The VH1 Save The Music Foundation in partnership with singer/songwriter/pianist Sara Bareilles have announced the 2014 winners of Keys + Kids, a pilot competitive grant program created in response to the lack of functional pianos in public schools. The winners were announced this morning on "Big Morning Buzz Live," VH1's weekday morning news and entertainment series.
"The piano has been a central instrument of my life, and that is largely thanks to music education programs I had access to in school," said
Sara Bareilles. "It was an honor to partner with
VH1 Save The Music to launch the Keys + Kids Program. I believe that arts education can change many young lives the same way it changed mine, and I'm so thrilled to have been a part of this program working to keep music in our classrooms any way we can."
"We received an overwhelming number of applications to our Keys + Kids pilot program, demonstrating how important the piano is to music education programs in public schools," said
Paul Cothran, Executive Director and
Vice President,
VH1 Save The Music. "Although the selection process was incredibly challenging, we are proud to announce the winners, which would not be possible without the help of our Keys + Kids Leadership Circle including: Avnet Inc.,
The Durst Organization, Houlihan's Restaurants, The LEGO Children's Fund, NAMM Foundation, Raymond Weil,
William Hill Estate Winery, Shure Incorporated, Yamaha and countless individuals."
Winning schools:
Calhoun County High School,
St. Matthews, SC
Coit Creative Arts Academy, Grand Rapids, MI
Fair
Haven K-8 School, New Haven, CT
Frances Willard Elementary, Kansas City, KS
Harding Senior High School, St. Paul, MN
Holston Valley Middle School, Bristol, TN
Malvern
Elementary School, Malvern, AR
Morrill Elementary, San Antonio, TX
Richland Upper
Elementary School, Richland, MS
Washington Elementary, Trenton, NJ
The Keys + Kids application process ran from March 10th through April 30th, 2014 and was open to all U.S. K-12 public schools.
Applicants competed for one of ten piano packages valued at $10,000 worth of equipment each to support their music and arts programs. Applications were judged by a Committee made up of members of the Foundation's Board of Directors,
VH1 senior staff and patrons of the Keys + Kids Leadership Circle. For more information please visit www.vh1savethemusic.org.
About the
VH1 Save The Music Foundation:
The
VH1 Save The Music
Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring instrumental music education programs in America's public schools, and raising awareness about the importance of music as part of each child's complete education. To date,
VH1 Save The Music has provided nearly $51 Million in new musical instruments to almost 1,900 public schools in more than 192 districts around the country, impacting the lives of over 2.3 million children. The 2013 Ambassador Class - dedicated to raising awareness and funds to benefit The
Foundation - includes:
Britney Spears,
Gloria Reuben,
Hunter Hayes,
Taye Diggs,
Cher Lloyd,
Jason Derulo and Diane Birch. Get involved at vh1savethemusic.org and follow us on twitter @vh1savethemusic.
About
Sara Bareilles:
Sara Bareilles first achieved mainstream critical praise in 2007 with her widely successful hit, "Love Song" which reached #1 in 22 countries around the world from her debut album LITTLE VOICE. Since then, the Eureka, CA native has gone on to sell over 1 million copies of her debut album, earn 3 Grammy nominations including Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Love Song." Bareilles' critically acclaimed sophomore release KALEIDOSCOPE HEART was released in
September of 2010, debuted at #1 on the Billboard top 200 chart and has gained critical praise everywhere including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, People and Los Angeles Times. The album yielded the hit single "King of Anything," which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and was certified platinum by the RIAA. In 2011, Bareilles joined the judge's panel on the hit
NBC show "The Sing-Off." In early 2012, Bareilles released a documentary called "A Trace of the Sun: Volunteering in Japan," which chronicled her trip to Japan where she joined All Hands Volunteer efforts in the city of Ofunato after the 2011 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that devastated coastal cities and left over 26,000 people without homes. Soon after she released her critically acclaimed ONCE UPON ANOTHER TIME EP, which was produced by singer/songwriter and fellow "Sing-Off" judge
Ben Folds. Sara's third studio effort, THE BLESSED UNREST, was released in July of 2013 and debuted at #2 on the Billboard album chart. The album has since gone on to achieve critical praise and earned Sara two Grammy Award nominations for Album of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance for her smash breakout single "Brave." For more information, please visit www.sarabmusic.com.
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