May 14, 2024
One of our very first grants was birdwatching on the Horicon Marsh in Wisconsin. Every spring when our founder meets with 9 and 10 year old students to share the love Ilan had for this beautiful marsh. Although it’s in their backyard, many of the children had never experienced the marsh for themselves. The conversations our founder has with the children becomes larger than the free trip where they might use their orange binoculars to spot an eagle in her nest; they learn that you can turn something tragic into something beautiful.
March 2024
Inspired by Ilan’s love of art museums, one of our long-term partnerships is with the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Local artist Sara Willadsen worked with the fourth and fifth grade students from La Escuela Fratney in Milwaukee to create collage portals about “feelings of home.” The children made a day of it, visiting both the Arts Center and the newer Art Preserve, where they toured the work of artist Loy Bowlin. The lesson is also available as a video workshop for anyone to use with their students.
2023-2024
The Music Institute of Chicago has awarded the Ilan Hurtado Cello Scholarship for the 2023-2024 school year to Lavie Huang, a student of Avi Friedlander, Director of the Barston Suzuki Center. The scholarship was set up to honor Ilan’s love of playing the cello and his Suzuki family at MIC. Lavie Huang was almost 6 when she heard “The Swan” from The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns on the radio and immediately fell in love with the cello. Now 12, Lavie has been invited numerous times to play for solo recitals at MIC. In addition to her solo cello works, Lavie enjoys being the first chair of the cello section at her school orchestra and playing chamber music at MIC and summer music festivals. In January 2024 Lavie won first prize in the junior division competition at the Tennessee Cello Workshop competition.