Reverb, a leading online marketplace for buying and selling used, unique, and new musical instruments, announced that it has selected 17 organizations to receive musical instrument grants through its Reverb Gives initiative. A portion of every sale on Reverb goes to Reverb Gives, which is dedicated to helping youth music education programs all over the world get the musical instruments they need to make music.
Since 2018, Reverb Gives has benefited more than 100 organizations, ranging from nonprofits to underfunded school music programs. For its first round of 2020 grants, the initiative benefited more than a dozen organizations that use a wide range of musical instruments and styles to introduce children and young adults to the many benefits of making music. Among those organizations is Chicas Rockeras South East Los Angeles (SELA), the first bilingual Girls Rock Camp.
“This Reverb Gives grant will allow us to expand the musical instruments we offer to our campers from drums and guitars to effects pedals and pro audio gear for DJ-ing,” said Vikki Gutman, co-organizer of Chicas Rockeras. “Among so many other benefits, music helps build self-esteem among the girls and gender expansive youth that attend our camps. We’re grateful for organizations like Reverb who share our mission to promote confidence and collaboration among youth through music education.”
This quarter, Reverb Gives also benefited:
- Civitan Foundation, Inc., has provided its community of adults and children with developmental disabilities access to superior life experiences since 1968, and thanks to its Reverb Gives grant, the nonprofit is expanding its popular Mindsong Music program to a second location.
- Girls Rock School Northern Ireland, which offers workshops and mentoring in guitar, bass, drums, and vocals to girls of all ages.
- Rhythm Arts Alliance, which brings performing arts such as indigenous arts and rhythmic traditions off of the stage and into the lives of youth challenged by poverty, alienation, and marginalization.
- The Columbus Saints, a drum and bugle corps dedicated to providing affordable quality performing arts and educational opportunities for young people throughout Central Ohio.
- AFRORACK, the Chicago audio arts organization that brings modular synthesis workshops to children and young adults of color.
Other recipients include 3 O’Clock Rock, Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock, Cleveland Classical Guitar Society, Music Heals International (Haiti), Music for Life, Girls Rock Bloomington of MidWay Music Speaks, Guitars Antiqua, Lehigh Valley Girls Rock, Miami Girls Rock Camp, Noise Solution (UK), and Seattle JazzED. Thanks to Reverb Gives, each organization will have the opportunity to purchase musical instruments and gear to enhance and expand its programs.
“Reverb’s mission is to make the world more musical and our Reverb Gives initiative is the embodiment of that mission,” said David Mandelbrot, CEO of Reverb. “There are so many incredible organizations helping kids and young adults get access to musical instruments and genres of music that they might not experience otherwise and this crop of Reverb Gives recipients is a reflection of that. We can’t wait to see how these students and organizations will become more musical with the help of their new instruments.”
Reverb Gives awards grants four times per year. Youth music education programs in need of musical instruments can apply for a grant by visiting https://reverb.com/page/reverb-gives.
