASCAP Foundation through an endowment from The Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation, Inc.

The ASCAP Foundation Acquires Rights to Catalog of Irving Caesar

ASCAP Foundation President Marilyn Bergman has announced that the Foundation has been named the finaI beneficiary of all of Irving Caesar’s assets (copyrights), including those held under his lifetime trust, those retained in his wholly owned publishing company, as well as his memorabilia. Caesar (1895 – 1996) was a prolific and beloved lyricist who wrote hundreds of songs over the course of his long life, including “Tea for Two,” “Just a Gigolo,” “Swanee,” and “Animal Crackers in My Soup,” among many others. Caesar’s collaborators included Vincent Youmans, George Gershwin, Rudolf Friml and Gerald Marks. Together with Gerald Marks, Irving Caesar created the popular children’s educational song series, Songs of Safety and Songs of Friendship.

In line with this major bequest, The ASCAP Foundation is establishing a series of programs designed to ensure the preservation of the great Caesar legacy. These efforts include music education and musical theater programs in Irving Caesar’s name with the goal of providing enjoyable and meaningful music experiences for young people with an emphasis on the economically disadvantaged.

The ASCAP Foundation has completed a thorough inventory of Irving Caesar’s memorabilia, under the direction of musical theater historian Robert Kimball, which includes correspondence, autobiographical material, song contracts, scripts for shows, patents for gadgets and games invented by Mr. Caesar, as well as sheet music, music and lyric manuscripts, photos, recordings, artwork, books from Mr. Caesar’s personal library and financial records. Among the contents was material dating as far back as the 1910’s when Mr. Caesar was a teenager.

Caesar became an ASCAP member in 1920, and remained an active and devoted member for the next 75 years, serving several terms as a member of the Society’s Board of Directors.

Commenting on the new bond between the Caesar Estate and The ASCAP Foundation, Marilyn Bergman said, “This is a major milestone in the history of our Foundation. Mr. Caesar was a legendary songwriter and we will faithfully target proceeds from Mr. Caesar’s catalog to support ASCAP Foundation music education programs for young people per Mr. Caesar’s wishes. This extraordinary bequest will, I hope, serve as an inspiration to others to follow Mr. Caesar’s lead and support the vital work of the Foundation.”

In Mr. Caesar’s memory, the ASCAP Foundation will create the Official Irving Caesar Website including biographical information, a photo gallery, songs, lyrics and sheet music, Broadway shows, children’s songs and licensing information. Future plans also include a Caesar Tribute Concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall in early 2005 in conjunction with Michael Feinstein’s Now and Then series.

The ASCAP Foundation was established in 1975 and is a publicly supported charitable organization exempt from federal taxation under IRC § 501©(3). The ASCAP Foundation is supported by contributions, bequests and grants from ASCAP members, other foundations, corporations and the general public. We welcome your contributions, which are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law.

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