Creating positive change through music education
The Playing For Change Foundation is a global nonprofit organization offering creative opportunities for marginalized and at-risk youth, most specifically in the developing world.
Cheryl Lavender
Access to technology is becoming a key component of the learning process for children. In many of the areas where we operate, the access to technology for the youth is limited. You can help us fulfil this need by funding a technology kit for one of our music programs. This technology kit is composed of essential recording, filming equipment destined to improve learning conditions for our students.
The PFC Foundation has created 15 music programs across 11 countries. Each program is unique and engage communities using music as a tool for education and expression. You can fund part of the operating budget or sponsor a special project for the program or school of your choice.
With a financial investment, an in-kind contribution, a donation to the live-auction portal or a memorial gift, we’ll bridge your generosity to a slate of year-round placements and recognition in the Playing For Change movement.
WHY MUSIC!
Science has shown that learning music benefits people on many different levels. From enhancing cognitive capacities for children, teens and adults to helping memory, literacy, creativity, self confidence and collaboration skills, the power of music has already been demonstrated by hundreds of scientific studies.
At Playing For Change Foundation, we believe the world would be a better place with more music in it. That’s why we employ musicians and music teachers around the world to teach music, using it as a tool for education, inspiration and social change.
Music is also part of the intangible heritage of humanity and by preserving and transmitting traditional music we help new generations to understand their own culture as well as others.
“ Young children who take music lessons show different brain development and improved memory over the course of a year, compared to children who do not. “
SOURCE: Nature Neuroscience, April 2007. Dr. Laurel Trainor, Prof. of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behavior at McMaster University, 2006.
Recently strong winds caused significant damage to the roof of the Tintale Village Academy where the Udayapur Music Program program holds classes. Musical instruments, desks and more were destroyed. Yet, the roof must be repaired. Safety demands it can’t be delayed. Instruments and school property must be replaced.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Stay tuned for the Mother’s Society Hill Tribe Initiative Spring 2019
This spring a group from this collective will travel to a remote area of eastern Nepal in order to raise awareness about sex trafficking for over 400 women.
This is only possible thanks to your good support!
Local Tintale village school teachers teach harmonium, madal and dance classes to about 25 students, with a particular focus on girl enrollment. And in nearby Katari, music notation instructor, Dhruba Kumar Ghimire, patiently instructs the children on how to play the harmonium. He is also supported by other teachers who provide drum and guitar lessons.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
GIVING LEVELS
We are truly grateful for the support of our Playing For Change Foundation friends.
No matter how small or how large, your fully tax-deductible contribution will enable us to continue our mission of peace and positive social change through music and arts education.
>See our donor recognition page
Change Believers ($1- $499)
-Our recognition for your support
Change Seekers ($500-$999)
-Donor Recognition on Website
Change Agents ($1,000-$2999)
-Donor Recognition on Website
-Digital Membership Badge that can be displayed on Social Media
Change Makers ($3,000-$4,999)
-Donor Recognition on Website
-Digital Membership Badge that can be displayed on Social Media
-Donor Spotlight Bio on our website
-Personalized video thank you from one of our staff
Game Changers ($5,000-$9,999)
-Donor Recognition on Website
-Digital Membership Badge that can be displayed on Social Media
-Donor Spotlight Bio on our website
-Personalized video thank you from one of our classrooms
Transformation Society ($10,000 and above)
-Donor Recognition on Website
-Digital Membership Badge that can be displayed on Social Media
-Donor Spotlight Bio on our website
-Personalized video thank you from one of our classrooms
-Hand signed thank you letter from a student
GIVE BY CHECK:
You will receive a printed tax receipt for your gift. Please let us know if you’d like us to direct your donation to a specific project or initiative. We accept international donations in the form of bank issued money orders in USD. Money orders should be made payable to the Playing For Change Foundation and can be mailed to the address below.
Please make checks payable to:
Playing For Change Foundation,
171 Pier Avenue, #271
Santa Monica, CA 90405 – USA
GIVE BY WIRE:
We are fortunate to have a global community supporting the Playing For Change Foundation. Many people choose to give by electronic wire transfer for regular or stand alone donations.
If you live outside of the United States or would prefer to send funds directly from your bank account, you can donate via wire transfer.
Please contact accounting@playingforchange.org or call +1-310-558-2900 if you are interested in giving through a wire and we will send you the necessary information.
