MusiCounts is thrilled to announce the recipients of the 2022 MusiCounts Band Aid Program! To celebrate our 25th Anniversary, we’re taking the celebration nationwide by diving deep into the program’s investment in each region of Canada, looking at both the impact we’ve made over time and the challenges we’ll tackle in the future. After announcing the recipients in Atlantic and Central Canada, it’s time to share the news about the Prairies and Western Canada.

MusiCounts is awarding $362,500 to 32 schools in the Prairies and Western Canada! The recipients are listed below. Over the course of 25 years, MusiCounts has invested $4,080,000 to 431 schools in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia.

Throughout our 25-year history, we’ve seen time and time again that music class is a unique mechanism through which kids all across the country can connect with their cultural identity. The 2022 MusiCounts Band Aid Program recipients from the Prairies and Western Canada showcase this: 6 out of the 9 schools receiving grants in Saskatchewan are using the funds to acquire culturally-relevant music gear, and several of the schools in the region will be engaging with Elders and Knowledge Keepers in the classroom to work with students, build traditional instruments, and make music.

West Lynn Heights School, 14 hours North of Winnipeg in Lynn Lake, MB, will be using their MusiCounts Band Aid Program grant to acquire a wide range of musical instruments including keyboards, pianos, mandolins, amplifiers, and traditional hand-drums. They’re also planning to engage Elders in workshops to teach students how to build the instruments, which would have been impossible with their annual music budget of $0. Similarly, Frontier Collegiate Institute Dormitories in Cranberry Portage, MB (a “by-choice” dormitory school for Northern Cree communities) are using the funds to purchase drums, drum-making kits, and bear grease to protect the kits. The school is offering the programming as a means for students to connect to their culture, and to learn the drum, protocols, and ceremony of their traditions.

MusiCounts is so proud to have contributed to the success and sustenance of music programming in the Prairies and Western Canada, but there is still so much to do. After 25 years of making investments through the MusiCounts Band Aid Program, we’re still only able to support 1 in every 5 schools that ask for our help. It will take a chorus of music education champions to help close this gap. Click here to learn about MusiCounts’ 25th Anniversary and help us raise funds for the MusiCounts Band Aid Program.

• Frontier Collegiate Institute Dormitories, Cranberry Portage, MB
• Minegoziibe Anishinabe School, Camperville, MB
• Dauphin Regional Comprehensive Secondary School (DRCSS), Dauphin, MB
• Ècole Bonaventure, Selkirk, MB
• Grand Rapids School, Grand Rapids, MB
• St. Laurent School, St. Laurent, MB
• Waterhen, Waterhen, MB
• Neepawa Middle School, Neepawa, MB
• West Lynn Heights School, Lynn Lake, MB
• Charlebois Community School, Cumberland House, SK
• Lester B. Pearson Elementary, Saskatoon, SK
• Father Gamache Memorial School, Fond Du Lac, SK
• Canoe Lake Miksiw School, Canoe Narrows, SK
• Medstead Central School, Medstead, SK
• St. Agnes School, Moose Jaw, SK
• Rossignol High School, Ile a la Crosse, SK
• Valley View Community School, Beauval, SK
• Churchill Community High School, La Ronge, SK
• St. Teresa of Calcutta School, Edmonton, AB
• Cardston Jr. High School, Cardston, AB
• Exshaw School, Exshaw, AB
• Griffiths-Scott School, Millet, AB
• Morinville Community High School, Edmonton, AB
• Dr. D.A. Perley Elementary, Grand Forks, BC
• Ecole Mary Hill Elementary School, Port Coquitlam, BC
• Squiala Elementary & Secondary School, Chilliwack, BC
• Agassiz Elementary-Secondary School, Agassiz, BC
• GW Carlson Elementary, Fort Nelson, BC
• WJ Mouat Secondary School, Abbotsford, BC
• Cunningham Elementary, Vancouver, BC
• A.D. Rundle Middle School, Chilliwack, BC
• Old Yale Road Elementary School, Surrey, BC