I thought I’d take this opportunity to highlight the work of Prof. Ted Buchholz in founding and directing the School of Music String Project, one of our signature community engagement initiatives in the Arts.
A recent article in The Daily Wildcat highlighted the impact of the String Project under Ted’s leadership. Here’s a brief excerpt:
“Working in the String Project really has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my life and I’m quite proud of what we’ve all built together.”
Buchholz founded the program at the U of A after noticing a lack of string education in public schools. According to Buchholz, the project began with just six teachers who were U of A students paid to teach group classes to around 50 kindergarten students at the time.
“Thanks, Ted, for all that you have done to make the String Project a model of its kind, and best wishes to Kelsey as she takes over as director this semester. And our heartfelt thanks to Julie Gibson for her visionary leadership in offering critical philanthropic support.” — Andy Schulz
“My goal at that point was that I wanted younger students to get experience learning an instrument,” Buchholz said. “I wanted to reach out to schools, areas and neighborhoods that might not have exposure to string music education and a lot of that was trying to target students who it would not be financially possible for them to take lessons.”
Thanks to Buchholz, the String Project has grown significantly since its founding, with now almost 100 K-12 students who receive a 30-minute private lesson each week. The core of the program remains, where students still have group classes as they are “an incredibly important part of the social education,” Buchholz said. Buchholz emphasized the importance of one-one-contact and said it makes a world of difference when learning a string instrument.
Other members of the Tucson community have helped make the String Project’s success possible alongside Buchholz.



“Part of what makes the private lessons possible is there’s an incredible donor in the community named Julie Gibson, who created an endowment and we’ve been using that endowment to fund or subsidize the private lessons,” Buchholz said. “It’s costly but it’s worth it.”
After 10 years of leading the String Project, Ted is now passing the baton to Prof. Kelsey Nussbaum. Thanks, Ted, for all that you have done to make the String Project a model of its kind, and best wishes to Kelsey as she takes over as director this semester. And our heartfelt thanks to Julie Gibson for her visionary leadership in offering critical philanthropic support.
If there are colleagues you would like to see highlighted for their extraordinary work, please let me know!
Warm regards,
Andy Schulz
Vice President for the Arts
Dean, College of Fine Arts