The Music Center invites fifth grade teachers and their students from the greater Los Angeles area to participate. Following each performance, students join together on the Music Center Plaza to perform a short dance inspired by the production. Participating schools receive curriculum materials, instructions for the student dance, background on the dance company, and classroo activities to help prepare their students for the performance. For many students, the Children's Festival is their first live performing arts experience.

The Children's Festival is sponsored by The Blue Ribbon, a support group of the Music Center founded in 1968 by Dorothy Buffum Chandler. The annual festival was created in 1970 and is one of California's longest ongoing free arts education programs, hosting over 700,000 children since its inception. In 1998, through the generosity of its members, The Blue Ribbon created an endowment to fund the Children's Festival in perpetuity. The chairs for the 2009 Festival are Barbara Wilkinson and Andrea Willard.

Thanks to a generous gift from Blue Ribbon member Maxine Dunitz, the Music Center developed a children's book titled "A Journey Through the Music Center" that is presented to all attending students. The book introduces students to the four theatres of the Music Center and the art forms presented in each venue. It also spotlights some of the performers and behind the scenes staff who make it all happen.

"What a wonderful day," said a teacher. "We are so thankful for the opportunity to give our kids the kind of day you provided. They were amazed at the performance, the theater, the group dance, and just at being in Los Angeles. It amazes me some of them have never been out of their neighborhood, let alone to see any type of show."

For information on how to sign up your fifth-grade class for the 2010 Children's Festival, call (213) 250-ARTS (press 4) or email ccf@musiccenter.org