DeKalb County Community Foundation awards $131,700 in music education grants

SYCAMORE – The DeKalb County Community Foundation awarded $131,700 in Farny R. Wurlitzer Foundation Fund grants to support music education this fall.

Grants benefited 30 nonprofit and public sector organizations in DeKalb County and the Chicago area.

“This grant makes possible the continuation of summer community concerts that bring our rural community together,” Hinckley Historical Society President Bob Pritchard said in a news release. “It will also provide music programs for the Public Library Summer Reading Program to encourage children to learn to play an instrument.”

DeKalb County recipients:

Genoa-Kingston School District 424 – $7,900 for new high school band chairs, Orff instrument repairs and to buy new Orff instruments for the elementary school
Hinckley Historical Society – $5,000 to support individuals interested in playing a musical instrument
Indian Creek Elementary School – $2,800 to buy ukuleles
St. Mary School, DeKalb – $6,500 to provide percussion instruments for students

Greater Chicago-area recipients:

American Indian Center Inc. – $5,000 to conduct a Native Youth Drum and Song workshop
Center for Enriched Living – $3,000 to provide music education for people with disabilities
Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre – $2,500 to underwrite professional musicians
Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble – $4,000 to create 30 new classes in schools and community centers
Chicago Jazz Philharmonic – $4,000 for jazz instruction in Chicago schools and the Jazz Academy
Chicago Philharmonic Society – $7,500 to support an in-school six-week mentorship program for underserved junior high and high school music students
Chicago Sinfonietta – $3,500 to provide music education in three Chicago public and two DuPage County schools
Child’s Voice – $2,000 to arts and music education curriculum for children with hearing loss
Classical Kids Music education – $4,000 to pay for a collaboration with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra
Elgin Master Chorale Inc. – $6,000 to support a Black American music concert
Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra Inc. – $5,000 to support no-cost music instruction (Starter String initiative)
Elmhurst Choral Union – $2,000 to support four section leaders and student conductors
Glenwood Academy – $2,500 for repair costs and to buy new instruments
Guarneri Hall NFP – $2,500 to provide free chamber music performances
Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra – $5,000 to support the Youth Music Institute
Illinois Valley Central Music Education Program – $2,000 to support a scholarship program
Intonation Music – $5,000 to support programming through 2025
Maywood Fine Arts Association – $5,000 to provide student scholarships
Merit School of Music – $3,000 to support music education for 27 low-income schools
Music Institute of Chicago – $5,000 to provide tuition-free lessons for Suzuki string students
Musical Arts Institute – $3,000 to support programs where funding was cut
Rockford Symphony Orchestra – $5,000 to conduct an annual youth concert
Snow City Arts Foundation – $10,000 to support music education for pediatric patients
Southland College Prep Charter High School – $5,000 to provide a strings program instructor
The People’s Music School – $5,000 to support music education for 85 students
Young Naperville Singers – $3,000 for needs-based scholarships

The Wurlitzer Co. was one of the largest musical instrument companies in the U.S., with a primary manufacturing location in DeKalb. The Farny R. Wurlitzer Foundation was established in the 1940s and became a fund of the Community Foundation in 2012. Today, the Farny R. Wurlitzer Foundation Fund Grant is one of several grantmaking programs at the Community Foundation.

For questions or additional information, email grants@dekalbccf.org. Direct questions or inquiries about Farny R. Wurlitzer Foundation Fund Grants to the fund’s board of advisers Chairperson George Buck at george@dekalbccf.org.