Julliard is putting its Music Advancement Program on indefinite hiatus with fundraising under pressure. The program will complete it second year obligation with current students but has canceled auditions and will add no new students this year. The Music Advancement Program brings music lessons to kids who don’t normally have access to music training.

Professional pianist and Juilliard alumnus Ronen Segev told the New York Times (Juilliard Curtails Program That Serves Poor Children), “It’s really heartbreaking… it means a lot to these kids.”(NYT)

Joseph W. Polisi, Juilliard’s president, likens the strategy to pruning so that the plant will bloom with new growth and life during the next spring explaining to the NYT:

“I was the guy who started it 20 years ago, and I believe deeply in it…It’s an extremely important part of me and Juilliard’… Mr. Polisi said he hoped to raise money to restart the program, on a smaller scale, in two years.”