OR SEND AN EMAIL TO info@playingforchange.org
OR SEND AN EMAIL TO info@playingforchange.org
Damon Albarn (born 23 March 1968) is an English singer-songwriter and record producer who has been involved in many high profile projects and groups throughout his career. He is perhaps best known internationally for his current role as the frontman and songwriter of Gorillaz, whose first two studio albums had sold more than 20 million copies together by 2007. Albarn also serves as the frontman and primary songwriter of Britpop band Blur, and has been in the projects The Good, the Bad & the Queen, Monkey: Journey to the West and Mali Music. Albarn was born in Whitechapel (London, UK). He grew up in Leytonstone and Aldham, Essex. He was voted the 4th greatest frontman of all time in a national 2010 Q magazine poll.
>More about Damon Albarn on Wikipedia
On Tuesday, November 27, Playing For Change Foundation will participate in #GivingTuesday, a global day dedicated to giving back.
As a nonprofit organization every day we advocate through music & arts education for children and their communities. It lays the groundwork for us to do community projects such as Micro-farming in Mali and Anti-trafficking in Nepal.
On #GivingTuesday you can help drive change by ensuring all our students continue to have access to quality education and our community projects thrive.
Your gift will help us reach our year-end goal of $250,000 and guarantee positive change thru music and the arts.
Together we can make a difference!
Want to get a head start? Click here to give today!
15 music programs have been created in Bangladesh, Brazil, Ghana, Mali, Nepal, Rwanda, South Africa, Morocco, Mexico, Argentina and Thailand. Every week more than 2,000 young people attend free classes in dance, instruments, languages and musical theory, all taught by qualified local teachers.
Projects also help meet essential needs of the larger community, including the provision of aid such as food, clean water, medicine, clothes, books, school supplies, solar energy, computers, and other modern technology. Over 15,000 people have been impacted by the Foundation’s community development and empowerment efforts throughout our program regions and beyond.
Annual program evaluations reinforce the real and positive impact of music education and demonstrate change in action. When children play music together, collaboration increases and conflict is reduced. And critically important to children, particularly those who are vulnerable due to poverty, conflict, drugs, and neglect, is that learning music increases self-esteem and fosters resilience and joy.
Learning music has also been shown to increase self-esteem and foster resilience, which is critically important to children who are vulnerable due to poverty, conflict, drugs, and neglect.
We issue charitable tax receipts for all donations.
You will receive a printed tax receipt for your gift. Please let us know if you’d like us to direct your donation to a specific project or initiative. We accept international donations in the form of bank issued money orders in USD. Money orders should be made payable to the Playing For Change Foundation and can be mailed to the address below.
Please make checks payable to:
Playing For Change Foundation,
171 Pier Avenue, #271
Santa Monica, CA 90405 – USA.
In our ongoing effort to connect the world through music, our direction has been shaped by where we have been and by those who have inspired us along the way. With this in mind, we strive to:
Continue progress and foster sustainability with schools currently in development
Establish valuable partnerships and collaborate with other organizations
Expand the opportunities and resources available to communities in need
Be an access point for various forms of aid, including clean water, electricity, and medical resources
Create positive change through music education
Economic Empowerment: We use local materials and labor when building, employ locals as teachers and administrative staff in our schools.
Local Leadership: Programs are led and affirmed by local village and community leaders.
Using Music to Transform Lives and Communities: Caring adults encourage discipline, joy and personal expression through music and arts programs. Programs emphasize tolerance and shared understanding as methods for solving problems.
Connecting People and Communities: Cameras and other technology empower individuals and communities to tell their own stories. Children in different countries and schools learn about and get to know peers who live in dramatically different regions and circumstances.
Faites un don à la Fondation Playing For Change depuis la France au travers notre fonds de dotation.
La Fondation Playing for Change peut recevoir des dons au travers au travers du Fonds de Dotation pour le Financement et Soutien de la Fondation Playing For Change. Cet organisme à but non lucratif permet à des donateurs résidant en France de beneficier de déductions fiscales: 66% du total du don pour les particuliers dans la limite de 20% de leurs revenus et 60% du total du don pour les entreprises, dans la limite de 5 % de leur chiffre d’affaire.
Adressez vos dons par virement bancaire, ponctuel ou régulier
> voir les references bancaires
Les dons en provenance d’autres pays européens et à destination de notre Fonds de dotation peuvent également permettre de bene cier de déductions scales selon les lois du pays dans lequel réside le dona- teur.
Contactez-nous pour toute information complémentaire: francois@playingforchange.org
OR SEND AN EMAIL TO ssfc@playingforchange.org
OR SEND AN EMAIL TO info@playingforchange.org
Your gift can make a positive difference while also helping reduce taxes you might owe. A gift of appreciated stock is a great way to accomplish both objectives.
