Tag archives: Scott Reed

Meet at Odessa
By Richard Mineards   |   November 26, 2024

Scott Reed, former president of the Music Academy of the West, commemorated the first year of his company Lane 4 Fundraising, a fundraising strategy firm he launched with the academy colleague Jon Bishop last fall. A nod to the dynamic duo’s passion for competitive swimming, Lane 4 works with some top nonprofits in our community […]

Grammy-Winning Executive Director Is Coming to the Music Academy
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 22, 2023

The Music Academy (MA) didn’t waste any time finding a successor to Scott Reed, who announced last spring that the 2023 Summer Festival would be his last as president and CEO after 12 years at the helm. Less than a week after the final symphony concert at the Granada earlier this month, the Music Academy […]

Academy Bids Adieu Twice at the Granada
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 15, 2023

Scott Reed’s brief speech at his last official public appearance as the Music Academy’s president/CEO after 12 years at the helm, which drew an instant standing ovation, set the stage for the emotional rollercoaster ride provided by the Academy Festival Orchestra at the Granada last Saturday night in the final event of the 2023 Summer […]

Musical Magic in Montecito
By Richard Mineards   |   June 13, 2023

The Music Academy’s 76th anniversary gala, The Magic of Miraflores, paid homage to the distinguished 25-year career of president and CEO Scott Reed, who started his successful relationship as an intern and is now moving on to another trajectory in fundraising when the summer festival concludes in August. More than 350 guests turned out for […]

Music Academy Operational Changes Appealed
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   May 9, 2023

Several neighbors living by the Music Academy have filed appeals to the Montecito Planning Commission’s approval of the Academy’s proposal to revise its Conditional Use Permit. Last month, the MPC voted 3-1 (with Commissioner Sandy Stahl dissenting) to approve the proposed revisions, which include changes to events at the Academy’s property, located on Fairway Road […]

Reed to Retire
By Richard Mineards   |   March 14, 2023

Scott Reed, who has served as president and CEO of Montecito’s Music Academy for 14 years, is stepping down next summer, I can exclusively reveal. The fourth president in the historic organization’s history, Scott, a UCSB graduate, has worked with the oceanside Miraflores campus for nearly 25 years, starting as an unpaid intern. He took […]

A Christmas Choral
By Richard Mineards   |   December 27, 2022

Santa Barbara Choral Society, under veteran conductor Jo Anne Wasserman, was in fine form with its eighth annual Hallelujah Project at the Lobero, which also included Sing! program choral students from the Music Academy and pajama-clad president Scott Reed in a rocking chair reciting ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. Accompanied by an orchestra, the enthusiastic […]

Anniversary Gala at the Academy
By Richard Mineards   |   June 28, 2022

It was an evening of high note, with many in between, when Montecito’s venerable, newly renamed Music Academy celebrated its 75th anniversary with a signature gala on its 10-acre Miraflores oceanside campus for 320 guests raising around $600,000. The boffo bash, co-chaired by the tony triumvirate of Valerie Montgomery, Kandy Luria-Budgor, and Michele Brustin, was […]

Music Academy Celebrates 75th in Community Concert
By Steven Libowitz   |   June 21, 2022

Conductor Donato Cabrera and Music Academy of the West (MAW) vocal pianist John Churchwell met in 2003, the first of two summers Donato spent at MAW as assistant conductor for the annual opera. The two, who live near each other in the Bay Area, became fast friends and visit each other frequently. In fact, Cabrera […]

A New Sun Rising Over the Music Academy
By Richard Mineards   |   June 14, 2022

As Montecito’s Music Academy of the West celebrates its 75th anniversary, it’s a whole new image for the storied 10-acre Miraflores oceanside campus, I can exclusively reveal. For the past eight months, a team of academy board members, administration, and professional consultants – 21C Media Group from New York and My Brilliant Friend from Los […]

Swank and Swagger
By Lynda Millner   |   September 7, 2021

You can be sure when the Music Academy of the West (MAW) has an affair it will be elegant. Their opening night gala, “The Return of Miraflores,” was no exception. There were more than 300 guests in attendance dressed in festive attire and excited to see their old friends once again. The whole event was […]

Virtual Virtuosos
By Richard Mineards   |   April 30, 2020

The Music Academy of the West, whose 73rd annual summer festival was due to kick off on June 15 until July 10, is launching the Music Academy Remote Learning Institute to connect with audiences online during the lockdown. “Our hope is to bring the faculty and fellows to Santa Barbara and enjoy music together with […]

Chords for the Kids
By Richard Mineards   |   August 1, 2019

School students had to face the music at the Music Academy of the West. More than 300 youngsters from United Way of Santa Barbara County’s Fun in the Sun scheme attended a concert at Hahn Hall as part of the Up Close and Musical program, now in its eighth year. The fun event, a collaboration […]

Festival Gala
By Lynda Millner   |   August 23, 2018

The Music Academy of the West gave its 2018 Summer Festival Gala weaving its magic to turn a parking lot into an elegant, glamorous venue. Co-chairs Regina Roney and Judy Getto called it a “Feast for the Senses”. After cocktails in the garden with a white Steinway player piano tinkling away, guests made their way […]

Fun in the Sun
By Lynda Millner   |   August 2, 2018

The Music Academy of the West probably never had a more lively campus than the other day when 350 Fun in the Sun kids visited for some fun in the sun. I had a bit of a problem getting there because of a school bus stuck in the gate and driveway. It was so stuck […]

In Bloom
By Richard Mineards   |   June 21, 2018

In lieu of the Dream Foundation’s annual Flower Empower lunch, the popular nonprofit hosted a bouquet-making event on the front lawn of the Hospice of Santa Barbara. Last year more than 8,300 bouquets were delivered, using donated flowers, to hospices, cancer centers, and personal residences. The event, which raised $25,000, also honored program sponsors Tim […]

MAW Draw
By Richard Mineards   |   January 18, 2018

The Music Academy of the West has established an annual Alumni Enterprise Awards scheme to help budding musical entrepreneurs who’ve attended the Miraflores campus. The awards, ranging from $2,500 to $20,000, will fund original ideas in areas including artistic expression, audience development, and technology, based on scope and scale. Academy president Scott Reed says: “We […]