The Mundi Project Piano Bank program received a generous donation of a Steinway Baby Grand piano from Dr. Norris on January 17, 2012 and placed the instrument  a week later at the Gifted Music School in an effort to make music education opportunities more accessible to youth in the Salt Lake area.
Since 2007, the Piano Bank program has found homes for over 70 pianos throughout the Wasatch Front including the Sorenson Unity Center, the Utah Cultural Celebration Center, Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts, and Salt Lake Arts Academy.
The Gifted Music School serves young students of all socio economic backgrounds. As an example of their commitment to serving those in need, the GMS Preparatory offers substantial scholarship to many of their students, some whose incomes are categorized near or below the poverty level.
The Mundi Project and GMS have served thousands of students through their outreach programs. Mundi Project Piano Ambassador Concerts and the GMS Orchestras perform for Title I schools, and serve several charities in the area in bringing the importance of music education to the forefront.

sponsored by the University of Utah Tanner Humanities Center

February 22,  2012 (Wednesday)
7:30 PM – 9:00 PM
Salt Lake Main Library

The Mundi Project would like to invite Salt Lake area piano students to perform at the opening reception. It is a wonderful opportunity for students preparing for UFMC Solo Festivals and other Spring events to practice performing. Repertoire should be performance ready and may include solo and ensemble.

Teachers/ individual students may reserve blocks of time in increments of 5, 10, 15, or 30 minutes.

Availability is on a first come first serve basis.

To reserve a time, interested teachers/ pianists should email:  janatova@mundiproject.org or call 801-487-8594.

We invite pianists interested in performing in the Air~ Inter-disciplinary performance project, to apply. Please download, complete, and submit the following materials by no later than January 20, 2012.

2012 Air Performer app_rev4

MUNDI Project Media Release (under 18)

For more detailed application procedures, please download the

Air~ Pianist Application Guidelines.

Olivia was eight years-old when she began playing the piano.  A friend of the family gave her a year of lessons for Christmas.  Olivia’s mom gave her a used Casio keyboard so she would be able to practice at home.  For two years, Olivia participated in lessons and faithfully practiced on her little keyboard.  She progressed as well as well as she could with what she had.  Then her piano teacher told her about Piano Bank.

“Olivia’s teacher gave us the information about the Mundi Project.  She encouraged Olivia to apply because she had been playing on a keyboard for years and wasn’t able to progress much further” said Erika- Olivia’s mother.  Since the receipt of her piano, Olivia has developed discipline, coordination, patience and the love of performing.  “She may not like to practice, but she enjoys the accomplishments,” said Erika.  “We always have music in the home now- everyday.  It has been an inspiration to see the child of a single mom have that fortune in her life.”

Olivia has plans to give back to the community who has provided her with such an opportunity.  “I have been encouraging her to give lessons to other children in the community.”  She is also planning on being a camp counselor in the upcoming summers.  “I believe this experience will help her influence children that anything is possible, that hard work and practice will pay off.  It has opened up many possibilities for her future.”

Olivia is another example of the power of music, and a piano, in the home.

Changing the World through Piano Performance

The purpose of Mundi Project Piano Ambassador Program is to introduce young and new audiences to classical piano literature, giving developing pianists performance experience in their musical journey, and educating the community on themes through inter-disciplinary concert formats.

Creating Piano Performance Experiences that Harmonize our Community

Piano Ambassador Concerts include a multi-media/disciplinary format to enhance the musical performance for youth and the general public, who have rarely experienced piano recital. The goal is to create an esoteric and holistic concert that engages and educates all participants and audience members on the project’s theme. Concerts will reach over 2,000 youth in the Greater Salt Lake area through performances in West Valley and the Salt Lake School District.

How can your piano performance make a difference?

Advanced Classical Piano Repertoire

is accompanied by visual presentations through stills and film clips. In preparation for this, the Mundi Project uses PNOScan, software, and midi-files to prepare each selection. If desired, we invite pianists to participate in this process, as we strive to make the experience a positive one for performer and audience members alike. Applicants for the PNOScan technology portion may submit up to three choices of current repertoire by the postmark deadline of Wednesday December 21, 2011.

Non-Classical or Pedagogical Repertoire

applicants have the opportunity to be a part of a collaborative effort, where their selection is accompanied by dance choreography designed specifically on their repertoire.  Choreography workshops for middle-school and high school students are being held through the months of February and March under the direction of RDT faculty. Applicants for this discipline must submit an audio recording or arrange a live audition no later than January 20, 2012.

