The Institute for Development of Education in the Arts (IDEA) is a non-profit 501(c)3 corporation founded to connect senior adults and young people through the arts.
IDEA's mission is to facilitate inter-generational community building through the arts. IDEA encourages arts learning for people of all ages and backgrounds, especially underserved populations of seniors, youth, physically and intellectually challenged. IDEA connects elders and children so they can experience the arts through performances, exhibits, workshops, and hands-on activities; building future audiences and encouraging participation in the arts.
Our Mission
Meet Wendy
Wendy Cilman is a cellist and an arts administrator. She founded the Institute for the Development of Education in the Arts so that she could offer intergenerational connection to the arts and education. She received a B.A. in music at the University of California - Berkeley, and an M.A. in interdisciplinary arts at San Francisco State University.
Her primary cello instructor was Irving Klein who was a member of the Claremont String Quartet and co-founder of the North Carolina School of the Arts. She also studied cello with Michael Grebanier, principal cellist of the San Francisco Symphony, and chamber music with the legendary Bernard Abramowitsch and Felix Khuner.
In 2009 she created the Bay Area Youth Orchestra Festival (BAYOF) which has raised over $200,000 for homeless youth and is now presented by the San Francisco Symphony. In 2026 she started the Sierra Youth Orchestras Festival with five orchestras from Northern California and Reno.
Ms. Cilman was Director of Education for the Santa Rosa Symphony for ten and a half years.
In her private cello studio, she has taught students age 7-87, from beginners to advanced. Her students have won prestigious competitions. Several have established professional careers in music. All enjoy the lifelong benefits of a music education and share the pleasure of playing this beautiful instrument.
“It makes you feel accepting of life.”