We’re able to accept donations in the form of stock through the Depository Trust Company (DTC). For security, settlement, and reduced paperwork, electronic transfer through DTC is preferred. This can be arranged from most brokerage accounts. Please contact accounting@playingforchange.org in advance so your charitable donation can be easily tracked for tax purposes, and we can address any questions or concerns you may have.
We are fortunate to have a global community supporting the Playing For Change Foundation. Many people choose to give by electronic wire transfer for regular or stand alone donations.
If you live outside of the United States or would prefer to send funds directly from your bank account, you can donate via wire transfer.
Please contact accounting@playingforchange.org or call +1-310-558-2900 if you are interested in giving through a wire and we will send you the necessary information.
Culture and environment are very intertwined here in M’hamid. The weather turns from blistering hot in the summer (reaching 130 degrees Farenheit regularly in July and August) to sandstorm season in March and April, which helps to propagate the date palm trees, the economic power in the region. Climate change is a very real presence locally, with little access to water becoming normal, and the encroachment of sand dunes onto precious farmland happening right now, working to disperse not only communities, but ancient traditions with them.
In M’hamid there is a great importance placed on the community and people moving together in groups. Whether it be families of 10 living under the same roof eating from the same central Tagine dish for their meals, or the ritual of preparing and sharing tea with whomever may be around, foreigner or local, the sense of inclusion is vital to the community. The passing down of music and poetry from generation to generation is another vital aspect of the community, as art and tradition serve as reassurances in a constantly changing world. It is the role of the youngest generation to learn from the past to bring the traditional Saharan art into future, so at to coexist with the modern.
Program Administrator Poppy Tsira talks about the community of Gugulethu
L’Ecole de Musique de Kirina in the rural community of Kirina in southern Mali was founded to use cultural heritage to change the lives of local youth. Many youth engage in the dangerous and even fatal practice of gold mining, and the high school graduation rates as well are very poor. Traditional music, dance, language lessons, and even gardening are offered at the program. It is the only cultural and youth organization in Kirina. L’Ecole reaches up to 100 youth per week.
Highlight: Gender Development – Weekly dance class with up to 100 girls. These activities for girls would otherwise not exist.
The Bizung School of Music and Dance in northern Ghana takes the ancestral tradition of the Bizung “talking drum” to engage youth with cultural and music activities, which are otherwise not readily accessible in the urban community of Tamale. Programming includes traditional music, dance, as well as modern blues music and even an in-house studio for youth to record and learn new technological skills. The Bizung School reaches 90 youth per week.
Highlight: Promoting Identity – Performing traditional Bizung music for the tribal king as recently as PFC Day 2019.
The Joudour Sahara Music Program in the small town of M’hamid el Ghizlane in southeastern Morocco serves as the only access point locally for youth to express themselves creatively. Joudour Sahara focuses on traditional music and dance from several diverse ethnic tribal groups who settled in the oasis of M’hamid from different corners of the Sahara desert centuries ago. The program also engages youth through blues music, dance, and community events. Joudour Sahara reaches 70 youth per week.
Highlight: Cultural Preservation – Preserving five ancestral distinct tribal music heritages, with previous support from the U.S. Embassy in Rabat through the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation.
The Ubuntu Music Program in the capital of Kigali and the community of Masaka targets at-risk youth risk inside two elementary and high schools. Traditional drumming, dance and modern blues music, as well as sports are offered to students. Cultural activities for youth from the communities where the Ubuntu Music Program operates are not otherwise accessible. “Ubuntu” itself means “humanity towards others,” and the Ubuntu philosophy can be summed up as “I am because we are”. This program reaches 150 youth per week.
Highlight: Promoting Social Development and Youth Engagement – Providing otherwise inaccessible cultural and sports activities to youth.
The Imvula Music Program in the Gugulethu and townships surrounding Cape Town operates inside 10 elementary and high schools in some of the poorest communities in the Cape Town region. African styles of music and modern blues music are offered to local students. In the face of extreme inequality, the Imvula program ensures that youth from the most marginalized communities have access to express themselves creatively. Cultural activities would otherwise not be available to them. The Imvula program reaches 300 youth per week.
Highlight: Social Development – Fighting despondency and instilling hope in youth from impoverished neighborhoods.
The Mirpur Music Program , located in the Mirpur slums within the larger municipality of Dhaka, offers free music programming to the poorest youth. Some locals live on as little as $50 / month. Poverty, illiteracy, and malnutrition are devastating locally. Albeit a small team locally, this program provides regular programming to over 900 youth across several elementary schools locally. Musicalization, rhythm exercises, and traditional songs are offered.
