Group hopes to raise $30K to support more Long Beach Municipal Band concerts

A new partnership has been formed between Friends of the Long Beach Municipal Band and the Long Beach Community Foundation to help raise a promised $30,000 to pay for a sixth week of concerts this summer.

Bill Thomas, president of the Friends group, recently aounced the partnership. The Community Foundation has agreed to set up a secure fund where people can donate directly to the cause, he said.

For decades, the nonprofit Partners of Parks has raised money to help support the Municipal Band, primarily through a Pass the Can program at concerts. That program will continue, Thomas said, and people still can donate directly to Partners.

Drew Satariano, Partners of Parks executive director, said his group is in full support of the new partnership. Partners works on many initiatives and this partnership will allow concentration on the Municipal Band, he said.

Thomas added that the new effort was a direct result of the promise to raise the $30,000 to add the sixth week of concerts. It costs about $15,000 for each Municipal Band concert, and the group plays four times a week.

At one time, the Municipal Band performed for eight weeks each summer. That schedule was reduced in 2009 to seven weeks after the start of the Great Recession, and the entire program was on the cutting block during debates for the 2011 budget. However, a group led by then-Councilwoman Rae Gabelich convinced the council to approve a five-week season with the process to create a nonprofit and eventually wean the band from public support.

That nonprofit was never formed. The band has continued with a five-week schedule funded through the Parks, Recreation and Marine Department, with support from the Partners of Parks campaigns.

Donations by check can be mailed directly to the Long Beach Community Foundation, 400 Oceangate, Suite 800, Long Beach 90802. Checks should be made out to the foundation with for Municipal Band at the bottom.

Other options include credit card payment, automatic monthly credit card donation and an endowment. To set up the donation online, go to www.longbeachcf.org, choose the donate button and select the Friends of Long Beach Municipal Band icon.

Friends of the Municipal Band also has set up membership levels for individuals, families and businesses. An individual membership is $50; a family membership costs $100. There are corporate sponsor levels of $500, $1,000, $3,000 and $5,000.

For more information, email [email protected].

Harry Saltzgaver is executive director of Gazette Newspapers. He can be reached at [email protected].

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