There's been quite a to-do here about music, the arts, and funding. It all started in good faith and good spirits, with everybody joyous about the brilliant protest in St. Louis. There are two great diaries about it on the Recommended List, both Stunning, Creative, Effective Protest for Mike Brown at St. Louis Symphony #RequiemforMikeBrown by Jardin 32 and Requiem for Mike Brown protest in the St. Louis Symphony exposes both white privilege and support by Shaun King. But then it got weird, with lots of comments about support for classical music and the arts, 'for rich old white people.' MichaelNY wrote a great response, Stop attacking musicians.
So why is this a shameless plug? Drop below the mating Treble Clefs to find out.
Last year my son, who was 11 years old at the time, was in his school orchestra class when his teacher's violin fell from the music stand and broke. It had been given to her by her since-deceased father, and was special to her. So he came home, created a website, and launched a drive to have it fixed. He raised enough money to fix the violin. In the process of running the fundraiser, talking to instrument repair businesses, and more, he learned there are a lot of kids who can't afford to rent an instrument to participate in a school band or orchestra program. So he started
Kidstruments Fund, Inc..
Kidstruments Fund does two things. First, it accepts contributions, and issues grants to schools to pay a full year's rental for a child to participate in a music program. Second, it collects used instruments, pays to refurbish them, and contributes them to schools in need.
Kidstruments Fund is also an Amazon Smile participant, so if you're doing your holiday shopping this year on Amazon, log in through Amazon Smile and select Kidstruments Fund as your charity. It will contribute, with no cost to you, 0.5% of your purchase.
Kidstruments Fund also accepts bitcoins, dogecoins, and litecoins.
If you're concerned about funding for the arts, and particularly funding for the next generation of artists, perhaps a few bucks at a time will make all of us less reliant upon old white Fox viewers. And maybe, just maybe, we'll bring a child or two ready to give up on school back into the building to do something they love.
I'm very proud of my son. How many people have a 501(c)(3) before they hit puberty (and no, I'm not looking forward to that - it's started very recently and it's terrifying)? I hope you don't mind the plug for a good cause. I think it shows that a liberal and progressive upbringing, and an amazing child, can combine to start making the world a better place, even at a young age.