Excerpts from the Remarks of Elvi Moore
on the Launching of The Laurel Fund for the performing arts:
June 5, 2000 at the Embassy of the Republic of Singapore.

Thank you, Ambassador Chan. Most of you know how the Embassy of Singapore and Ambassador Chan have been so involved in our community, opening the Embassy to community events such as this, hosting arts events both here and in other venues, and also raising funds for organizations within our city. Ambassador, thank you for being so generous and for being such a part of our community. And thank you for allowing The Laurel Fund for the performing arts to have its first public event in your lovely Embassy.

Before I tell you about the organization which we are launching today, let me tell you first about three women who were my inspiration for establishing The Laurel Fund for the performing arts. First, there is Mary Day, the founder of The Washington Ballet, whose lifetime commitment to training and nurturing young artists is legendary; second there was Laura Phillips, a true patron of the arts, who loved and supported all the performing arts throughout her life; and third, was Jean Head Sisco, who gave so much to her community and who instilled the idea of giving back to so many of us who knew her. These three incredible women, and what they taught me by their examples is really why we are gathered here tonight.

The Laurel Fund for the performing arts was established with three goals in mind: first, to promote all the performing arts and make it accessible to all segments of our community; second, to assist, encourage and nurture young artists particularly from disadvantaged communities in our city; and third, to instill in these young artists the spirit of giving back to their community. Young artists who receive help from The Laurel Fund for the performing arts either with scholarships to study in one of the arts institutions in our city or with a private teacher or coach will be asked to make a commitment to perform with an ensemble organized by the Laurel Fund, at senior citizens homes, community centers, hospitals and other such venues. In addition to performing, these young artists will also learn to talk about their chosen art form, with the hope that they become not just good performers, but good communicators as well who will experience and realize the value of giving back to their community.

This is how we envision The Laurel Fund for the performing arts 2000-2001 season. Between now and the end of August, we hope to gather nominations of talented young people specially from the Asian, Black and Hispanic communities from arts and community leaders. The Advisory Committee will then meet and decide who and how many among those nominees will receive funds from the Laurel Fund for the performing arts. We hope that the young artists can begin their training or coaching starting September. They will either study at institutions like the Selma Levine School of Music, The Washington Ballet, The Dance Institute, Living Stage, or they might be matched with a private teacher or mentor. Sometime before Thanksgiving, we hope to convene these young people to begin work as an ensemble, so that by the time the holiday season begins in late November, we will have a interdisciplinary performing arts group which can then go and perform at hospitals, senior citizens homes and community centers. We hope to have these young artists perform at least once a month until the end of the school year. And, if we get enough experience, we might even be able to see if we can get a booking with The Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center in early summer. In late fall, we hope to have a fund raising evening - A Celebration of the Arts, which will present professional artists and young artists from as many of the performing arts disciplines as possible. Other planned fund raising activities during this coming year will be cultural tours for arts patrons. Some time in the future, we hope to be able to work with other youth organizations in Asia, Latin America or Africa on cultural exchanges. And, before the end of the summer, we should have our web page, and the address will be very easy to remember - www.thelaurelfund.org.