Grammy Awards Santa Monica Students

By Gene Williams
Staff Writer

March 8 -- The Grammy Awards have been a yearly ritual for music fans for nearly half a century. But as U2, Mariah Carey and Kanye West took turns on the green carpet last month, what millions of TV viewers probably didn’t know is that the organization behind the big night is headquartered right here in Santa Monica.

Tucked away near a corner on 34th Street and Pico Boulevard, it would be easy to miss the offices of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences if it weren’t for the outlines of old-time gramophones that form a motif in the iron fence.

Students from Lincoln Middle School show off signed Mariah Carey cds after watching the artist perform during Grammy SoundCheck. (Photo courtesy of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences)

The Recording Academy, as it is known, took over the large and airy 1960s-style office building after leaving Glendale 13 years ago, and the move seems to be working well. Not just for the Grammy people, but also for Santa Monica’s young music students.

“All of what we do has an outreach component,” explained Dana Tomarken, a vice president of the academy’s charitable and educational foundations. “So we do our best at integrating Santa Monica as much as we can, because they are our family here.”

So much so, that the Academy went so far as inviting its neighbors on Pico Boulevard to its holiday office party last year where a choral group of third graders from the Edison Language Academy provided the entertainment.

“It was a great turnout,” Tomarken said.

This big-time organization understands the small-town touch. It likes being here, said Lizzie Moore, the academy’s west regional director. It likes being in and being involved in the community, and education is a big part of that involvement, she said.

“We’ve done a lot of things with the Santa Monica and Malibu public schools,” Moore said.

In 2001, Santa Monica High School was honored as a Grammy signature School, an award given to schools with top-notch music programs. The high school received a $1,000 grant, but that was only the beginning.

Through programs like Grammy SoundCheck and Grammy Jam, local school kids have gotten to meet and perform with some of their favorite artists -- and a few their parents might remember -- while sometimes raising money for their schools at the same time.

Last December some 40 Santa Monica school musicians shared the stage with Stevie Wonder at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles for a Grammy Jam honoring the veteran R&B and pop music legend. More than 20 other top music names -- from Herbie Hancock and George Benson to Hootie & The Blowfish -- also performed for the fundraiser.

And while the numbers for the Wonderjam aren’t in yet, proceeds from the previous year’s jam included $25,000 in grant money for arts and music programs at Santa Monica and Malibu schools. Grammy Foundation officials say they expect to cut the district an even bigger check this time around.

In another program, called Grammy SoundCheck, more than 30 students from Lincoln Middle School got to meet Mariah Carey, who answered questions, signed autographs and let the students watch as she rehearsed for a television show last November at a studio in Burbank.

“It was extremely powerful,” Moore said. “Once the kids get over the initial shock of being in front of Mariah Carey and realize the power of the music she is producing, they are completely enthralled with the activities at hand.”

But the story doesn’t end there.

“What came of that visit is just a genuine gift that gave back to the community in a unique way,” Tomarken said.

For months the kids at the middle school had been saving up their spare change to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, and some of the students who had been out to meet Carey suggested that the donation go to MusiCares -- the academy’s human services charitable foundation.

“They actually saved their snack money,” Tomarken said, “so it was really precious that they had such an amazing experience with us that they would want to turn around and give it back to one of the academy’s charities.”

The kid’s collected $5,000 and the academy doubled their donation with its own matching funds.

MusiCares -- which was formed to provide a safety net for entertainment professionals -- has distributed more than $2 million in Katrina relief so far. In a partnership with Guitar Center and Gibson Guitars called Music Rising, it shares in a commitment to raise another $2 million to help musicians replace instruments lost to the storm.

Sitting across the table from each other in the academy’s conference room, where a large autographed picture of the Rolling Stones hangs on the wall, Tomarken and Moore said Santa Monica has become the place to be for the music industry.

“When we were looking to purchase a building and relocate our offices, we purposely targeted Santa Monica because this is where we really wanted to be,” Tomarken said.

“What’s interesting about us being here for so long,” said Moore,” is that the entertainment industry and especially the music industry has gravitated to the West Side and especially to Santa Monica”

“They followed suit,” Tomarken added. “You’ve got Sony music here, you’ve got Universal Music, EMI is here, MTV Networks is here and you have a lot of recording studios.”

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence,” Moore said. “It’s a great part of town.”

For more about the Recording Academy’s foundations, events and programs visit www.grammyfoundation.com and www.musicares.com