Give the Gift of Music Foundation Established to Assist Local Students With Music Education and Instruments

Local students now have more access to music education and instruments, thanks to the recently-established Give the Gift of Music Foundation, which supports local music education for eligible children ages 7 to 18. Today, the Foundation announced its first major donation of $12,000 from the Steel City Blues Society of Phoenixville, a nonprofit organization that cultivates and preserves the tradition of blues music, and its two first scholarship recipients.

The $12,000 donation is from the Steel City Blues Society, which hosted the inaugural Phoenixville Blues Festival held September 11, 2010 and was attended by more than 3,100 people. Funds raised from the festival were designated for the Give the Gift of Music Foundation (www.givethegiftofmusic.org), the new, non-profit Pennsylvania 501 (c) (3) Foundation that donates musical instruments and/or financial assistance in the form of scholarships for lessons in approved music education or enrichment programs in the greater Phoenixville area to eligible music students.

Its first two recipients are brothers Solomon and Isaiah Wilson, ages 7 and 9, of Crum Lynne, PA. The boys will study guitar and drums at Rock and Roll After School.

Give the Gift of Music Foundation Chairman Erin Riley said, “It’s especially appropriate and gratifying that our first donation is from Phoenixville’s Steel City Blues Society and their first blues music festival. We are all working together to help raise awareness of the importance of music education and the need to support it here in our local community.”

“We were overwhelmed by the local support for our inaugural Blues Festival,” said Jim DiGuiseppe, president of the Steel City Blues Society. “Our partnership with Give the Gift of Music Foundation aligns our missions and we look forward to making the festival an annual event.”

Interested students can find applications forms for assistance at the Foundation’s web site, http://www.givethegiftofmusic.org, where information on approved local service providers who are dedicated to the mission of providing quality music education to children in need can also be found. These include professional musicians, composers, performers or musical educators accredited by the National Guild for Community Arts Education, the National Association of Schools of Music, or are listed as a Private Music Instructor by one of these Pennsylvania Public School Districts: Great Valley, Norristown, Owen J Roberts, Methacton, North Penn, Perkiomen Valley, Phoenixville, Pottsgrove, Upper Merion, Spring-Ford, and Tredyffrin-Easttown.

Complete information is available at http://givethefgiftofmusic.org