Two Great Neck High Schools Up For GRAMMY Music Excellence Grants

Two Great Neck high schools have been named among the nation's best for outstanding commitments to music education, according to the GRAMMY Foundation.

Great Neck North and Great Neck South were named GRAMMY Signature Schools semifinalists Friday by the foundation along with 127 other schools nationwide. 

Begining in August, more than 20,000 public high schools from districts large and small were eligable for the entry into the contest, according to the foundation.

Finalists, to be announced in March, will receive a custom award and a monetary grant ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 to benefit each school's music program, according to the foundation.

The winner is designated the National GRAMMY Signature School.

Just as the GRAMMY Award recognizes excellence in the recording arts, the foundation's Signature Schools program recognizes public high schools across the country for their dedication to providing excellent music education programs for their students, according to Neil Portnow, president and CEO of the Recording Academy and the GRAMMY Foundation.

"These semifinalist schools should be commended for their steadfast commitment to maintaining an arts curriculum that will result in long term benefits for their students," Portnow said in a press relase.

The GRAMMY Foundation was established in 1989 to cultivate the understanding, appreciation and advancement of the contribution of recorded music to American culture — from the artistic and technical legends of the past to the still unimagined musical breakthroughs of future generations of music professionals.

The Signature Schools contest is sponsored in part by Best Buy, the Ford Motor Company Fund and the Hot Topic Foundation. 

For more information, go online to www.grammyintheschools.com.