The Lewis Prize for Music — a creative arts philanthropy — announced today the recipients of its COVID-19 Community Response Fund. A total of $1.25 million will be awarded to 32 Creative Youth Development (CYD) organizations across the U.S. that have adapted and responded to the pressing needs of the young people they serve amid the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Jessye Norman School received funding of $50,000.00 for its youth music education programs. 

JNSA quickly adapted to COVID-19, beginning virtual arts classes via Facebook Live only a week after schools closed. “Everyone- from our supporters, to our board and staff, to our students- everyone worked really hard to make this transition happen quickly,” Executive Director Gary Dennis says. “Our teachers do incredible work, and they’re not just educational resources for our students- they’re also ongoing sources of emotional comfort. The school is immensely proud of the great artists and educators it employs, and this award from the Lewis Prize will help us continue to do so.”

The Lewis Prize for Music invests in youth music organizations and their leaders to facilitate positive change through access to music education. Each of the COVID-19 Community Response Fund recipients, including the Jessye Norman School, provides young people with opportunities to learn, perform and create music while also serving their immediate and unique needs around food, transportation, mental health, and academics. 

From Flint, Michigan to Montgomery, Alabama, to Oakland, California, recipients cultivate leadership opportunities and safe spaces for the young people they support. Many of the recipients have budgets of less than $100,000 per year, and two-thirds are led by people of color. Through community-driven and youth-focused approaches, recipient organizations have become safe havens for the young people they serve during COVID-19.

“Access to music enriches the social fabric of our lives,” said Daniel Lewis, Founder and Chairman of the Lewis Prize for Music. “The organizations and leaders we have chosen to support in these times play a critical role in the lives and communities of the young people they support. In the face of unprecedented challenges of COVID-19 and racial injustice across the country, Creative Youth Development organizations are devoting all of their resources to uplift both the creative and material well-being of young people and their families. We are thrilled to support these organizations -- including JNSA-- and advocate for the entire Creative Youth Development field.”

“The Lewis Prize for Music is committed to supporting young people and the adults in their lives who give them love, safety, and a musical voice,” said Dalouge Smith, CEO of The Lewis Prize for Music. “These 32 grantees work to break down barriers of inequality every day. They also do more than offer programs and services to young people, they include them in decision-making, which is needed now more than ever.”

The grants announced today range from $25,000 to $50,000. In addition to the Jessye Norman School of the Arts, they will support the following Creative Youth Development organizations:

• 317 Main Community Music Center (Yarmouth, ME)

• A Place Called Home (Los Angeles, CA) 

• Beyond the Bars (Philadelphia, PA)

• Beyond the Natural (Baltimore, MD)

• Cambridge Community Center (Cambridge, MA)

• Center of Life (Pittsburgh, PA)

• Crescendo Detroit (Detroit, MI)

• Enriching Lives Through Music (San Rafael, CA)

• Hyde Square Task Force (Jamaica Plain, MA)

• FAME Foundation for the Advancement of Music & Education (Bowie, MD)

• Memphis Music Initiative (Memphis, TN)

• MEOW Cares, Inc. (Montgomery, AL)

• Music Beyond Measure (Montclair, NJ)

• Neutral Zone (Ann Arbor, MI)

• New City Kids (Jersey City, NJ)

• Pico Youth & Family Center (Santa Monica, CA)

• Play on Philly (Philadelphia, PA)

• ROCA Music Program (Brownsville, TX)

• RYSE Youth Center (Richmond, CA)

• Saint Louis Story Stitchers Artists Collective (St. Louis, MO)

• Stax Music Academy (Memphis, TN)

• Sylvester Broome Empowerment Village (Flint, MI)

• The Choir School of Delaware (Wilmington, DE)

• The Heartbeat Music Project (Crownpoint, NM)

• The HUBB (Newark, NJ)

• The Jessye Norman School of the Arts, Inc. (Augusta, GA)

• The TETRA (Detroit, MI)

• White Hall Arts Academy (Los Angeles, CA)

• Youth Empowerment Project (New Orleans, LA)

• Youth on Record (Denver, CO)

• Youth Radio (Oakland, CA)

• ZUMIX (East Boston, MA)

More information about the COVID-19 Community Response Fund recipients can be found at: https://www.thelewisprize.org. The Lewis Prize for Music will open its second annual Accelerator Award process in the summer.