Music Drives Us
/OVERVIEW: Music Drives Us is a small New England charity that provides organizational grants, musical performance grants, and scholarships to help support academic and community programs, music therapy, and assorted partnerships that promote quality music instruction in the northeast.
IP TAKE: Music Drives Us prioritizes grantmaking in the New England area, so grantseekers should make sure their program supports communities in that region before applying.
PROFILE: Created in 2006, Music Drives Us “seeks out organizations and individuals interested in using music as a tool to better the lives of people in all segments of society.”
Grants for Music
Grants support organizations in the New England that provide both academic and community music education programs, music instruction, and public performances. Music Drives Us has several grant opportunities for music:
Performance Grants are given to groups who perform jazz, classical, blues, rock, and international music and are "struggling to find the money to bring their music to interested listeners at schools, after school programs, in town halls, and on town greens." So, basically if grantseekers have a band seeking to do community performances and their application excites Music Drives Us, the foundation is likely to help if it has the resources. It understands that these types of concerts are "on the verge of extinction," so it seeks to work with musicians striving to broaden the public's exposure to different styles of music and tries to compensate them as best as possible. Its main stipulation is that the concerts must be free and must have a musical education component.
Organizational Grants support groups with programs using music as an educational tool, including public & private school systems, charter schools, hospitals, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, YMCA's, and Boys & Girls Clubs.
Instrument Grants provide musical instruments to schools or other organizations that need instruments to start a music program or support an existing program.
The Vermont Grant, in partnership with the state of Vermont, provides up to $100,000 in the state to public and approved independent schools.
Lastly, the Dayna Brunelli Memorial Scholarship, offers a $1,500.00 scholarship will be awarded annually to students in New Hampshire or the Greater Boston Area who are or will be continuing music education.
Past grantees include Berkshire Children & Families, which received $5,100 for instruments and music accessories for an after school music program; Music at Eden's Edge, which received $5,000 for a chamber music concert series for elementary schools; and $5,000 for the Parents and Community Build Group for a local street fair.
Importnat Grant Details:
Most grants average around $5,000 to $7,000, with a maximum of around $10,000. Grantseekers can contact Jackie DiNatale with questions regarding the grants: Grants@MusicDrivesUs.org.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
LINKS:
