Little Kids Rock

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Little Kids Rock, Inc.
TypeNon-profit organization
IndustryNonprofit, Education
Founded2002
HeadquartersMontclair, New Jersey
Key people
David Wish, Founder & CEO
Revenue5,813,939 United States dollar (2016) Edit this on Wikidata
Websitelittlekidsrock.org

Little Kids Rock (LKR) is a charity in the United States that encourages and enables children to play popular music. It is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization and is based in Montclair, New Jersey. It provides free music instruction and instruments to public school districts across the country. Their 'Modern Band' curriculum is rooted in popular music (rock, blues, hip hop, reggae, country music, funk, etc.) and their teaching methods are rooted in the teaching music as a language, with a heavy emphasis on composition and improvisation. Charity Navigator has given the charity a 4-star rating.[1][2]

History[]

The program dates back to 1996 when David Wish, an elementary school teacher, began giving free guitar lessons to his students. After a short time, he started recruiting other volunteers to help him with his efforts, including celebrity supporters like Bonnie Raitt[3] and Carlos Santana.[4] In 2002, Little Kids Rock became a nonprofit organization,[5] and in the following years, the programme was extended to New York City and several other public schools districts.

Supporters[]

Little Kids Rock is supported by a significant number of prominent music industry figures.[6]

In May 2015, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer, Chad Smith, was given the "Livin' The Dream Award" at the first annual Little Kids Rock Family Jam benefit at Facebook's Menlo Park campus for his work to help expand public schoolchildren's access to music education. The benefit raised over $85,000 to help provide music education for students.[7] [8]

Amp Up NYC Initiative[]

Berklee College of Music and Little Kids Rock have partnered [9] with the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) to expand the district's Modern Band music program to an additional 60,000 students in 600 city schools.[10] The Amp Up NYC initiative is the largest private investment to date in a city's public school music education program.[11] The donated services and resources for this initiative are estimated at $10 million. Berklee College of Music and Little Kids Rock will contribute teacher training, Modern Band curriculum, and thousands of new musical instruments. Outside contributors include the Walker Family Foundation and Bohemian Foundation. The program is already live in more than 70 classrooms.

We are excited because we have been working with Little Kids Rock for many years and we've seen how effective their work is. We hope that this becomes a model for other large [school] systems in the United States to follow.

— Paul King, NYCDOE Executive Director of the Office of Arts and Special Projects, [12]

References[]

  1. ^ "Little Kids Rock".
  2. ^ [1] Archived 2014-04-18 at the Wayback Machine, Les Paul Foundation
  3. ^ [2], Bonnie Raitt Supports Little Kids Rock
  4. ^ [3], Carlos Santana Supports Little Kids Rock
  5. ^ Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation Archived 2014-04-16 at the Wayback Machine,
  6. ^ "Our Big Fans". Little Kids Rock.
  7. ^ "Watch RHCP's Chad Smith Jam With Children for 'Little Kids Rock' Event". Rolling Stone. May 25, 2015. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
  8. ^ "National Nonprofit Little Kids Rock to Honor Chad Smith at Family-Friendly Fundraiser at Facebook HQ". Market Watch. May 16, 2015. Retrieved May 16, 2015.
  9. ^ [4], Berklee.edu
  10. ^ [5], Wall Street Journal
  11. ^ [6], Boston Globe
  12. ^ Productions, High 5 (23 March 2014). "Amp Up Paul King" – via Vimeo.

External links[]

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