Michelle Obama to attend Grammy Museum event honoring teachers

First Lady Michelle Obama will return to Los Angeles on July 16 to salute teachers who use music in innovative ways as part of their classroom instruction techniques for the Grammy Museum’s first Jane Ortner Education Award Luncheon.

The museum established the award in partnership with entertainment attorney Charles Ortner in honor of his wife, Jane, an elementary school teacher who championed the use of music in schools to boost students’ intellect and build all-around character. Jane Ortner died in 2000 of multiple myeloma.

The inaugural award will go to Sunshine Cavalluzzi, a teacher at El Dorado High School in Placentia.

The luncheon will be hosted by Grammy Museum Executive Director Robert Santelli, who has helped organize several musical presentations at the White House in which President Obama and the first lady have been involved.

The invitation sent to members of the entertainment industry this week noted that “Mrs. Obama has made arts education a top priority in her career, working with young people to promote education and leading the work of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.”

Others who will take part in the event include Ortner’s daughter Amy Ortner, who also is an entertainment attorney, and son Eric Ortner, a partner in Live Nation’s Vector OMG and chair of the White House entertainment advisory council.

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