Portland, OR –
Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R)'s Community Music Center(CMC) will celebrate 70 years of music education with an event on Saturday, May 3, 2025. The City will also honor music instructors who have taught at CMC for more than 25 years. The celebration will include a reception, memorabilia display, and a benefit concert featuring faculty and staff performing artists.
About the Event
What: Community Music Center’s 70th Anniversary & Faculty Celebration
Date: Saturday, May 3, 2025
Time: 2pm Reception with Memorabilia Display; Concert at 3pm
Location: PP&R’s Community Music Center (David Beal Campbell Auditorium)
3350 SE Francis Street, Portland, OR
Tickets: $5 to $50. Visit CommunityMusicCenter.org or call CMC at (503) 823-3177 for information and reservations.
All the performers are donating their services so that proceeds from the event go to the nonprofit partner organization at CMC to support music learning for all.
Instructors to be honored
- Hong Chou (violin): 29 years at CMC
- Tracey Edson (chorus): 29 years at CMC
- Andrew Ehrlich (violin, chamber music, conductor): 31 years at CMC
- Zita Jefferson (piano): 29 years at CMC
- Gayle Stuwe Neuman (recorder, renaissance winds): 45 years at CMC
- Philip Neuman (recorder, renaissance winds): 45 years at CMC
- Cynthia Scott (violin, viola): 30 years at CMC
For biographies of these performing artist-instructors, visit www.communitymusiccenter.org/honoring-cmc-faculty-2025
“Today we think of the arts and recreation going hand in hand,” says Community Music Center Director Gregory Dubay. “But in 1955 it was new and experimental for a parks and recreation department to have music classes.”
Dorothea Lensch, who served as PP&R’s first Recreation Director and was the visionary force behind the instruction of arts and music classes in PP&R facilities, famously remarked, “Recreation is more than balls and bats.” Together with site director Robert Crowley at the Knott Street Community Center (now the Matt Dishman Community Center), they created what became Community Music Center.
For more information and a timeline of CMC’s history, see: www.communitymusiccenter.org/70-years-of-music-education
Today the Community Music Center continues to serve underserved communities in Portland through its core programming and through partnerships. At its Francis Street location, CMC welcomes hundreds of youth and adults in weekly lessons and classes, presents and livestreams dozens of free and drop-in concerts and events each year, and hosts community groups including a Samba drum program, and Ukrainian, Latinx and LBGTQ+ choirs. In outer East Portland, CMC is partnering with the Center Powered by Y.O.U.th (youthpdx.org), Alice Ott Middle School SUN Community School, and the Multnomah County Library to provide music programs specialized for the community.
CMC aims to remain accessible, affordable, inclusive, and innovative. The center and PP&R believe recreation is for everyone. We know that the price of programs and activities prevents some community members from being able to participate. For information on the bureau’s Access Pass which removes cost as a barrier to taking part in activities, visit portland.gov/parks/discount.
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