The National Association for Music Education today honored Texaco Foundation with the "Partnership of Professionals" award at its annual Fund for the Advancement of Music Education (FAME) dinner in the Sam Rayburn House Office Building.

The award is in recognition of Texaco Foundation's grant program "Early Notes: The Sound of Children Learning." The ongoing initiative focuses its support on the capacity of music education to advance educational reform, and seeks to infuse music learning into the early childhood curriculum and classroom. Among its recent efforts were a $50,000 grant to fund MENC's "Start the Music" Early Childhood Summit in June 2000 and a $80,000 grant to implement a national MENC teacher and child provider training program expanding access to best music education practices in early childhood learning.

"MENC is a valued partner of ours, and their decision to extend this honor only reinforces our strong sense of shared purpose," says Anne Dowling, president of Texaco Foundation. "The real winners here are the children who will have improved access to music education because of what we've been able to accomplish."

Early Notes and Texaco's numerous other programs in support of music grew out of Texaco's 61-year sponsorship of the Texaco Metropolitan Opera broadcasts. Texaco demonstrates its commitment to the arts and arts education through a variety of programs including the online Texaco Opera Learning Center, which features the Texaco Study Guide for Opera; Texaco Quiz Kids, an international competition for young opera aficionados; the Texaco Sphinx Competition for young Black and Latino string performers; and the MUSICAL ROOTS grants program, that supports non-profit organizations and music programs that exemplify and explore the traditions and heritage of diverse cultures in the worldwide communities Texaco serves.

Other recipients of this year's MENC "Partnership of Professionals" awards included Walt Disney Entertainment®, Pepsi-Cola and the National School Boards Association. National Symphony Orchestra Director Leonard Slatkin and Representative David Obey (D-WI) received individual FAME awards as well.

MENC, founded in 1907, is dedicated to advancing music education as a profession and to ensuring that every child in America has access to a balanced, sequential, high-quality education that includes music as a core subject of study.

FAME is a MENC-administered program that seeks to improve and expand music education for all by effecting changes in the general public's perception of its importance. The program's goals are to increase public awareness of the importance of music education and to promote public support for music education at the local, state, and federal levels.

Texaco Foundation was established in 1979 under the sponsorship of Texaco, Inc. The Foundation supports non-profit, tax-exempt organizations in the United States and other countries in which Texaco operates.

Texaco Inc.

Texaco Inc.

Headquarters

More from Texaco Inc.