Toronto, ON - At tonight’s Canadian Music Hall of Fame (CMHF) induction ceremony, MusiCounts, Canada’s leading music education charity associated with CARAS/The JUNO Awards, will proudly honour the inductees with MusiCounts Legacy Grants, presented by the Lewitt Family Foundation.

In tribute to this year’s CMHF inductees — Dan Hill, Ginette Reno, Glass Tiger, Loreena McKennitt, Maestro Fresh Wes, and Sum 41 — six Canadian schools will each receive up to $20,000 in funding to support music programming in any approach or style. The MusiCounts Legacy Grants will empower schools to purchase new instruments, equipment, and resources to sustain existing programming or build new programs to serve students’ needs.

Through the support of the Lewitt Family Foundation, these grants reinforce CARAS’ mission to preserve and enhance Canada’s music industry— from inspiring the next generation of musicians in classrooms to honouring excellence on the national stage.

“CARAS’ mandate is to support Canadian artists from birth to myth,” said Kristy Fletcher, President of MusiCounts. “This powerful narrative is evident through the MusiCounts Legacy Grants, which celebrate the achievements of Canada’s most revered artists by helping fuel a new generation of music-makers in our country.”

Some of the instruments that this year’s recipient schools will be receiving include pitched and hand percussion, handbells, tubanos, steelpan, and African drums — helping to bring vibrant, culturally diverse musical experiences to classrooms across the country.

“On behalf of the Lewitt Family Foundation, I extend my most heartfelt congratulations to the inductees to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame," said John Lewitt. "We're so honoured to recognize their impact by investing in a new crop of musicians through the MusiCounts Legacy Grants.”

The partnership was celebrated at a special event this morning at Calgary’s National Music Centre (NMC), in which students from local schools engaged in an intimate Q+A session with CMHF inductee Maestro Fresh Wes, followed by a special tour of the NMC facilities.

Each year, MusiCounts receives hundreds of grant applications from school music programs nationwide. The MusiCounts Legacy Grant recipients are selected from this pool in honour of the CMHF inductees. The 2025 recipient schools are:

• Stamford Collegiate - Niagara Falls, ON - in honour of Dan Hill
• Chateauguay Valley Regional High School - Ormstown, QC - in honour of Ginette Reno
• Sea View Elementary School - Port Alice, BC - in honour of Glass Tiger
• École New Era School - Brandon, MB - in honour of Loreena McKennitt
• Darcel Avenue Sr. Public School - Mississauga, ON - in honour of Maestro Fresh Wes
• Maple Ridge Public School - Pickering, ON - in honour of Sum 41