WASHINGTON D.C.
Giffords Calls on Gov. Newsom to respond to record spike in shootings by funding community violence intervention programs
Giffords, the gun safety organization co-founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, joined a broad coalition of community leaders and survivors to call on California Gov. Gavin Newsom to directly address the tragic spikes in shootings the state is facing. Their call focused on investing in community violence intervention programs in the May budget proposal he will announce in the coming weeks.
In 2020, the US saw the largest spike in homicides and gun sales on record, and California’s spike was even worse: fatal shootings jumped 46% in California after the start of the pandemic and by even more in 2021. The toll of this violence has fallen overwhelmingly on the same communities most impacted by the pandemic.
Speakers representing Giffords, Advance Peace, the California Partnership for Safe Communities, Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, Faith in Action, and the Moms Demand Action Survivor Network explained how providing emergency support to the California Violence Intervention and Prevention (CalVIP) program is critical to addressing this crisis. The CalVIP program supports effective, community-based violence intervention programs across the state.
—Submitted
SANTA ROSA
Santa Rosa Symphony’s ‘SRS @ Home May 16’ Celebrates Sonoma County
Santa Rosa Symphony (SRS) presents a virtual concert experience, conducted by Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong, celebrating Sonoma County on May 16, 2021 at 3 p.m. on the Symphony’s YouTube channel. The orchestra will be joined by acclaimed, San Francisco-based pianist Elizabeth Dorman for SRS Artistic Partner Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Peanuts® Gallery in a concert that also features a reprise of Santa Rosa native Paul Dooley’s Sonoma Strong.
Lecce-Chong said, “Our season concludes with a bit of fun, gratitude and optimism. From Rossini’s slapstick comedy overture to Zwilich’s comics-inspired piano concerto, listeners of all ages will be smiling and chuckling along to the music with us.”
Zwilich met Santa Rosa icon and cartoonist Charles Schulz as she thanked him for featuring her flute concerto in one of his Peanuts® comic strips. As Composer Chair at Carnegie Hall, Zwilich wrote Peanuts® Gallery for a family concert to be performed by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. ” During the course of composing a light-hearted, yet complex piece, Lecce-Chong she and Schulz formed a close and lasting friendship.
Pianist Elizabeth Dorman, who will perform Peanuts® Gallery on stage with the orchestra, has performed with the Louisville Orchestra, the Leipzig Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, among many others.
Continuing with the local theme, the orchestra will perform a new arrangement by Paul Dooley of his Sonoma Strong to accommodate the smaller orchestra necessitated by COVID restrictions.
Recorded on May 1, 2021, in Green Music Center’s Weill Hall, the concert premieres May 16 at 3 p.m., preceded by a live, 30-minute pre-concert talk with Lecce-Chong and Zwilich at 2 p.m. and followed by a live post-concert Q&A with Lecce-Chong and special guests—all on YouTube. All three elements of this event are free, though donations to support the ongoing music and outreach programs of the Symphony are gratefully accepted during the event.
—Submitted
— Compiled by Ariel Carmona Jr.
