Vandals spray-painted a piano that had been placed along Vancouver’s waterfront as part of a fundraising campaign for blind students.
The piano was one of several placed by the School of Piano Technology for the Blind as part of its annual Keys to the City fundraising program. Each year, specially decorated pianos are placed for 10 days in public locations around the metro area, where anyone can play them or listen to the music. Each piano is sponsored, which raises money for the school and its programs. This year’s event featured 10 pianos and ran from Aug. 7-16.
The vandalism occurred late Saturday evening to a piano named “Renaissance,” according to a news release. The upright piano was placed on the waterfront near McMenamin’s restaurant when someone spray-painted “I (heart) art” in black on the front and the keyboard. It was the first time in the four-year history of the program that a piano was vandalized.
“We are, of course, extremely disappointed and saddened at the loss of this beautifully painted piano,” said Julia Liudahl, administrative manager and founder of the Keys to the City program. “We will not, however, allow the actions of one individual to stop us from offering this very popular program to our community. This act of senseless destruction is very disrespectful not only to the school but also the artist, who spent countless hours designing and painting this original work of art.”
The Vancouver piano school, the only one of its kind in the world, has been providing training to blind and visually impaired students since 1949.