Sharing your musical voice

Musical selections should reflect pianists thought and feelings around the theme of Air~ in the areas of nature, geology, technology, and the environment. For example: topics addressed in the inter-disciplinary art workshops include teaching elementary school students about wind farms, transportation, geological features in nature created by wind erosion, atmospheric sciences (weather: storms, breezes, clouds, snow, rain…), objects and living things that fly through the air (birds, planes, kites…) Duration of repertoire should not exceed 8 minutes.

Air~ Pianist Application Guidelines and Performance Dates
2012 Air Performer Application_rev

Application Postmark Deadline Wednesday December 21, 2011
Applications may be submitted electronically to janatova@mundiproject.org

November 1, 2011

7:30 pm

Vieve Gore Concert Hall
Jewett Center for the Performing Arts
Westminster College

SALT LAKE CITY —2011-2012 Piano Ambassadors Richard Contreras and Tiffany Xu will be performing with several local pianists at 7:30 p.m. on November 1, 2011 at the Vieve Gore Concert Hall.

The program will include works by Brahms, Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Schubert, Prokofiev, and Franz Liszt.

Selections will be accompanied by digital artwork displays and poetry recitations created by Westminster College students and a community dream-mural created by the youth of Neighborhood House after-school program under the tutelage of artist, Sarah Moyer.

The project supports piano education for underprivileged children through its Piano Bank and Piano Ambassador programs. These programs are designed to increase access to pianos and enhance unique performance opportunities through inter-disciplinary performances.
Tickets are $10 ($5 students) and will be available at the door.

Silent auction

featuring music and visual art items will occur from 7:00 PM to 7:30 PM.
All proceeds benefit Mundi Project programs.

For more information, call 801-487-8594
E-mail contact@mundiproject.org

Next Piano Bank application deadline is coming up on October 10, 2011.
Applications are available for individuals and public spaces.

Piano Bank Applications for Individuals

Piano Bank Application (English)

Aplicación española

Public Spaces Application:

Public Spaces Application

Upcoming Performance Opportunities

To Dream . . . Nov. 1, 2011

7:30 PM

Vieve Gore Concert Hall

Jewett Center for the Performing Arts

Westminster College

Air ~ March 21, 2012

Utah Cultural Celebration Center
SLSD Educational Outreach Tour (March – May 2012)

Applications and Repertoire Suggestion Lists

Arts Advocacy Event

Join Westminster College MBA Candidate and President of the Mundi Project, Emily Thunberg, in a panel discussion with five distinguished members from the Utah Community in an engaging “mind walk” about the state of the arts and arts-education in today’s barren economic climate – How  can we keep the artistic well of our community from going dry?

Panelist:

Anne Cullimore Decker: Actor, Educator, Arts Advocate

Rebecca Chavez – Houck – House of Representative District 24, Utah State Legislature

Rosanne Henderson – Supervisor of Fine Arts, Salt Lake School District

Matt LaPlante – Assistant Professor of Journalism, Utah State University

Terri Orr – Executive Director, Park City Foundation

Event Information:
September 8, 2011
7:00 PM Reception
7:30 PM Panel Discussion
Bill and Vieve Gore School of Business Auditorium
Westminster College
1840 South 1300 East
Salt Lake City, UT 84105

Sponsored By the Westminster College Center for Civic Engagement And The Mundi Project

For more information contact:
Emily Thunberg –
emilyt@mundiproject.org

Panelist Biographies

Rebecca Chavez/Houck (House of Representatives District 24)

A Utah native and a graduate of Bingham High School, Rebecca holds a B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication and a Master of Public Administration degree, both from the University of Utah. Her experience in nonprofit public relations and marketing over the past 24 years includes positions with Centro de la Familia de Utah, Utah Public Employees’ Association, Girl Scouts of Utah, Hal Gardiner Public Relations, and the Utah Museum of Natural History.
Rebecca has also cultivated another “career” as an activist and a volunteer with myriad local nonprofit groups, including Intermountain Healthcare, YWCA, KRCL Community Radio, Planned Parenthood Action Council, Utah State Democratic Party, and the United Way of Salt Lake. Rebecca’s pedigree for social justice advocacy and desire to develop progressive public policy was forged in the multicultural community of Bingham Canyon where her parents met. Her late father, Carlos Chavez, a Mexican immigrant from Michoacan, was a 40-year employee of Kennecott who also owned a produce farm in Riverton. A one-time bilingual aide for the Jordan School District, Rebecca’s mother, Katherine Valdez Chavez, instilled a strong passion for learning among her three sons and two daughters. Rebecca’s unwavering aspiration for a top-rate public educational system, as well as her compassion for the less fortunate, was undoubtedly shaped by her mother’s influence.

