Building Tomorrow’s Symphony
The What
The Painted Violins Project is an art exhibit and raffle created by local artists from in and around Southwest Virginia and the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra. We will be donating one violin to 12 artists in our community.
This project is the revival of a previous RSO initiative—Painted Violins: Music to the Eyes, a 50th Anniversary Celebration. The Painted Violins Project, in its newly imagined state, has been revived in recognition of a deficit in our community in string education. Our goal is to raise awareness and interest in this rising issue in our community, and to gather funding for further initiatives that support string education in Roanoke.
The Why
String education is at the core of the Roanoke Symphony’s Educational Programming. Students in Roanoke and the surrounding communities have limited access to string education. While we have worked to take action in closing the gap between our community and string education, there is always more we can do.
Like many arts organizations in our community, the youth ensemble programs in Studio:RSO have declined through the Covid-19 pandemic and without proper outreach, engagement, and interest, these student ensembles will continue to suffer. Without your support, the ability and accessibility to learn a string instrument in these ensembles may not be possible for the future generations of Southwest Virginia.
The Impact
If we neglect our student musicians today, tomorrow’s world of musical history may cease to exist. Investing in our youth is building tomorrow’s symphony. You can support this endeavor within our own community here in Roanoke.
The Painted Violins Project directly supports the initiatives of musical education at the RSO. Not only will this project engage community support and interest in string education, but it will also open the conversation to the importance of the arts in our community.
Our hope with The Painted Violins Project is to be able to bring more string educators, teachers, performers, and opportunities to the students we serve. Growing our expert team will allow us to engage with more students and spread the joy of string instruments further.
How can you engage with
The Painted Violins Project?
This project will be an ongoing initiative throughout the 2023 season. The 12 completed violin art pieces will be awarded through an online raffle happening now.
Over the next few months, the Symphony will be following along on the journey of all of these artists. You will be able to watch the creation of their art happening in real time via our online channels. By engaging and sharing these materials, you can help us spread the word about our goals here.
