(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A generous donation to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is building on a commitment to music education.
The $21 million gift comes from the Negaunee Foundation.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association President Jeff Alexander said it's not the first gift from the foundation, which focuses on education and community programs.
"The Negaunee Foundation and the CSOA do have a long relationship going back into the ‘90s,” he told WBBM Newsradio on Friday. “About 12 years ago, the foundation endowed our education programs, and we created the Negaunee Music Institute at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.”
He says most of the latest gift will fund the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association education programs.
"Music education in public schools has been diminishing over the many decades now,” Alexander said. “We have very significant programs that reach well over 40,000 or 50,000 children, parents, teachers every year, and it's just very important to keep the performing arts alive and well and to create the future generation of concertgoers."
The gift will also go toward operating funds for concert sponsorships and special artistic projects, he said.
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