Dear Sir/Madam: This letter is an introduction for Mr. Glen Fisher who is serving as Performance Coordinator for you Blues In The Schools (BITS) program. He is also an active BLUSD member volunteer who has helped evolve the BITS presentations, and one of our great BITS Band Members. BITS is a program fostered by the national organization, The Blues Foundation headquartered in Memphis. They run the annual International Blues Competition (IBC), the Keeping the Blues Alive Awards (KBA), and the Handy Awards. They do not administer a BITS program themselves, but last year was involved with sponsors, including PBS, in developing an extensive program of lessons and workshops for use at High School level. Blues Lovers United of San Diego (BLUSD) -- our local not-for-profit membership organization, is an affiliate of The Blues Foundation. Here in San Diego we are taking the lead in developing a BITS program for primary school students, now for the first time sponsored by curriculum materials that meet California state educational standards. BLUSD, in conjunction with Harmonium Children's Services and its 6to6 after-school programs, has sponsored BITS in San Diego elementary and middle schools for a few years, fulfilling for thousands of children the goal of exposure to live blues performances. Over the last year BLUSD has evolved the presentations. We developed a Presentation Guide in order to increase continuity and factual accuracy among the performances. We are more organized and inclusive and have expanded the BITS artist pool from ten or twelve in any given year to a current roster of forty musicians. This year we are proud to be adding curriculum material to our program in the form of a Lesson Plan focused on teaching the children the etiquette of attending a live musical performance. We have also produced a fun, leave-behind activity sheet to support the lesson. There are so many benefits to children participating in music programs, and so many challenges to our schools in offering them, that a professional presentation to children of any musical genre would serve. However, BLUSD's particular love is for the blues, and since it is a uniquely American musical art form, and the foundation of most all popular American music, we feel that the blues is the best place to start. Would you consider sponsoring our program for this school year just getting under way? Harmonium, BLUSD's generous members, and a few PTA and school administration groups have provided all the funding to date, and we are ready to expand. We are currently scheduled to perform thirty BITS presentations for about 3,000 students during this 2004-2005 school year. We will approach San Diego County PTA organizations to solicit their support and offer more performances. We know that some of the schools can't afford even the meager donations we have historically requested in order to supply transportation expense for our artists. If you will be so generous, here are some of the ways we would like to use the sponsorship dollars we seek: - Subsidize additional BITS presentations - Create Banners/backdrops for the BITS Band identifying our organization, the program and its sponsors - Create a BITS Poster for the year's program, identifying all participating schools, artists and sponsors - Produce a small promotional gift for each child participant - Increase the Artist honorariums beyond gas money in order to help support support San Diego's musicians and therefore the health of our blues community, and to raise the level of professionalism, and ensure continuity and overall quality of the program - Offer modest Grants for development of curriculum material - Acquire percussion instruments for the students' use during the performances (particularly in the popular "Beats & Rhythms" section) - Produce a CD of BITS music - Develop and produce other presentation and display materials - Produce a fund raising concert Kindly lend Glen your ear, and don't hesitate to phone me at my home office (I'm a volunteer worker, too -- this is a labor of love) at 760-634-3664. This is a good thing. Thank you for considering... Your friend in the blues, Rand De Mattei, President