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Fancy Fiddle Auction - An Instrumental Upcycling Presentation
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Dozens of fancifully decorated string instruments will be auctioned at a special event on Saturday, February 18th at 2:00 pm in Fuller Lodge. The Fancy Fiddle Auction, a benefit for the orchestra program in the Los Alamos Public Schools, is the brainchild of a group of volunteers and artists who wanted to save the instruments from being destroyed.
All the instruments were owned by the Los Alamos Public Schools and had been loaned or rented to students in decades past. They were in such poor condition that repairs would have been either impossible or far too costly. With a complete renovation of the Los Alamos High School music wing approaching, all the instruments needed to be cleared from the building. The plan was to send them to the local landfill. LAHS orchestra teacher Michelle Rosette and Ann McLaughlin, Artistic Director of the Los Alamos Concert Association, delivered nearly 50 violins, violas, cellos and basses to Village Arts Framing where owner Ken Nebel distributed them to local artists. Those artists worked their magic and then donated their work back to the project.
The Los Alamos Public Schools Foundation will hold the auction proceeds in a fund that will be used to purchase much-needed equipment for the LAPS orchestra program. Successful bidders will be able to claim tax deductions for their purchases as the LAPS Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit organization.
Over 400 young musicians from elementary through high school participate in the string instruction the LAPS orchestra program provides. The list of needs for that program includes everything from a baby grand piano to sound and recording equipment to metronomes. A silent auction is underway now at Village Arts Framing where the instruments are on display. The auction will wrap up at the Fuller Lodge event on February 18th. Selected items will be auctioned live at that event with aucti...
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