Little Kids Rock is one of 21 recipients selected to receive grant support from The NAMM Foundation. The funding will allow Little Kids Rock to continue to offer participatory music programs that increase exposure to music making and its myriad benefits to urban communities in Nashville, Tampa and Atlanta. The NAMM Foundation annually allocates $500,000 in funding to support innovative music learning programs, with the goal of expanding access to active music making.
“NAMM member support through participation at the NAMM shows and membership in the association allow the NAMM Foundation to provide funding to worthy community-based music-making organizations,” said Mary Luehrsen, Executive Director of the NAMM Foundation. “We are honored to support this important program as, together, we work to expand opportunities for all persons, at every age, to know the joys and benefits of making music.”
Little Kids Rock is the United States’ leading nonprofit provider of musical instruments and teacher training to disadvantaged public schools. Its program focuses on the “Modern Band” pedagogy, a unique approach to music education that teaches students not only to play instruments, but also to improvise, compose and even record their own compositions. What started as a free afterschool music program in a single classroom has since blossomed into a national charity that has impacted the lives of nearly 250,000 children across the country due to funding from donors like NAMM. Little Kids Rock is an organization that understands the difference that music can make in a child’s life, and believes that every child should have the “right to rock.”
This grant is a portion of NAMM’s annual multi-million-dollar reinvestment into the music products industry. These funds help to provide access to innovative, collaborative programs for all segments of the population. Since 1994, the NAMM Foundation has championed worthy music-making programs around the world, with more than $14.2 million in grant-making support.