Matt LaPlante – Utah State University Assistant Professor of Journalism

Matthew D. LaPlante is a journalist, author, blogger and assistant professor of journalism at Utah State University. He is the co-founder of The Liberty Well, a non-profit community news website dedicated to covering the Liberty Wells and Central City neighborhoods of Salt Lake City, and serves as managing editor of NoDropouts.org, a website dedicated to sharing the ideas and inspirations of those engaged in the fight to end the nation’s dropout epidemic.
As national security reporter for The Salt Lake Tribune from 2005 to 2011, LaPlante  covered U.S. military operations in Iraq, Kuwait, Turkey, Germany and throughout the United States and has filed datelines from Israel, the West Bank, Spain, Ecuador, Cuba and Ethiopia..
LaPlante has been named a fellow of the Casey Center for Reporting on Children and Families, the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, the International Center for Journalists and the Center on Media, Crime and Justice.
LaPlante holds a master’s of science in education from California State University East Bay, and a bachelor’s of science in liberal studies from Oregon State University where, for his work at the student newspaper, The Daily Barometer, in 2001, he won the Society of Professional Journalists’ National Mark of Excellence Award for feature reporting. In the same year, LaPlante served as editor for staff development and training as the Barometer was recognized as the best all-around daily student newspaper in the nation, the first time the award had been granted to a school without a journalism program.
A former board member of the Society of Professional Journalist’s Greater Oregon chapter, LaPlante is the winner of numerous regional and national awards for feature writing, sports reporting, investigative journalism, business reporting, editorial writing, blogging and breaking news reporting. He was co-recipient of the Utah Society of Professional Journalists’ 2005 Roy B. Gibson award for promoting freedom of information, a 2007 finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists and the Utah Society of Professional Journalists’ reporter of the year in 2008 and 2010. He was the co-recipient of the Roy B. Gibson award in 2009 and the Don Baker award for investigative reporting in 2010. In 2011, he was named a finalist for the Hillman Prize for reporting that fosters social and economic justice.
Before arriving in Utah in 2004, LaPlante worked for The McMinnville News-Register, where he covered district and federal courts and, prior to that, was a sports reporter. He has also worked at The Corvallis (Ore.) Gazette-Times, The Lebanon (Ore.) Express, and The Oakland Tribune. Prior to his work as a journalist, he served as an intelligence analyst for the United States Navy, for which he completed a tour of duty in the Persian Gulf as part of Operation Southern Watch.
LaPlante was a contributing author in Kensington Books’ 2008 anthology Things I Learned About My Dad (In Therapy) and recently completed his first novel Near Where the Lilac Grows.
A native of California, LaPlante lives in Salt Lake City with his wife Heidi, a public school teacher, and their four-year-old daughter, to whom he writes regular letters of love, advice and anxiety at www.dearspike.com

Anne Cullimore Decker: (Actor, Educator, Arts Advocate)

Anne is a Utah native and was reared in a family devoted to medicine, education, and community service. Her father, the local GP physician, was also the Mayor, and her mother, a teacher, a legislator, and active leader in multiple organizations. These parental examples set the stage for active community and compassionate service.
Anne received both her bachelors (English/speech) and MFA (Theatre: directing) from University of Utah. She also trained in New York City and Oxford. A former teacher at East High School she continued her teaching career at the University of Utah Theatre Department in the Actor Training Program, as well as the Honors Programs. Was a recipient of the Thomas D. Dee Fellow for Excellence in Teaching. She continues to offer master classes and lectures around the State.
Utah has provided a wide and diverse opportunity for Anne to use her acting/directing skills. She has performed in stage, film, TV, opera, at: Utah Shakespeare Festival, Salt Lake Acting Company, Pioneer Theatre Company, Lagoon Players, Utah Opera, Utah Symphony, Children’s Dance Theatre, Babcock Theatre, Pygmalion Theatre. Film credits range from the award winning “Cufflink” to “Darling Companion,” with Keven Kline/Diane Keaton to be released in 2012. She will be performing onstage in RARE BIRD in Babcock Theatre Theatre March 2012, and Ballet West in April 2012.
Anne has served on many boards: Utah Arts Council board (nine years), served as the chair for 3 years; Zoo Arts & Parks, Tier One Advisory Board (4 years); University of Utah Alumni Association (8 years) served as Vice President; Utah Cultural Alliance board; Salt Lake County Fine Arts Advisory board; College of Fine Arts board; KUED and KUER advisory boards; Salt Lake Acting Company; Pioneer Memorial Theatre, Pioneer Theatre Guild (President) and Sundance Institute.
She has received multiple awards for her services, among them: The Madeleine Award for Distinguished Services in the Arts and Humanities; Quintus C. Wilson Award, Department of Communication; Distinguished Alumni Award, University of Utah; Outstanding Alumna Award, College of Fine Arts; Governor’s Mansion Artist Award; and Governor’s Individual Merit Leadership in the Arts Award; Best Actor in Eclipse Film Festival (Cufflink).

