February 10, 2012

West Virginia: Partnership with the VH1 Save The Music Foundation

The West Virginia Division of Culture and History and the VH1 Save The Music Foundation are collaborating to provide musical instruments for qualified K-8 schools in every county in the state. As part of its goal of restoring instrumental music education to public schools, the Foundation has provided $48 million in new musical instruments to 1,800 public schools in more than 100 cities around the country over the last five years. West Virginia, however, is the foundation’s only statewide program, an initiative made possible through close collaboration with the state’s Division of Culture and History.

The Division helps the Foundation to identify eligible schools. The Foundation provides half the cost of buying band and orchestra instruments, and the Division of Culture and History works with the schools to find local sponsors to provide matching funds. Purchased from local vendors, the instruments are owned by the schools with only one requirement: a full-time, endorsed music teacher must be employed at the school to keep the instrumental music program active. To date, schools in 15 counties have received instruments. Grants and sponsorships totaled $330,000 in 2011. To learn more about this collaboration, contact West Virginia Commission on the Arts Executive Director Jeff Pierson, or read a feature story about the program in the latest edition of the Division of Culture and History’s Artworks magazine.