Thank you for making 2019 our best year yet!
This year, we were able to provide over 100 instruments across 22 states thanks to you. Below are a list of the music education programs we were able to support.
Girls Write Nashville CreatiVets Shift Englewood BUFFALO STRING WORKS, INC. Detroit Youth Volume California Symphony | Sound Minds Harmony School of Music Sistema Utah U.B. Kinsey/Palmview Elementary School of the Arts: "Crescendo" El Sistema Program Salty Cricket Composers Collective ROC Music The Academy Project Greater Milwaukee El Sistema Bay Area Music Project B Sharp Youth Music New Mexico Philharmonic Q the Music Music Works Asheville Northeast Community Center: Home of Harmony Project KC El Paso Symphony/Tocando Community Music Program Harmony Project Tulsa Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Angelica Center for Arts and Music Hispanic Alliance for the Performing Arts PS033m Chelsea Prep PTA Inc Trenton Music Makers Omaha Conservatory of Music New West Symphony (Laby Harmony Project)
Note from our founder:
Thank you to everyone who has helped spread the joy of music this year. Guitars 4 Gifts was founded with the mission of helping more youth heal and tell their story through music. We believe that music is a great way to instill confidence and create productive citizens. We have been able to see how one instrument, or one song can give a person the much needed healing they have been craving for years.
Over the course of 2020, we hope to provide 150 musical instruments to those in need. Please help us reach this goal by making a donation through the donation tab on our website. Again, thank you to everyone who has helped change countless lives this year.
Anna Clark
Founder and Executive Director
“Thank you and your team at Guitars 4 Gifts for giving us a big reason to celebrate going into the weekend! Receiving three violins as our program embarks on a significant expansion this year helps us be on our way to another year of impactful music education here in Kansas City.”
“We are very proud of our students and all that they have accomplished at such a young age. At B Sharp, our students read and understand music, play an instrument and sing in the choir, learn the value of participating on a team, and develop the necessary life skills to contribute positively to society. I know you understand the importance of music education, and we are so grateful to you for helping others learn about our program.
We look forward to the next school year where we can continue educating our students with the generous donation provided by you and your amazing program, Guitars 4 Gifts!”
“Teaching Artist Christina Keller reports that one student asked to stay after class so he could get help writing the notes to “Happy Birthday,” as it was his sister’s birthday, and he wanted to perform the song for her on his cello. Another student comprehended how to play musical broken thirds on his violin using math: “You add two and subtract one!” the student proudly realized. Nicola Gruen, Level I and II Violin Teaching Artist, shares that “One child’s dad is in prison and visits her once a month. She said he gives her $1 when she plays her violin for him!” These stories of mentoring and social development permeate our program on a regular basis. As covered by NPR, “Scores of orchestras across America do some kind of music-education outreach. But few of them are embedded in the life of a school three days a week. That’s what the Sound Minds program is doing.”
“We received 2 12”violas and a 1/4 size violin. Up to this time, I have been re-stringing 1/2 sized violins to make a 12” viola. This makes the bottom two strings sound like rubber bands stretched across a shoebox. The viola players who received the viola are very much in love with the sound of their beautiful new viola!”
“We have one little boy now who is very energetic, and has a hard time holding himself together in school; extreme emotions, constant moving around to the point where others were injured...he had such a tough time staying engaged! This kid who struggles so much in class LOVES playing the violin. He works so hard to pay attention, stays engaged in the lesson, and is becoming one of our best little players. His classroom teachers have also seen a difference. Without the free program we provide to these kids, this little boy and others like him would not be able to find their “thing” that makes their lives so much happier.”