Blues Foundation Raises $30K

A pilot curriculum aimed at breaking down racial barriers in Boston-area high schools received a large financial boost last night from the Massachusetts House of Blues Foundation.

The foundation, which will try to lessen racial tensions in Cambridge, Medford and Boston schools through music and art, raised about $30,000 last night at a fundraiser, officials said.

Isaac B. Tigrett, founder of the program and of the House of Blues, said he hopes to sensitize students to different races through blues music.

"It is the language to bring kids together," said Tigrett, who is also the founder of the Hard Rock Cafe. "It transcends backgrounds, age groups, etc."

About 150 people attended the program last night, held at the House of Blues on Winthrop Street. Blues performers at the event included 13-year-old guitarist "Monster" Mike Welch, Darryl Nulich, and Chicago band Big Daddy Kinsey and the Kinsey Report.

Program organizers also raffled Boston Celtics tickets and auctioned off a painting for $2,750.

Knocking Down Barriers

The organizers are aiming to knock down racial barriers by starting a community and local program integrating Blues music, Southern culture, Afro-American art, and youth entrepre-neurial education.

State Treasurer Joseph D. Malone '78 praised the project after presenting a $500 donation to the foundation.

"We need to start thinking about each other not in terms of Black and white but brotherhood and community," Malone said. "Music and the arts are a great way to bring people together."

Janet Robinson, vice chancellor of Massachusetts higher education and assistant clerk of the foundation, said the project was "very exciting."

"Hopefully, it will break down some racial barriers, which are long overdue," she said.

The foundation will also start the pilot program in Boston and Medford high schools with a long-range plan of expanding nationwide and throughout the world.

Larry Faison, spokesperson for the Boston School Department, said the program will eventually apply to all 59,000 Boston area students.

Gates Named Vice President

The foundation last night officially elected DuBois Professor of the Humanities Henry Louis Gates Jr. as "first vice president."

The W.E.B. DuBois Institute at Harvard, which is directed by Gates, and the Graduate School of Education were listed among the eight organizations involved in the program.

Gwen Blackburn, an official from the Medford Public School system who is on the foundation's board of directors, said the program is needed in her city.

Medford High School students rioted on December 10 after fights broke out between Black and white students in a gym class.

Alexander Tennant, treasurer of the Foundation, said House of Blues clubs will be opened in New Orleans, Chicago and Los Angeles where similar foundations will be created. Restaurants and foundations in Paris, London and Amsterdam are also in future plans.