Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute Announces PlayUSA Grant Recipients

By SBO+ Staff

Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute (WMI) has announced the 2017-2018 grant recipients for PlayUSA, a program that supports different American instrumental music education projects that are specifically designed to reach low-income and underserved students.

This year, WMI will be donating a total of $430,000 in grants.

Of the 13 organizations this year, six are new partners and seven are returning organizations from the 2016-2017 season. These grants can be used to underwrite teaching fees for music instruction, purchase or rent of musical instruments, repair instruments, or be put towards other programmatic costs.

Recipients this year include:

El Sistema Oklahoma (Oklahoma City, OK)

Enriching Lives Through Music (Larkspur, CA)

INTAKE Music (Stamford, CT)

Kidznotes (Durham, NC)

Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra (Kalamazoo, MI)

Opportunity Music Project (New York, NY)

Returning PlayUSA Grantees:

Atlanta Music Project (Atlanta, GA)

Community MusicWorks (Providence, RI)

Music for Life (New Orleans, LA)

The People’s Music School (Chicago, IL)

Scrollworks (Birmingham, AL)

Tocando (El Paso, Texas)

Youth Orchestra of St. Luke’s (New York, NY)

“We are excited to expand PlayUSA this year, supporting 13 innovative organizations around the country that are bringing high-quality music education to students who may not otherwise have access,” said Sarah Johnson, director of Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute. “During the 2017-2018 season, we will be focusing on improving teaching practice, making sure that artists and educators have the training and resources needed to provide a meaningful music education for their students. The PlayUSA network continues to grow, made up of a strong community of organizations across the nation, and we look forward to further collaboration in the future so that we can learn from one another and make note of successes and milestones achieved that can be shared across the field.”

New partners will receive one year of funding, and returning partners will receive a two-year grant, which both include consultation with Carnegie Hall staff and access to online resources and monthly webinars.

In February 2018, educators and administrators from each PlayUSA organization will meet at Carnegie Hall to network and explore teaching practice alongside Carnegie Hall teaching artists.