Come Together...Right Now

Yesterday I exhorted readers to take action against a plan to cut arts education and eliminate differentiated instruction for instrumentalists at the elementary level. These actions would destroy the strong foundation Howard County provides its students, and would be felt both short term and long term throughout the school system. Excellence in arts education supports students across all content areas. After all, a violinist in elementary schools may very likely grow up to be...an Olympic athlete.

Children who study music in school grow up to be musicians, and doctors, and scientists, and teachers, and inventors, and salespeople, and contractors, and...well, you get the picture. And do you know where all those musical people want to go?

Merriweather! Columbia awesomeness advocate and all-around energizer Ian Kennedy reminds us that significant improvements to Merriweather Post Pavillion were promised as a part of the Downtown Plan, and as yet, nothing is happening. Go like their Facebook page and participate in the support for the valuable community resource. Not all our students will become rock stars. They'll also be music tech experts running sound, lighting experts running the lightshow, ticket takers, vendors, grounds crew, and happy concert goers. Let's make sure Merriweather will be there for them.

Support for the arts in Howard County is at the center of what makes this place so wonderful. A case in point: James Rouse's desire to have an active park for the people and opportunities for enjoying the arts right at Columbia's core. I was excited to see news yesterday of further developments for Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods. I love the Merriground feature. It's visually appealing and I think would see a lot of use. It is also shows responsiveness by the team to community input. That is a very good sign.

Get up to date on the plan here:

@suncolumbia: Playground, acoustics added to .@InARTrust plans for Symphony Woods http://t.co/tFf4oESQtj #HoCoMd

And as to those acoustic elements, they do look cool. But can't we please have a sensory playground like this? I know, I know. I have now officially become the Bob Moon of the sensory playground. But despite my quirky persistence, I'm happy with the plans for Merriweather Park and thrilled that it is moving forward.

Education in the arts. Venues for the arts. Celebrating the arts in our community.

Come together.

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