To our treasured community of students, their families, and our wider base of music lovers and supporters: We hope this letter finds you all safe, healthy, and weathering the current uncertainty as best as possible. While we at Lark hoped that our normal activities would soon resume where we’d left them off in the spring, with California’s extended lockdown through August, it seems, unfortunately, that this will not be the case. We are assiduously following the recommendations of our Governor and Mayor, and attempting to adapt our operations to meet city and state guidelines and keep our community safe. As such, we have made certain determinations about each of our several departments, and wanted to keep you abreast of those developments so that you can plan accordingly. Thank you for staying flexible with us as we navigate towards a better tomorrow and for your continued support.

TAGUHI SUMMER DAY CAMP

As things stand now, Lark’s acclaimed and anticipated Summer Day Camp is cancelled for the summer of 2020.
Lark’s administration will re-evaluate this decision in mid-July, in hopes of reopening, should State mandates and regulations allow us to do so.
If there is any possibility of reopening the Summer Day Camp at some point this summer, Lark will notify all parents via internet postings of dates, schedules, and conditions.

CONSERVATORY

THE CURRENT SEMESTER

• Our second semester of the 2019/20 academic year has officially been terminated and will come to a close the first week of June 2020.
• Group classes currently running online will stop at the end of May.
• All students will move forward in all subjects, receiving a PASS grade, whether or not those classes continued online.
• All 7th and 10th grade graduates in instrumental studies will receive their certificates or diplomas regardless of their preparation level in mid-June of this semester.
• All other specialization students will move forward one level with a PASS as their grade.
• Next year’s academic curriculum will be adjusted slightly to compensate for what was not covered in these last two months of the 2019/20 school year.

YEAR-END FACEBOOK VIDEO PROJECT

Each student pursuing an instrument specialization may submit a video recording of themselves performing one piece (upon instructor’s approval). This video will be accepted by the administration as a final submission of the student’s work for the semester. Students are free to not participate and will not be criticized should they choose not to submit.
Lark’s administration will assign a panel to choose the best performances from the submissions. These performances will be turned into a video and displayed as a virtual recital on Lark’s Facebook and YouTube pages. There will be no limit on the number of performers.
Ms. Irene Baghdasaryan will send specific instructions to parents of interested students on how to properly record and send their videos. She will then compile the videos for the judges, and post the selected performances once the judges have made their decisions.
The recordings do not need to take place on Lark’s premises. However, the school will be open for anyone who wishes to practice during the week and record at the school. Ms. Knarik Muradyan will schedule time slots for all teachers and students during the first week of June. To ensure safe social distancing, we will have no more than 2-3 teachers at Lark per day with no two teachers and their students on campus at the same time. Lark will supply an accompanist if a student’s performance requires it.

GRADUATION

Following the virtual recital, Lark’s principal, Mr. Ashot Kartalyan and the staff will record a virtual graduation ceremony at Lark to confer certificates (7th graders) and diplomas (graduating class). Arrangements will be made should any of the graduates wish to be at the ceremony in person.

TUITION

Lark will continue to defer tuition, as it has the past three months, for the remainder of the semester. No invoices will be sent.
For parents who wish to submit payments for the online lessons students received in April and May, Lark will accept a fee of $130 per month.
Parents who prepaid the second semester and whose student’s studies were interrupted may request a refund for the last three months. They can also opt to receive credit towards the next semester.
Invoices will only be sent to parents on an individual basis, when requested.

SUMMER SESSION

Lark will hold its summer session from June through August. Parents may make individual arrangements with participating teachers, allowing students to enroll independently during these three months for weekly 30-minute lessons.
While no physical classes will take place on Lark’s campus at least through August, summer sessions will be held online, functioning in the same manner as these previous two months. Once-a-week, 30-minute lessons will be $130 per month. This is only for instrumental classes. There will be no theory or other group classes over the summer.
Our administration will re-evaluate its approach for the Fall semester come September and in compliance with the stipulation of State officials.

TAVIGH DANCE ENSEMBLE

Dance classes are suspended for the remainder of the semester. All pre-paid students may request a refund or have their tuition credited toward the next semester.
Lark’s administration will re-evaluate its policies for the Dance Ensemble come the fall term in September.

HAYQ ARMENOLOGICAL STUDIES

Saturday sessions of Hayq Armenology classes will be suspended through the summer. We hope to resume classes in September for the Fall Semester.

DILIJAN CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERT SERIES

The Dilijan Chamber Music Concert Series Season XV is suspended. Our sixth and final concert of the 2019/20 season which could not go forward, will be bumped to the 2020/21 season, which will have 7 (instead of our typical 6) concerts.
Plans for when Dilijan will resume are currently on hold, dependent on further updates from our venue (Zipper Hall at Colburn School of Music). As soon as operations there resume and we can safely produce our concerts, we will schedule and announce the 2020/21 season.

We look forward to having more information in September by which to re-evaluate and reassess our plans.

GENERAL NOTE

Please note that we at Lark are working from the same changing informational landscape as everyone else. We are firmly committed to continuing the work of our mission and to serving our students and community as soon as we can safely do so with State and Government sanctioning. As such, we will keep abreast of all new developments in the reopening of California and reassess our plans as we go along. If you do not receive a new update from us before September, we will provide you with the most up-to-date information on our activities at that time.

A WORD OF GRATITUDE

We have also heard from so many of you in the community, inquiring after us and wondering how you can help. We know that you stand behind us, that you are rooting for us, and that you will continue to be with us when we can finally be together again.

Furthermore, Lark is sincerely grateful to the parents who have been so understanding and patient as we have jointly navigated an unprecedented moment. We are particularly moved by those parents who have, unasked, continued to pay tuition knowing how much their support is essential to our functioning. We thank you for being unwavering in your dedication to your children’s education through our hands.

We’d like to take this opportunity to extend our heartfelt thanks to the incredible flexibility and understanding of our teachers who have worked to adapt to the new reality and keep up with their students’ progress via online classes. It is due to their tireless efforts that we can provide even a modicum of stability in this uncertain time.

Thank you.

Lark Administration

May 21, 2020