Professor Jack C. Richards

The official website of educator Jack C Richards

CURRENT SCHOLARSHIPS & GRANTS

  • Support for music students: Joshua and Oscar Han, Ting Chia Hsu, Joshua Reedy
  • Grant to support students at the Modern American English School in Antigua, Guatemala
  • Miller Perez, Singapore – scholarship for study in the MA TESOL degree at National Institute of Education
  • Support for 10 teachers from rural schools to attend the CamTESOL conference in Cambodia
  • New Zealand School of Music – co-sponsorship of the Composer in Residence Program
  • Tairawhiti Museum, Gisborne New Zealand– sponsorship of 6 concerts featuring students from the New Zealand School of Music
  • Tairawhiti Museum, Gisborne – grant for acquisition (Ruanuku award)
  • Toihoukura program in Contemporary Maori Arts, Gisborne – student scholarships
  • Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation – grant to support the Foundation’s support for emerging opera singers
  • Frederick Jones (tenor) has been awarded a professional development grant by Dr. Richards

AWARD FOR PATRONAGE 2014

In November 2014 Dr Richards received the prestigious Award for Patronage 2014, by the Arts Foundation of New Zealand, acknowledging his immense support for music and the arts. Read more here.

Cam-TESOLRURAL TEACHERS ATTEND CamTESOL

Jack sponsored ten Cambodian teachers from rural schools to attend the 11th annual CamTESOL conference in February 2015.

GAO PING

Dr. Richards recently commissioned a sonata for Bassoon and Piano from Chinese composer Gao Ping. You can hear a performance of the sonata here. Following the enthusiastic reception of the piece for bassoon and piano, Jack has commissioned a further piece from Gao Ping – a trio for piano, flute and bassoon.

TAIRAWHITI MUSEUM FREE CONCERTS

In 2015 Jack Richards is sponsoring an annual series of afternoon recitals in the Tairawhiti Museum in Gisborne, featuring student performers from the New Zealand School of Music. There will be six concerts scheduled throughout the year. These will be free events for Gisborne residents and are intended both to showcase the talents of NZSM students as well as to help expand the community outreach of the museum.

CLASSICAL GUITAR COMPETITION SPONSORSHIP

Dr Richards is principal sponsor for the New Zealand Classical Guitar Competition, held at the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington on the 5th, 6th & 7th December. Find out more here.

TOKO TORU TAPU CHURCH

Dr Richards supports the restoration of the Toko Toru Tapu Church at Manutuke near Gisborne. The church combines the external look of a colonial church with a Māori carved timber interior featuring carved and painted panels. It was built in 1913, replacing an earlier church on the same site. You can read more about the project here and here and get updates here.

SONIDOS PARA LA VIDA (SOUNDS FOR LIFE)

Sounds for Life is a Guatemalan organization dedicated to changing the lives of boys and girls in risky situations. The principal mission is PREVENTION through MUSIC. Dr. Richards has provided a grant for the children in this program. To find out more about the program click here. The children, from economically disadvantaged communities, are studying English with Jack’s support in Antigua. They also receive free music lessons from their teacher – Edwin Ruiz, who has worked with children for over 30 years. The children recorded this thank you video for Jack.

MODERN AMERICAN ENGLISH SCHOOL IN ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA

Jack Richards provides a grant to enable young people in economic difficulty take English courses at the Modern American English School in Antigua, Guatemala. The pictures show some of the recipients of recent grants, together with school director Patricia Ruiz (in pink!) and one of the MAES teachers.

OSCAR & JOSHUA HAN

Young musicians Oscar and Joshua Han – finalists in Australia’s Got Talent – are being supported by Jack Richards in the Rising Stars Progamme at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Jack Richards commissioned a violin for Oscar. Click here to see a video on the making of the violin.

NEW ZEALAND COMPOSERS

Dr. Richards is an enthusiastic art and music lover and supporter of activities such as the Tiromoana Summer Concerts and the New Zealand School of Music Composer in Residence.

“Composers are often dependent upon commissions to enable them to devote time to full-time work on significant pieces. Many famous works in the musical repertoire resulted from private commissions, and in recent years I have begun sponsoring a range of both small-scale as well as larger-scale works by New Zealand (or New Zealand-based) composers, in order to help them enrich the New Zealand musical landscape.”

KIRI TE KANAWA FOUNDATION

Since 2011 Jack has become a patron of the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation, and provides an annual grant to the foundation to support Dame Kiri’s work with young opera singers.

Dr. Richards appears in a promotional video for the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation.

GARETH FARR

Jack commissioned a piano concerto by leading New Zealand composer Gareth Farr. The first performance of the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra was performed with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra on March 28, 2014, with pianist Tony Lee. Read a review of the concerto here.

TOIHOUKURA SCHOOL OF CONTEMPORARY ARTS

Jack Richard’s hometown of Gisborne, New Zealand, has a long tradition of excellence in Maori arts.

Many of the finest examples of carved and painted meeting houses (known as Marae) in New Zealand are located in the district, and the region is home to a number of nationally renowned Maori carvers, weavers, ceramists and specialists in other fields of Maori art.

The local Polytechnic in Gisborne has a school of contemporary Maori art, called Toihoukura. It offers a range of courses in contemporary Maori art and design. Tutors in the program are nationally recognized leaders in the field of contemporary Maori art.

In order to facilitate participation by Maori students in Toihoukura programs and to encourage the wider recognition of the quality of work produced by students in Toihoukura, Professor Richards offers annual scholarships to students in the program and sponsors special commissions and awards.

TAIRAWHITI MUSEUM

Dr. Richards is an active supporter of the Tairawhiti Museum in Gisborne, and gives funds to support different aspects of the museum and its activities.

A major category of sponsorship involves funds to purchase examples of contemporary Maori art. These funds allow the museum to purchase one work every year from the annual exhibition of works by students in the Toihokura program at the Gisborne polytechnic.

Dr Richards also donates other works to add to the museum’s permanent collection. Recent donations include works by Sandy Adsett, Bay Riddell, Steve Gibbs, and Rongo Tuhura. He has made a substantial grant towards the cost of redesigning the entrance to the Tairawhit Museum.

SCHOLARSHIPS AWARDED FOR 2014

  • Tony Zhai  (Auckland), to continue his violin studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
  • Danial Sadeghi (Iran), to study for the MA TESOL at Victoria University of Wellington (residential mode).
  • Theara Chea (Cambodia), to study for the MA TESOL at Victoria University of Wellington (distance mode).
  • Australian pianist Nicholas Young has been given a two-year grant to support his further keyboard studies in Salzburg, Austria
  • Australian pianist Tony Lee has been given a grant to continue with his piano studies in Europe.