Highlight: Youth Engagement – Without the Mirpur program, these youth would not have access to music and dance activities.
The Cajuru Music Program in Cajuru, Brazil drives youth development and social cohesion in the suburb of the larger urban center of Curitiba, just a few miles away. The program’s leaders use music as a tool for education to reach local youth, instilling self-confidence, providing structured and supervised activities, and promoting a larger sense of community. The program reaches 60 youth per week.
Highlight: Youth Engagement – In a high-density community, the Khlong Toey program is the only local program that offers free music lessons to children from the poorest households.
The PFC Patagonia program located in the city of General Roca takes a multifaceted approach to youth and gender development. Music classes, orchestras, organic farming and gardening, carpentry, among other activities reach almost 500 youth and women from the region. PFC Patagonia works with local and national government offices to support their programming. Hip hop, graphic arts, instruments making, as well as languages are also offered.
Highlight: Promoting Identity and Skills Learning – PFC Patagonia collaborates with the indigenous Mapuche community, teaching music and digital literacy, and technical digital skills.
The PFC Diamante program located in the city of Diamante, north of Buenos Aires, offers guitar, percussion, accordion singing lessons, as well as traditional music programming to local youth. Diamante is the only access point for local youth to engage with music and the arts. Renowned musician Lee Oskar has partnered with Diamante to provide harmonicas and harmonica lessons.
Highlight: Youth Engagement – Diamante is the only center available to local youth to access music and the arts.
The Khlong Toey Music Program in the Khlong Toey slum serves some of the poorest and most marginalized youth in Thailand. Resources, opportunities, and expectations for a bright future are scarce in this community. Modern music instruments and ensemble performance are offered at this program. In 2012, this program had up to 4 volunteers, a few instruments, and a few students. Now, there are 10 staff members, over 100 instruments, and 80 youth who attend regularly.
Highlight: Youth Engagement – In a high-density community, the Khlong Toey program is the only local program that offers free music lessons to children from the poorest households.
The Mitrata Music Program in the capital city of Kathmandu, Nepal, is located at an orphanage and engages the youth in most need of structured activities. Featuring a staff of professional musicians, this program offers sarangi, flute, madal drums, traditional Nepali dance and art classes to more than 60 youth each week. Without this program, these youth would not have access to music and the arts.
Highlight: Social Cohesion – Mitrata targets the most at-risk youth and works to build inclusivity.
The Musica Music Institute in Lalitpur, Nepal, just outside the capital of Kathmandu, began in a drum shop and has expanded into the current program reaching 60 youth each week. The program offers vocals, keyboard, guitar and drums classes. The program has expanded to also include access to computers, and the ability to introduce recording classes and is hosting public performances so the students can showcase what they’ve learned.
Highlight: Professional Development – Musica student Anu has proven a bright star and model for other youth in Lalitpur.
The Baja Musical Arts Initiative, , located in Tijuana, turns music education and orchestral performance into tools for social cohesion in a community overwhelmed by gang violence. Choir classes, body movement, harmony, as well as instrument classes are offered to youth. Program leaders use these classes as tools to build a sense of teamwork, and provide community concerts to show family members and the community at large the fruits of their children’s efforts.
Highlight: Promoting Identity – Building self confidence among youth who are most prone to join gangs.
The Udayapur Music Program is also located in Tintale Village, as well as another location in the small town of Katari. Udayapur reaches almost 150 youth between the two locations, providing music education, as well as other music and dance activities. Facing major obstacles due to class inequality, the local team has worked for over a decade to prove to community members that music can be a powerful tool to tell the stories from the community and promote community development. Both the Mother’s Society and Udayapur programs are now well established in their communities.
Highlight: Youth Engagement – The Udayapur program in Katari has grown from 1 teacher and a handful of students to 5 teachers and up to 125 students. Youth development is otherwise not accessible.
The Tintale Village Mothers Society located in the Udayapur district in eastern Nepal, is one of the poorest and most marginalized communities in all of Nepal. Began as a movement among 35 local women to change their lives and daughters’ futures, the Mother’s Society has reached thousands of community members across villages spread throughout the region. They use music and dance to engage community members and have real conversations about the dangers of sex-trafficking, early marriage, domestic abuse, sustainable incomes through livestock and sewing, among many other themes.
Highlight: Gender Development – Reaching upwards of 400 women and girls in recent visit to remote Hill Tribe Region. Gender development activities are otherwise not accessible.
