We are happy to share all of the successes from the first year of our partnership with the Danny Riley Celebration of Life Fund and the new Danny Riley Music Program at ARTS.

About Danny Riley

From the time he was very small, Danny showed a special talent and passion for music. A singer from the start, Danny wouldn’t stop humming even to eat his cereal in the morning. He learned to play the piano, and then the saxophone. In his teenage years, he discovered the acoustic guitar and began songwriting. Danny’s music became a vibrant way of expressing his love and struggle while he lived with brain cancer for nearly three years. Danny overcame fear, pain, sickness, and his natural shyness when he shared his music with family, friends, and increasingly larger audiences.

Danny’s enthusiasm for a broad range of music enriched his life and helped him cope with his challenges. He developed an extensive music library and was eager to introduce others to new artists and albums. One of Danny’s many dreams was to be a college music professor. Although Danny’s life ended on October 31, 2007 when he was just nineteen, his love of music and belief in its healing power will continue to be shared through the ARTS Danny Riley Music Program.

 
Watch The Video To Learn More About The Danny Riley Music Program

The Danny Riley Music Program at ARTS

Since the program started, we have reached our goal of expanding and improving our music department by increasing the number of weekly group music classes from 5 to 15- that is 40 students on a weekly basis! Several of those students are taking private guitar, piano and drum lessons from ARTS musicians Tony Calabro, Daniel Delacruz, Andrew Erickson, Dave Konstantin, Jamie Rattner, and Shirean Williams.

The program:

This summer, we started the Secret Chord Project. This project consists of the gift of iPods to young adults age 12 and above with cancer and chronic illness. The iPods provide recipients with a wide array of music which is accessible to them while waiting for appointments, during treatment or recovery, and while dreaming of healthier days. The recipients will be able to explore musical genres such as classical, folk, and world music, as well as music of their choice. We currently have 2 students enrolled, including ARTS intern Martin Arguelles (see testimonial below) and have recently secured an intern to spearhead this project. She is working closely with staff at Ronald McDonald House to recruit additional participants and we have invited the San Diego Cancer Center to participate as well.

Testimonial

The following anecdote is from one of our students.

I’ve noticed ginormous changes in the way I am since my first day at ARTS, both as a working man and a person. Let me zoom back to my high school junior year. One of the things I was required to do that year was to do an academic internship, you could either find one yourself in advance or the school would choose one for you. It was our first glimpse to the working world. The day when internships started was first a day that I feared. Back then I was far behind with my grades. I was super stressed with both my school life and my personal life. And an internship would be the last thing I wanted. I was probably going to get one where I had to wear a suit (uuugh) and file paperwork (no!). I was in the teenaged HELL. There only thing keeping me alive was my music and my guitar. One day I met a rather peculiar but very interesting person. a small freshmen girl with a certain feature that attracted me. black mosaic styled eyeliner. (I do the same thing). Fortunately for me one night I see that someone added me on MySpace and guess who it is? it began with simple conversation. one of them she brought up the place where she works, an art center for kids who face adversity. one day I made up my mind to check this place out with her. The first impressions I got were: this place is so small and I pass this place every day and not once did I notice it… when I left I noticed a dark room barely from the side of my eye. I noticed something, a drum set. Later a piano, and then a bass guitar. Ding!!! I asked almost suddenly to one of the ladies that was in charge “”YOU GUYS HAVE A MUSIC ROOM!?”
(Flash forward to the conclusion of my actual internship there)

Thanks to ARTS. I am 1000% sure that my career lies in the music world. I found a job that was worth putting my time and energy into. Coming to ARTS, it’s safe to say that it’s the best choice I’ve ever made in my entire life!!! When I get out of school, I don’t have to go downtown via the trolley, carry a suit and rely on filing and typing to get my daily bread. HA! No. Instead, all I have to do is walk across Liberty Station and in like 5 minutes I’m there. When I check in and fill out my time sheet I get this weird smirk on my face (I come to the realization that I’m a part of this wonderful place!). The people here are even more wonderful, I’ve come to look at them more as friends and less as co-workers. I’ve had my share of ups and downs with them, but mostly ups! When I im going around ARTS I’m bound to get caught in some sort of conversation or have to get out of the way because of a stampede of spiffy young children. I’m a musician, so knowing that my job will not only benefit my working life but also my musicianship is a gift that keeps on giving. I first walked in an amateur guitar player with a ton of aggression and no control over it. Being here I’ve had a lot of exposure to musical theory and music in general.

ARTS is an example of what this world needs to be more like, I find it quite depressing when I hear schools cutting back on ART and MUSIC programs while still investing all their time into a new football stadium or school dance (I mean what good are those two if there’s no music for half time or a live band to dance the night to?). One thing I notice in my life is that the opportunity for ARTISTIC exposure is only available to those who’ve got the “dough”. Many of these kids who come in are from very low income families, many are even homeless. But no one really pays attention to them and they could never afford an art class or a music lesson (let alone a concert ticket or a gallery ticket). You can’t put a price on that. A lot of these kids have shown the benefit of that. I remember one time I was getting ready for a class to finish up. During the class I’m hearing some very familiar guitar riffs, ones that I remember trying out when I first started, only these riffs were played with more precision and less mistakes. (By the way, It was “Iron Man” and “Crazy Train”) the class walks out and I ask “who was jamming out Those tasty jams?” and this 12 year old boy raises his hand ”Dude I started when I was 14 and I wasn’t even half as good with those tunes back then, KUDOS!”. Lots of these kids have bright futures in the world of art. Some are gonna be the next Jimi Hendrix’s or the next Pablo Picassos. You’ll see them running their own exhibits or being the next ones up on Madison Square Garden. You might even see them be the founders of the next greatest computer company or create a new revolutionary software that beats Photoshop three times and back.

-Martin Arguelles, ARTS music intern