Terri Orr (Executive Director, Park City Foundation)

Since 1994 Teri has served as the director of the Park City Performing Arts Foundation. First helping to raise funding to build the joint use, George S and Dolores Dore Eccles Center for the Performing Arts, owned by the Park City School District and operated for community interests by the Foundation. And secondly, programming the facility with national touring acts in dance, theater and music. In 2004, the organization added the St Regis Big Stars, Bright Nights summer outdoor concert series at Deer Valley Resort. She helped co-ordinate both the Moose on the Loose fundraiser with artists and the Dogs of Bark City. In January of 2010, the organization created The Mega Genius Supply Store and IQ HQ-a free after school literacy tutoring center based on Dave Eggers 826 Valencia project. The organization also created a series of “thinky” salon-style evenings, called “Curiosities” based on a TED format of 18 minute speakers with no Q and A but adding food and wine in unusual settings.

Editor/Park Record Newspaper 1986-1994
During those eight years the Park Record was the most award-winning weekly paper in the Intermountain West. Teri received awards for her investigative journalism, photography, best layout, best community service, best editor’s column, and best feature story. The awards were from the National Newspaper Association, the Utah Press Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, among others.

Freelance writer 1979-present
Between other jobs Teri has written for In Style Magazine, Grit, Hollywood Reporter, the Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City Observer, Utah Home and Gardens, and many defunct publications she holds with great affection like Utah Holiday magazine.
Owner Ruffles and Ruffnecks Children’s Clothing Store, Tahoe City, Calif 1973-1979
Created a high-end boutique of children’s clothing, toys and gifts. Enjoyed all aspects of purchasing, display, advertising, and working retail. Teri sold the store in 1979 and it has since twice sold again. She re-visited the store in the summer of 2011, pleased to see it still enjoying success, and resisted making suggestions about the current window display.
Awards
Teri has received a variety of awards that span her interests, from the Governor’s Council on Domestic Violence, to the Park City Chamber’s Spirit of Hospitality, to the Peace House, Many Women, Many Voices. She has received numerous awards for her writing and photography and layout skills. She also has been the recipient of some terrific hand-written notes from students and performers she covets greatly.
Education
Teri doesn’t entirely regret dropping out of college to major in motherhood in her sophomore year at the University of Nevada in Reno. She only wishes she had taken the time to return later and acquire a degree. She is still thinking she has time to do this.
Recently, she has become a member of the TED community and the past few years have been a kind of PHd in all things au currant visa-vie TED. She has no idea why she has been invited to attend for the past five years but is grateful for whatever algorithm might be involved.
Skills
Teri considers’ her innate curiosity as her greatest skill which has lead her headlong into places  that defy logic, often to the frustration often of co-workers and board members. She loves learning new things in all disciplines except sports (which makes her quite odd in a rabid sporting community). She understands quirky, bright kids, having giving birth to two and now grandparenting three more. She has raised more than $20 million for the arts in Park City in the past 12 years.
She is a skilled but lazy photographer and chef. She is an extraordinary reader and audience member. She has no performing abilities of her own. None.
She likes to think she is working on a book.

Rosanne Henderson (Salt Lake School District, Fine Arts Supervisor)

Rosanne G. Henderson received a BS Degree in Elementary Education in 1974 from the University of Utah where she also minored in Fine Arts.  She currently has a Master’s Degree in Education with a Utah Administrative Supervisory Certificate.  Rosanne has been employed with the Salt Lake City School District for the past 35 years.  She taught elementary school for fourteen years.  She was named Salt Lake City School District Teacher of the Year in 1987.  She became an Administrator in 1990 where she was the Assistant Principal of Washington Elementary School.  She was appointed principal of Dilworth Elementary School in 1993 where she served for five years.  She was then asked to build North Star Elementary School in the Rose Park area in 1998.  Rosanne designed North Star to be a global learning community, a model school with high expectations for academics and collaboration. Rosanne was named Principal of the Year for the State of Utah in 2004.  She was also the National Distinguished Principal and was sent to Washington D.C. in 2004-2005.  Rosanne is currently the Supervisor of Fine Arts Education of Salt Lake City School District.  Her goal is to make sure that every student has access to a quality arts education.  Rosanne’s art form is music.  She is a pianist, but loves to dabble in all the art forms.