Phish is bringing music to 19 cities this summer, and so are their fans!
Today, a group of Phish fans mailed an unsolicited $1,000 check to a music education program in each of the cities included on Phish’s Summer 2009 tour.
Distributed by the all-volunteer Mockingbird Foundation, the $19,000 in grants are part of a concerted effort to support communities touched by Phish tours, to encourage support for music education, and to help generate that support in press surrounding Phish shows.
With these grants, the Mockingbird Foundation has distributed a total of $609,750.40, through 191 grants, in 42 states. Reflecting the organization’s mission and history of diverse funding, the newest recipients vary not only in locale (see map) but in size, host, age, genre, and more.
“The recipients also share several things,” notes Executive Director Ellis Godard: “proximity to the tour, an understanding of the magic and wonder of music, a commitment to convey that understanding to children, and the earnest need for your support.” In order of tour date, they are:
The Mockingbird Foundation is the leading provider of historical information about Phish and its music, both in print and online. It fundraises through books, innovative recordings, creative donation premiums, special events, and the Phish.net website. Operated entirely by volunteers since incorporation in 1996, the foundation has no paid staff, salaries, or office, and disburses more than 99% of funds raised to charity.
Funds solely support music education for children. Most are distributed through a two-tiered application process intended to add critical support for important and innovative programs serving diverse populations. Currently, only about 1% of the thousands of inquiries received each year can be funded. Please consider helping raise that percentage!
Phish is a rock band that started in 1983 and grew to become one of the highest-grossing live acts in the nation before performing a “final show” August 15, 2004. They returned last March, and are now engaged in a summer tour that includes two performances at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival and 25 other shows nationwide. For more information about Phish, please visit http://www.phish.com.
An all-volunteer group of Phish fans today announced that it is awarding twelve new grants to support music education for children. The grants will pay for instruments ranging from recorders to sitars, a well as stands and sheet music, performance and recording equipment, scholarships, instructor fees, and rental space. They support school bands, after-school programs, and innovative forms of music education; at elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, community centers, and an emergency shelter.
This thirteenth round of competitive grants from the Mockingbird Foundation totals $52,980, more than twice the previous round’s disbursement, and will support diverse programs throughout the U.S.:
- Central Heights Elementary School (Richmond, KS) for instruments and art-prints for a program in which groups of 1st-3rd graders compose music inspired by printed art.
- Dewar Public School (Dewar, OK) to purchase wind and reed instruments for 5th-12th grade band students.
- Edison Elementary School (Centralia, WA) for a tiny primary school in a community hit hard by unemployment and flooding.
- Girls Rock Philly (Philadelphia, PA) for keyboards, a drum kit, a PA, and other materials for a one-week summer day camp.
- Hope Haven (St. Louis, MS) to cover instructor fees for a year’s worth of music lessons at an emergency shelter for abused and neglected children.
- John Winthrop Elementary School (Dorchester, MA) for recorders, music stands, sheet music, and more for inner-city elementary students.
- Knowledge-First Empowerment Center (Houston, TX) for a unique Play It Forward program in which students volunteer to help peers.
- Nuçi’s Space (Athens, GA) to provide instruction and space for the Camped Amped after-school program that aims to prevent suicide through music education.
- River Arts of Morrisville, Inc. (Morrisville, VT) for instruction and percussion instruments to expand the World Groovez program.
- Sitar Arts Center (Washington, DC) to help make the Instrumental Music Education Project accessible to children from low-income families.
- Somis Union School District (Somis, CA) for guitars and supplies for the MAS (Music After School) Guitars program for K-8th graders.
- Washington Peace Center / Girls Rock DC (Washington, DC) to support instruments, equipment, and staff for a second week of summer camp.
Each of these grants adds critical support for an important and innovative program in music education for children. Several fund new programs, and all target underserved students, cultures, communities, and/or musical genres. The Foundation has now made 187 grants in 40 states, disbursed a total of $602,695.04, and will continue announcing new grants for years to come.
The Mockingbird Foundation is the leading provider of historical information about the band Phish and its music. Since its inception in 1996, the Foundation has been operated entirely by volunteer fans of the band, without any salaries or paid staff. It fundraises for music education for children by celebrating the music of Phish through books, innovative recordings, creative donation premiums, and special events for the Phish fan community. Funds are distributed through a two-tiered application process that is one of the most competitive in the country.
