Music for Autism Celebrates Five Year Anniversary in UK; Starts Expansion in USA
Joshua Stein and Lisa Splitlog, posted August 1, 2007.
Music for Autism (M4A) recently celebrated its fifth year anniversary with the opening of a Music for Autism-sponsored music room at Thomley Hall, an interactive center for children with special needs in the UK, and the beginning of expansion to the United States.
M4A has staged over 60 interactive and fund-raising concerts across the UK since its beginning in 2002. Notable classical musicians including Dame Felicity Lott, Sir James Galway, and Steven Isserlis have performed to help fundraise for the charity.
The donation to Thomley Hall, just outside of Oxford, established a music-specific classroom on the campus. The room – a free-standing, wheel chair accessible building on Thomley’s campus – allows visitors to express themselves through music and is open to school groups that visit Thomley Hall. The music classroom was furnished with pianos, keyboards, and percussion instruments for its visitors and their teachers, therapists, and parents.
The charity, originally conceived by John Lubbock and Christine Cairns, began out of an idea to impact the lives of individuals with autism through music. Lubbock and Cairns’ son, Alexander, was diagnosed with autism, and their hope was to create an organization to benefit individuals like Alexander.
In January 2007, Cherie Blair, wife of the former Prime Minister Tony Blair, recognized the charity’s extensive growth at a ceremony at 10 Downing Street. At the event Mrs. Blair said, “We should celebrate these individuals for what they can do as opposed to what they cannot.”
M4A launched its U.S. programming in the summer of 2007. Robert Accordino, a co-founder of M4A along with Lubbock and Cairns, serves as U.S. executive director. M4A has partnered with the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center in New York City to operate its charter programming.
