LOS ANGELES (Top40 Charts /: Warner Bros. Records) Josh Groban raised over half a million dollars for his alma mater, the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA), and his own Find Your Light Foundation by performing before a sold-out crowd last week at The
Music Center's Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles.
The very special event on June 28th, billed as "An Evening With Josh Groban," featured the multi-platinum singer, songwriter, and actor performing with the band who traveled with him during his recent Straight To You World Tour. Throughout the course of the concert, Groban was joined by several of LACHSA's students on some of his best-known songs, which included "
February Song" (featuring two dance students), "Lullaby," "Weeping," and "You Raise Me Up," (featuring vocal students, both soloists and a choir) and "
Machine" (featuring three music students on horns). Groban also called out several of his teachers from the stage to thank them for the support he received at LACHSA and tell stories about his time spent at the school. He also explained why he created the Find Your Light Foundation, and that with a combination of his personal experience and belief that the arts in children's and young adults' lives help shape and change them for the better.
"I am thrilled that we were able to raise over half a million dollars to support LACHSA and Find Your Light," Groban says. "It feels great to be able to give back to the school that gave me the foundation to explore my craft and support me while I was finding my feet as a performer. I want to thank everyone at LACHSA and those who attended the concert for enabling me to offer that same support to the students and future artists. It was truly a great night."
Recognized as one of the premier public arts high school in the U.S., LACHSA is Los Angeles County's only public, conservatory-style arts program for talented youth in dance, music, theatre, visual arts, and film. It serves 600 culturally and socioeconomically diverse teens from more than 80 school districts in the county. Fund-raising events such as this benefit concert enable LACHSA to offer conservatory-style arts training to students free of charge. Each year, the Arts High Foundation works to bridge the gap between available state funding and the actual cost of the arts programs by cultivating and soliciting gifts from individuals, foundations, and corporations.
Groban established the Find Your Light Foundation in 2011 as a way to enrich the lives of young people through arts, education, and cultural awareness. Groban's personal experience and his belief that early exposure to the arts helps shape young people's lives, combined with the sobering reality that such programs are on the chopping block at many educational institutions, has made him more attuned than ever to the need to focus his efforts on helping students find their light.
www.joshgroban.com & www.findyourlightfoundation.org
www.lachsa.net
