Our school is in a high-need area of New York state. The new classical guitar program at our school is facing serious budget issues for next year because of the state's current fiscal crisis and these guitars will help more of our students participate.
Over 70% of our students are on free or reduced lunch.
Most of the students in our program cannot afford guitars or can only afford very unreliable instruments that impede their learning. They rely on us to loan them guitars while they study, but we only have a very limited amount of instruments to loan and they are not ideal instruments. The classical guitar program here is exploding with interest and many more students want to participate next year, but unfortunately our program does not have enough instruments to supply the projected demand. The majority of the students at our school just do not have the financial means to continue with the program without support.
My Project
These 5 guitars, foot stools, tuners, books and gig bags will help our program tremendously. This year we brought 22 guitarists to the NYSSMA solo festival and many more are projected to participate next year. Some of our students face the challenge of not being able to afford a nutritious lunch, much less a musical instrument to practice with. For them to take the initiative to learn a classical instrument when they already face such hardships has truly inspired me as a teacher and I really want to help them succeed in any way I can. Your donation will go to some of the students that need your help the most.
This project is important because there are not many serious guitar programs in the country.
The guitar takes a back seat to the more expensive band instruments that are considered the more elite instruments, and thus can only be afforded by the students with the financial means to buy such instruments. The guitar, being a relatively affordable beginning instrument can bring a serious Music program to more kids, thus more kids without the financial means will be able to participate. Thank you.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mr. Chidsey and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.