LOS ANGELES – November 19, 2015 – Sunday, December 6th, 2015 will be a note-worthy evening as Education Through Music-Los Angeles (ETM-LA) hosts its 10th Anniversary Benefit Gala. Supporters from the music and film community will gather to honor Paramount Pictures’ President of Worldwide Music & Publishing, Randy Spendlove, and Music Teacher (Los Angeles Unified School District) Asuncion Ojeda at the Skirball Cultural Center.
Honorary chairs of the gala include music education champions and celebrities such as Ellie Kemper, Ed Helms, Common, who will present the award to Spendlove, Imagine Dragons, John Debney, Mayor Eric Garcetti, Michael Giacchino, Rickey Minor, along with other community leaders.
Special presenters and performers featured include Gala Host Eric McCormack (Actor/Will and Grace), En Vogue, Grammy Award-Winning Artist Michelle Branch, Goo Goo Dolls’ John Rzeznik, and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
Students from Education Through Music-LA Partner Schools in Los Angeles, Compton, Burbank and Pasadena Unified will perform the Academy Award® and Golden Globe-winning song “Glory” from Paramount Pictures’ Academy Award®-nominated film Selma. Proceeds from the event will benefit ETM-LA, a nonprofit organization which promotes the integration of music into the core curriculum of low-income area schools for every child. Celebrating their 10th year, ETM-LA has grown from serving two schools and 800 children to 20 schools reaching approximately 10,000 children. This benefit will raise needed support for music teachers and instruments in disadvantaged schools across Los Angeles. Each year, ETM-LA lauds two Shining Star Honorees whose contributions through music have changed our lives.
Honoree Randy Spendlove is an American record producer, songwriter, Grammy Award winner, and music executive. As President of Worldwide Music & Publishing at Paramount Pictures, Spendlove oversees all aspects of music, including motion picture and network television, publishing, scoring, and licensing. He has worked with such artists as Beyoncé, Linkin Park, Green Day, Imagine Dragons, John Legend and U2.
Spendlove began his career in 1990 at A&M records. His first project was Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation,” and he worked with acts such as Sting, Soundgarden, Blues Traveler, and the Gin Blossoms. After that, he became President of Motion Picture Music at Miramax, and then joined Paramount Pictures in 2005.
In 2014, Spendlove oversaw the production of “Glory” by John Legend and Common, which won the Academy Award® and Golden Globe for Best Original Song. His additional credits include Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, which under his supervision is the highest grossing music concert movie to-date. In 2004, he won a Grammy for producing the music on the film Chicago, and was nominated for a Grammy for co-producing music for the film Dreamgirls, which was also nominated for three Best Song Academy Awards®. In 2012, Randy was ranked 69 on Billboard’s Power 100 list.
Honoree Asuncion Ojeda has lived in California since 1974, when her family emigrated from the Philippines. She attended LAUSD schools, where her formal music studies began, and holds degrees from three in-state colleges —California State University Northridge, the California Institute of the Arts, and the University of Southern California. Ojeda is an alumna of the California Junior Philharmonic, Youth Symphony West, and the YMF Debut Orchestra. She has performed with various southern California ensembles, including the Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, Nimbus Ensemble, the Filipino American Symphony Orchestra, ensemble Green, and the LA Master Chorale. She has taught music for over 25 years, and in 1998 began working with LAUSD through the District Internship program, joining the district’s Arts Ed Branch in 2001 as a traveling music teacher. Ojeda currently teaches instrumental music at LAUSD schools and is an active member of the Kodály Association of Southern California.
Education Through Music-Los Angeles is an independent 501(c)3 non-profit with the mission to provide music in disadvantaged schools to enhance students’ academic achievement and creative and overall development. ETM-LA partners with inner-city schools to provide yearlong music instruction for every child in the school and is based on the ETM® model (New York, 1991). For more info: www.etmla.org
GALA LOCATION:
Skirball Cultural Center – Herscher Hall 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90049
Red Carpet Interviews: 4:00pm-5:00pm
MEDIA MUST RSVP TO ATTEND to:
Victoria Lanier, Executive Director, ETM–LA: vlanier@etmla.org 818-433-7600
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