San Jose Jazz receives $600K gift from ASML for education programs

ASML, which has offices in San Jose, makes lithographic machines for semiconductor manufacturers. But it also has a pretty good side gig of inspiring art and creativity in Silicon Valley students.

Last Friday, San Jose Jazz put together a ceremony outside the Hammer Theatre Center in downtown San Jose to recognize ASML’s three-year, $600,000 grant for its youth and education programs. The donation will allow San Jose Jazz to scale up from serving 3,500 students a year to 5,000.

“This game-changing gift from ASML will allow us to deepen our impact in the community andreach even more young people through the power of jazz education,” San Jose Jazz Executive Director Brendan Rawson said. “This commitment to our community demonstrates ashared understanding that music education is essential for developing creative, confident, andcollaborative young people.”

These programs include Progressions, which provides music and instrument instruction to students in the Franklin-McKinley School District and at the School of Arts and Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza. There’s also the two-week Summer Jazz Camp for middle and high-school students and the High School All Stars program, an audition-based performance bands.

About 500 fifth-graders from the Franklin-McKinley district attended the ceremony, which included performances by Mariachi Azteca and Ballet Folklorico Los Lupeños. Other addressing the group included Rawson, SVCreates Director of Programs Sinjin Jones, San Jose City Councilmember Bien Doan and Horacio Alfaro, US Head of Corporate Real Estate for ASML.

The kids were rewarded for their patience inside the Hammer with a matinee performance by harpist Destiny Muhammad, a show supported by an arts access grant from SV Creates.

WOMEN’S WEEKEND: International Women’s Day is Sunday, but you can celebrate early at a couple of events in San Jose this weekend.

The San Jose Museum of Art had its Friday night celebration of women’s sports planned well before the U.S. women’s hockey team brought home gold from the Olympics, but the timing turned out perfectly. The free event, from 6 to 9 p.m., celebrates art, film, music and the people who are leveling the playing field for women in athletics. The festivities include a panel discussion with pro baseball umpire (and writer and musician) Perry Barber; Khali Blackman Newton, director of Coalitions Community Impact with the Positive Coaching Alliance; and Ariel Castillo, assistant director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula. Get more information at www.sjmusart.org.

Saturday, History San Jose is holding its fourth annual Women’s Heritage Day at History Park. Mosaic America is putting on a lineup of cultural performances and hands-on workshops, including the return of the Poetry Lounge at the Empire firehouse and a woman-owned lowrider and classic car show. It’s free to attend, and you can get the details at www.historysanjose.org.

SCHOOL DAZE: Congratulations to Lynbrook High School, which three-peated as champions at the Santa Clara County Mock Trial finals last month, defeating Prospect High in a case involving a cooking reality show contestant accused of killing a celebrity judge with poisoned mushrooms. Longtime Lynbrook coaches David Pugh and Mark Shem have done a great job developing legal talent.

And the Lincoln High School Foundation, which was founded by alum Phil Hammer in 1991, is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. The organization, which has supported one of San Jose’s oldest public high schools by raising $1.5 million since its inception, got the school year rolling with $40,000 in teacher grants last December. Its next event is an Italian Family Festa at Palermo’s on March 11. You can read more about the foundation’s history at lincolnhighfoundation.org.