In the Business of Giving Back: Partnerships That Hit the Right Note

juillet 18, 2022
Kristy w/ Peter Lewis (CSTF)

Peter Lewis, left (Vice President, CST Foundation) and Kristy Fletcher, right (President, MusiCounts) presenting the MusiCounts Inspired Minds Ambassador Award at the 2022 JUNO Opening Night Awards Presented by Ontario Creates. Photo Credit: CARAS/iPhoto

It’s been a busy school year at MusiCounts! We’ve supported schools, community organizations, and individuals with over $1.4 million in grants and awards, launched three new teaching resources, recognized the 2022 MusiCounts Teacher of the Year and the 2022 MusiCounts Inspired Minds Ambassador, and so much more. We’re committed to making music education inclusive, accessible, and sustainable for every kid in Canada, but we can’t do it alone. Thanks to our dedicated partners, we don’t have to.

Corporate partnerships have been integral in helping us fulfill our mission. Through partners like RX Music, who know that the perfect song choice can make all the difference, MusiCounts has been able to support nearly 1300 schools through the MusiCounts Band Aid Program in our 25-year history. Of the 77 schools funded in 2022, many came to MusiCounts looking for a grant to help provide Indigenous music programming, like Dauphin Regional Comprehensive Secondary School in Dauphin, MB. Thanks to JAM Direct Inc., they’ll have the instruments, equipment, and resources they need to facilitate workshops for students to build hand drums to perform Anishinaabemowin songs with at their Graduation Powwow.

Music education is about a lot more than learning an instrument at school, and we’ve got incredible partners that share – and support – that belief. Since 2013, we’ve provided 247 not-for-profit organizations with grants totalling $3.7 million in instruments, equipment, and resources to support music education programs at the community level thanks to TD Ready Commitment through the MusiCounts TD Community Music Program. Music education also plays an important role in preparing young people for careers in the music industry. The RBC Emerging Artists Project helps MusiCounts bridge the gap between classrooms and the industry through MusiCounts Learn TRACK: Career Profiles, an online learning hub aimed at introducing young people to the scope of career possibilities in the Canadian music industry, and the MusiCounts Accelerate Scholarship, an annual post-secondary program that helps accelerate the careers of 4-6 aspiring music professionals through a $5,000 cash prize and an intensive music industry mentorship experience. Ultimately, music education wouldn’t prosper without people who believe in it; thanks to the CST Foundation, we celebrate an outstanding educator and an inspiring philanthropist every year to recognize their commitment to ensuring music education thrives in Canada.

We’re profoundly grateful for the support we’ve received this year, but there is still so much to do to ensure that music education remains within reach of every kid in Canada for many years to come. If you share our belief that every child deserves the opportunity to experience the life-changing power of music, learn more about our corporate partners, how your company can support MusiCounts, or other ways you can get involved today.

Thank You to the Dedicated Partners That Supported MusiCounts This Year