Little Kids Rock Program Wins NAMM Grant

Little Kids Rock is one of 21 recipients selected to receive grant support from the National Association of Music Merchants Foundation. The funding will allow Little Kids Rock to continue to offer participatory music programs that increase exposure to music making and its benefits to urban communities in Nashville, Tampa and Atlanta. 

The NAMM Foundation allocates $500,000 each year to support innovative music learning programs, with the goal of expanding access to active music making.

“NAMM member support through participation at the NAMM Shows and membership in the association allow the NAMM Foundation to provide funding to worthy community–based music-making organizations,” said Mary Luehrsen, executive director of the NAMM Foundation. “We are honored to support this important program as together we work to expand opportunities for all persons, at every age, to know the joys and benefits of making music.”

Little Kids Rock, based in Cedar Grove, is the nation's leading nonprofit provider of musical instruments and teacher training to disadvantaged public schools.  Its program focuses on the “Modern Band” pedagogy, a unique approach to music education that teaches students to not only play instruments, but also to improvise, compose, and even record their own compositions.  What started as a free, after school music program in a single classroom has since blossomed into a national charity that has impacted the lives of nearly 250,000 children across the country due to funding from donors like NAMM.   

Group founder and executive director David Wish said Little Kids Rock stands by the belief that every child should have the "right to rock."

"The NAMM Foundation's tireless work to make the gift of music-making universally available is hugely important,” he said. “Their support of our own work has been critical and I am in awe of how many organizations they have propelled forward with their philanthropic investments."

This grant is a portion of NAMM's annual multimillion-dollar reinvestment into the music products industry, which help people from all segments of the population to have access to innovative, collaborative music-education programs. Since 1994, the foundation has given out more than $14.2 million in grant-making support.