The Process

The VH1 Save The Music Foundation works to fully restore instrumental music in all public elementary and middle schools within a district. Based on the need in each community, a multi-year partnership is created to guarantee that all students have access to instrumental music education. The Foundation is currently granting in more than 30 communities around the country.

For example, if a community currently has 16 elementary and middle schools without instrumental music programs and they are willing to hire 4 new certified music educators per year, we create a four year rebuild plan with the district where after the 4 years, every student will have access. Each spring, the district will submit applications for 4 schools which have committed to hiring a certified music educator to teach the music program during the school day.

Once Foundation personnel review and approve all the applications for a community, they send out a grant agreement letter for a district representative to sign. This grant agreement is a legal document that confirms the district’s commitment to abide by all grant requirements listed above.

Once the signed grant agreement is received, the Foundation then purchases the instruments from a local music retailer in each community. It typically takes 6-8 weeks for the instruments to arrive at the school. However, as the beginning of the school year approaches and instrument orders increase, there can be backorders. This situation is beyond our control. We make every effort to avoid these delays and encourage schools to apply early in order to beat the rush.