2012.02.14 - L.A. Weekly - Matt Sorum Stands Up for Arts Education (& related articles)

Matt Sorum of Guns N' Roses Stands Up for Arts Education, Woos LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy Into Postponing Budget Cuts

By Simone Wilson

Of all the crucial LAUSD programs on the chopping block at today's board meeting -- like the entire adult-education department and after-school tutoring -- perhaps the most heart-wrenching was art education for elementary schoolers.

You heard right. The L.A. school district was about to cut the arts completely from its K-6 campuses.

Luckily, though, along with throngs of protesters (the crowd grew so large that the LAPD had to shut down the street outside district headquarters), a couple celebrities showed up to give board members a piece of their mind.

Debbie Allen, a famed choreographer and Golden Globe-winning actress, reportedly likened the cut to "dropping a nuclear bomb on our kids" during public comment.

And former Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver drummer Matt Sorum took his beef directly to the district's head honcho:

After relating a childhood story about being saved by music, Sorum asked Superintendent John Deasy if they could meet in private -- to work this thing out "rock star to superintendent."

LA Weekly's reporter at the scene says Deasy was "swooning" and "starstruck" at the celebrity's speech. And an AP reporter adds that Deasy "looked tickled at the offer."

At that, the board postponed a final budget decision until March 13. (Which could just be a waiting game to dispel public interest, but could also work to buy some time.)

Board members largely blamed Sacramento for the district's pending cuts, and asked the public to please lobby the state Legislature for more funding. But they also asked Deasy and the teachers union to negotiate a less expensive deal for LAUSD employees. And -- for once -- United Teachers Los Angeles reps said they were ready to sit down and talk.

Nothing like some star power to screw L.A. politicians' heads on straight!

https://web.archive.org/web/20130907075318/http://blogs.laweekly.com:80/informer/2012/02/matt_sorum_guns_n_roses_arts_education_lausd_superintendent_john_deasy_budget_cuts.php

Blabbermouth, Feb. 15, 2012:
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Matt Sorum Rallies Against LAUSD Budget Cuts In The Arts

Velvet Revolver/ex-Guns N' Roses drummer Matt Sorum spoke at Tuesday's (February 14) Los Angeles Unified School District board meeting where the board debated a $557 million budget cut to close a funding deficit in the district's $6 billion budget.

Sorum, who has launched a campaign called Adopt The Arts to save arts education in Los Angeles public schools, told the board that music helped keep him in school because he was not good at academics. He also said that cutting arts would be a travesty, explaining, "My mother is a music teacher and I grew up with music. I've gotta say — I wasn't the greatest with academics. I gravitated towards the creative aspect, which I had at public school. I had choir, [where] I learned how to sing, and I also took orchestra and learned how to play the drums, I became a world-renowned rock and roll musician."

He added, "I'm really concerned with cutting the arts and music for a very scientific reason, and the scientific reason is that kids learn four times better with music and arts in the program. Without a creative outlet, the academic programs are gonna suffer, and then there's gonna be children that don't gravitate towards the academics that have a creative mind that we're gonna lose nurturing them and may possibly be losing a very creative force in the future."

The drummer's speech apparently convinced the LAUSD board to hold off on a $6 billion budget plan that would result in eliminating the district's adult education, preschool and most elementary arts programs.

Watch Sorum in action below as he pleads his case to the Los Angeles Unified School District board.

An Adopt The Arts fundraising event in March will feature actress Jane Lynch as host, dinner by celebrity chef Kerry Simon and a performance by Sorum's band Magnificent Seven.

https://archive.blabbermouth.net/news/matt-sorum-rallies-against-lausd-budget-cuts-in-the-arts-video/