In honor of his 60th birthday on April 14th, Music Tribe CEO Uli Behringer made a generous gift of $100,000 to Playing For Change Foundation programs.

With this donation, PFCF will use the money to purchase urgent material resource needs, implement high-impact music education workshops and community cohesion events, and address facility needs across a few programs to widen access to cultural programming throughout PFCF communities. Through the rest of 2021:

Hundreds of new instruments and equipment will be delivered to PFCF youth across all 15 programs.

More than 75 professional musicians at the local and national levels will lead high-quality music workshops and masterclasses and perform with PFCF youth at community concerts to reach thousands of community members.

Renovation and construction of multifunctional cultural spaces will take place at two programs across Africa to expand weekly programming and increase number of students.

 

Uli Behringer Thank You | Nepal, Musica Music Institute

Uli has always been interested in providing access to musical instruments to children in low income and economically disadvantaged areas around the world. Since 2007, Playing For Change Foundation’s mission has been to create positive change through music and arts education. PFCF works with marginalized and at-risk youth across 15 programs in 11 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Our music and cultural programming reaches over 3,000 youth around the globe, who attend classes at no cost, and we have positively impacted more than 40,000 lives since our establishment.

Music Tribe designs and manufactures products to empower musicians under the famous brands: Midas, Klark Teknik, Lab Gruppen, Lake, Aston Microphones, Tannoy, Turbosound, TC Electronic, TC Helicon, Behringer and Bugera.

"When I grew up as a child, I was very fortunate to get an education in music and classical piano, which has helped me in my later life to appreciate the positive impact music has on our wellbeing," Uli says.

"During the long process of screening hundreds of global charity organizations, we learned about the incredible work PFCF is doing. Helping less privileged children in remote areas by providing them with musical equipment and education for the purpose of achieving happiness and meaning, is a cause we deeply believe in. PFCF is a truly wonderful organization, and we encourage everyone to support their amazing work."

In addition to the financial donation, PFCF is also one of many recipients of the incredibly ambitious initiative of synthesizer donations that Behringer began in 2020. After Mr. Behringer and his friend Vladimir de Souza identified 119 nonprofit organizations as recipients for 600 synthesizers, the European Music Tribe team took over the search to identify more organizations. As one would imagine, this was no small undertaking, and all during a global pandemic. After many months of hard work, over 1500 synthesizers began making their way across the globe, including to PFCF programs in Rwanda, Morocco, Nepal, Argentina, and Brazil. Not only did Behringer cover shipping costs, but also any local customs and taxes.

Equipping these programs with Behringer synthesizers has helped us to additionally address crucial instrument needs locally. Access to keyboard-pianos, let alone such versatile synthesizers was previously hard to come by across the programs where Music Tribe has donated. These synths can be used by both beginners and more advanced PFCF students, great for all ages and proficiencies. Students can learn notation and use these instruments to study and practice music theory, or also utilize their vast capabilities and explore sonic effects and distortions. Such exploration is a great jumping-off point to fostering creative environments and encouraging youth to reach proficiencies across several musical disciplines.

Please join the PFCF family in wishing Uli Behringer a Happy Birthday and stay tuned for the stories and photos of the impact these gifts will make on PFCF programs!


A message to Uli Behringer from Patrick Liotta, program director, PFC Diamante, Argentina.