Sequim Community Orchestra, String Kids set winter concert

Sequim Community Orchestra members are gearing up for their second-annual Christmas Concert this week, a show where they’ll be joined by their student counterparts.

Students of the SCO String Kids program will also perform with the orchestra during the free concert set for 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15, at the Sequim Elks Lodge, 143 Port Williams Road.

The event features a bake sale and, during an intermission, the program will receive a Community Education Grant for $6,000 from Sequim’s chapter of Beta Nu.

“We are so grateful to Beta Nu for their support,” SCO board president Beth Pratt said. “They approached us in 2016 about applying for their community education grants. Last year, we were awarded $4,000. This year, we asked for a little more.”

That “little more” is earmarked to buy two cellos and a bass instrument for students.

“The SCO keeps instruction free for our nearly 40 students, and we keep a collection of loaner instruments so that students need not pay for costly rentals or invest in an instrument they will outgrow in time,” Pratt said. “However, we do not have any large, bass clef instruments in our collection. Beta Nu has stepped up to help us solve that problem.”

Pratt added, “We are so excited that we will no longer have to tell a new student that they cannot learn the instrument they choose, if they choose a cello or bass, and cannot afford to purchase or rent their own.”

The SCO String Kids program began in 2013 and was originally held in Sequim School District classrooms. In 2017, classes were moved to Olympic View Church of God in Sequim, who donated the space.

Funding for the program has always been through grants, donation, proceeds from concerts and bake sales held during concerts by parents and students. The SCO is a 501(c)(3) organization.

With the grant from Beta Nu, the SCO String Kids program will also be able to invest in the library of performance music and participate in a solo-ensemble competition in January, in addition to the purchase and maintenance of the new instruments.

For more information, contact at 360-460-7368 or email to president@sequimcommunityorchestra.org.