Music Performance Trust Fund Supports Live Music with $2.2 Million in Community Grants

The Recording Industry’s Music Performance Trust Fund (MPTF) announced $2.2 million in community grants to support admission-free, live music online and in person throughout North America.

More details from the Music Performance Trust Fund (www.musicpf.org):

NEW YORK – The MPTF has announced plans to significantly increase the annual distribution of grants — now $2.2 million to communities in the U.S. and Canada — to fund admission-free, live musical performances beginning May 1, 2021. Plans signal an expectation for the return of in-person events as the COVID-19 pandemic begins to subside. To help ensure live music’s safe return, the MPTF is encouraging local union representatives of the American Federation of Musicians to work with state and local health officials to implement event safety guidance from the Centers for Disease Control of the United States and the Public Health Agency of Canada, adjusting to meet the unique needs and circumstances of the local community.

The pandemic devastated much of the traditional live music schedule since mid-March of 2020. During this time, the MPTF created an initiative that has generated over 700 free events by professional musicians livestreamed throughout North America, supporting communities with more than $1 million in grants to pay musicians for their service. The MPTF also established a Music Family Scholarship that in its first year awarded $100,000 to 125 children of professional musicians pursuing education after high school.

Grants provide funding for music education-related performances, senior center and assisted living concerts, municipal series and parks programs. Grants are accessed, and events are coordinated, through local unions of the American Federation of Musicians. Since the inception of the MPTF nearly 75 years ago, in alliance with the AFM and its local members, countless performances by professional musicians have delighted audiences throughout North America. The MPTF and its signatory record labels Warner Music Group, Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Walt Disney Records have contributed essential support to these dedicated individuals who put the art and craft of performing live music above all else.

Events co-sponsored by the MPTF include myriad live musical performances of all musical genres in communities throughout North America as well as larger special events such as Stars in the Alley, French Quarter Festival and Make Music Day, to name but a few.

“We are eager to bring back free, live music,” stated Dan Beck, MPTF Trustee. “We now all have a greater appreciation of what these events mean to our local traditions and cultures. We believe businesses, arts organizations and municipal governments will host more events to bring energy and life back to their towns and cities.”

The MPTF is a 501(c)3 nonprofit public service organization whose mission is to support admission-free, live events performed by professional musicians throughout the United States and Canada. While stepping up our commitment to re-stimulate the musical arts, the MPTF will work with our recipients to follow local guidelines for safe practices. Most MPTF performances are presented with community co-sponsors, including businesses, nonprofits, and municipalities.