High School Nation, a secondary school touring music festival, topped the $2 million mark in donations to high school arts and music programs this year when its 2017 60-city Festival Tour kicked off. The goal of High School Nation is to promote both the arts and music programs in high schools across the country. This year, the festival has expanded its donation program to include the establishment of recording studios in each of the schools where it appears. During the Festival Tour, High School Nation takes over football stadiums on each of the campuses visited and presents a two-hour concert, as well as events that celebrate the arts in public schools. In addition to music programs, it supports journalism, film, fine and performing arts, fashion, photography and stage production.
Corporate sponsorships for the festivals are being provided by more than a dozen companies; among them are Sparkling Ice, Guitar Center, Crayola and Mars. Pepsico, Microsoft and Sony have all participated in the tours. As part of the festival, students will visit interactive zones to interact with products and educational programs; these include the Truth Zone, the Full Sail University Media Zone, the Hollister Style Zone, Guitar Center Music Zone and the Crayola Sidewalk Chalk Zone.
“We are thrilled to partner with High School Nation with its mission to make musical instruments easily accessible to students,” Brian Berman, Guitar Center’s Vice President of Marketing, stated. “Ensuring people have a creative outlet to express themselves in the form of music is very important to us at Guitar Center. High School Nation is doing a great job of providing opportunities for children across the U.S. to experience the invaluable gift of learning and playing a musical instrument.”