Join Community Symphonic Band

EOU file photo / The Community Symphonic Band will rehearse at 7 p.m. Monday in Loso Hall, Room 126. Registration begins at $30 per term for community members and is free for college and high school students.

Community Symphonic Band sets first rehearsal of spring term

LA GRANDE, Ore. March 25, 2016 – Art Center East invites area musicians to join the Community Symphonic Band. Woodwind, brass and percussion players ages 14 and up are particularly encouraged to join.

The first rehearsal for spring term is from 7-9 p.m. Monday, March 28 in Loso Hall, Room 126 on the Eastern Oregon University campus. Registration begins at $30 per term for community members, and there is no cost for college and high school students.

Thanks to a long-standing partnership between Art Center East and EOU, college students can also participate in the Community Symphonic Band for credit, while affording local musicians the opportunity to pursue their own musical interest. The result is a mixture of 50-60 college and high school students and community members from Union, Baker and Wallowa counties.

The band rehearses once a week and then performs fall, winter and spring concerts and is supported with funding provided by its band members, the EOU Foundation and a sponsorship from Art Center East.

To register visit www.artseast.org or stop by the Art Center East office on the corner of 6th St. and L Ave., across from the La Grande Police Department. Registrations will also be available at the March 28 rehearsal. Call 541-962-3629 or e-mail mika@artseast.org for more information.

Chris Leavitt

About the Conductor: After the departure of long-time Band Director Teun Fetz, Art Center East, with the help of the Community Symphonic Band Steering Committee, recruited La Grande native and Eastern Oregon University alumnus Chris Leavitt to take the helm. Leavitt is currently the director of bands for the La Grande School District, where he guides all aspects of the band program including conducting the beginning, intermediate and advanced bands at La Grande Middle School and the Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, Marching Band and Pep-Band at La Grande High School. Leavitt was named 2014 Educator of the Year by the Union County Chamber of Commerce and holds a bachelor’s of music degree in percussion performance and a master’s of arts in teaching from EOU. When he’s not busy with the band, he enjoys spending his time with his wife Holli and his daughter Anneliese.

About Art Center East (formerly ArtsEast & the Art Center at the Old Library): Since its founding in 1977 as a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit corporation, Art Center East has inspired interest and participation in the arts across Eastern Oregon. Based on the Eastern Oregon University campus in La Grande, Art Center East provides arts learning opportunities in regional schools through its Artist-in-Residence programs and oversees the Community School for the Arts program, which hosts private music lessons for children and adults, the Community Symphonic Band, the Community African Drumming group, the Union County Children’s Choir, and the Grande Ronde Community Choir. More recently, Art Center East has expanded its services through a merger with the Art Center located at 1006 Penn Avenue in La Grande. The Art Center operates an on-site, community-based arts and culture education program for children and adults.

Art Center East’s efforts are supported in part by its members, as well as local and regional foundations such as the Oregon Arts Commission and the National Endowments for the Arts, US Bank Foundation, Trust Management Services, James F. & Marion L Miller Foundation, Umpqua Bank Charitable Foundation, among others. For more information about Art Center East visit www.artseast.org or call 541-962-3629. For more information about art classes and programs offered at the Art Center call 541-624-2800.