By Joan Baum, Ph.D.
When Dale Lewis says that the mantra that's guided his life's work in music education is teach with love, you can believe it because that passion has been on remarkable display for the 32 years he's been inaugurating, enhancing and expanding arts education programs for children and teachers at one of the most celebrated summer arts day camps in the country, the Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, in Wheatley Heights, Long Island. But after this summer, the esteemed director will be stepping down, leaving an extraordinary legacy of innovative curricular achievement and facilities expansion on the camp's 200 woodland acres. He'll be taking his skills in fundraising and collaboration to the new ArtsReach Fund of the Long Island Community Foundation, seeing the move as a time for Usdan to address new needs and giving himself a new opportunity to "start and define" arts outreach primarily for talented kids in need so that they will be able to go from high school to college or conservatories and maybe think about becoming arts teachers. Hardly severing ties with Usdan, however, which will always have his heart, Lewis will still participate in its Leadership Council and perhaps find himself working collegially with former colleagues as he pursues new challenges.
The ArtsReach Fund is a division of the Long Island Community Foundation, a non profit based in Melville, itself a division of The New York Community Trust, "one of the nation's oldest and largest community foundations" which is devoted to connecting donors with charitable organizations and encouraging the addressing of regional needs. For Lewis, no need could be greater than encouraging young people to appreciate the arts by way of having inspirational teachers. He has always held that "all children deserve access to great teaching" and that "study in the arts enriches the spirit and leads to the arts as a companion for life." The Usdan mission, he points out, is to "provide opportunities for children [of any race, color, and national or ethnic origin] to develop artistic skills, regardless of their level of talent." Interest is primary. The mission at LICF will be arts specific and will focus on raising funds and partnering with funding agencies to support smaller, more intimate organizations and extend the circle of grants. In some cases, Lewis notes, smaller organizations may be led by admired artists who would prefer not to have to be enmeshed in administrative activities. At LICF Lewis will be working with local public school districts, some of whose supervisors he already knows. He says that people don't generally realize that many musically talented high school youngsters come from families that cannot afford to send their children even to auditions and not take advantage of private lessons that would prepare kids for auditions and make them competitive.
A former Suzuki teacher, Lewis believes in introducing young children - but not too young - to experiences that emphasize "movement, singing and fun," and, of course, engaging parents. He takes a similar humane and moderating line on Common Core content and skills and technological teaching aids, seeing the common goal in the arts as inculcating learning that will generate independent, creative youngsters who truly "love" what they do. Lewis came to the arts early in his life, encouraged by his mother, a pianist and singer, who took him to the Leonard Bernstein Young People's Concerts. He fell in love with cello, making his performance debut at Carnegie Recital Hall at the age of twelve and attended Scarsdale High School which had (and has) a fine music program. From there he went to Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, studying cello and conducting, and from 1969-1976 was the cellist of the Alberg Trio. He started at Usdan as Assistant Director and then in 1983, became Director. Among numerous prestigious appointments, his work with young people stands out. He founded the Center for Chamber Music in Greenwich, CT, an arts education program for children and adults, and taught at Rye Country Day and the College of New Rochelle. In 1976 he was appointed Music Director and Conductor of the Westchester Junior Orchestra and led the group for 18 years, winning many national awards from education and music organizations.
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