The second edition of The Phish Companion (the Foundation’s 928-page authoritative encyclopedia) is available from major book outlets nationwide. Its double-disc tribute album Sharin’ in the Groove is available in CD format through Amazon, CDBaby.com, and Homegrown Music Network, as well as in digital format from iTunes, MSN Music, Rhapsody, Napster, BuyMusic, MusicMatch, Sony Connect, MusicIsHere, Liquid Digital Media, PassAlong, MusicNet, Puretracks, MusicNow, and LoudEye! For more information about Mockingbird, or to make a donation, please visit www.mbird.org.
Phish was a rock band that started in 1983 and performed a “final show” on August 15, 2004. They will reunite this coming Friday (March 6, 2009) for three shows at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia, prior to a summer tour in June that includes two performances at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival (Manchester, Tennessee) and eleven shows in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Wisconsin. For more information about Phish, please visit http://www.phish.com.
$10K for 2 Hamptons!
Phish Fans Support Music Education in Virginia and Nebraska
<Saratoga Springs, NY> Immediately following news that Phish will reunite next March at Hampton Coliseum, the Mockingbird Foundation has announced two special grants funded entirely by a Phish Reunion Fund, and supporting music programs in two Hamptons.
The all-volunteer organization of Phish fans created a separate account last fall for contributors who wanted to express their hope for the band’s return while supporting music education for children. Of the donations received in the last year, nearly $5,000 was designated for the reunion fund. The Foundation’s board decided to match that optimism, bringing the total to $10,000, and so announces two grants of $5,000, each to a music program in a Hampton:
- Hampton High School in Hampton, Virginia, is the direct descendent of the Syms-Eaton School, the first free school established in the American colonies. Founded in 1647, it has evolved over the years – changing names, merging, burning during the Civil War – and now serves 1675 students (“Crabbers“) in an urban population of nearly 150,000. The school’s band and music programs will be given $5,000 for the purchase, repair, and maintence of instruments, equipment, sheet music, and other educational needs. This grant is made as an unsolicited surprise to the school, in honor of the Phish fan community’s affinity for and gratitude towards the community of Hampton, VA. Phish has performed 37 times in Virginia, 12 of those at Hampton Coliseum.
- Hampton Public School is located in Hampton, Nebraska, a rural, agricultural town with a population of 470. The band plays an important role in Hampton Hawk spirit, evident at the homecoming parade which begins only a few hours from now, but uses instruments purchased when the school was constructed 36 years ago. The high school has fewer than 70 students, but has built its music program significantly over the last seven years, and became members of the Tri-M Musical Honor Society last year. By coincidence, on the same day that word of Phish’s impending reunion announcement broke among fans (September 30), the school submitted a funding inquiry for $3600 for a marching baritone and new tenor saxophone. The Mockingbird board has awarded an additional $1400 to be used for other musical needs, bringing the total to $5,000. This is the Foundation’s first grant in Nebraska, a state in which Phish has performed only twice (10/21/95 and 11/16/96)
The Mockingbird Foundation is the leading provider of historical information about the band Phish and its music. Since its inception in 1996, the Foundation has been operated entirely by volunteer fans of the band, without any salaries or paid staff. It fundraises for music education for children by celebrating the music of Phish through books, innovative recordings, creative donation premiums, and special events for the Phish
fan community. Funds are distributed through a two-tiered application process that has provided over 150 grants, in 36 states, totaling over $500,000.
The second edition of The Phish Companion (the Foundation’s 928-page authoritative encyclopedia) is available from major book outlets nationwide. Its double-disc tribute album Sharin’ in the Groove is available in CD format through Amazon, CDBaby.com, and Homegrown Music Network, as well as in digital format from iTunes, MSN Music, Rhapsody, Napster, BuyMusic, MusicMatch, Sony Connect, MusicIsHere, Liquid Digital Media, PassAlong, MusicNet, Puretracks, MusicNow, and LoudEye! For more information about Mockingbird, or to make a donation, please visit www.mbird.org.
You can support the Mockingbird Foundation – and music education for children – by credit card, debit card, Paypal account, or bank debit, through the link below; or, by check made payable to The Mockingbird Foundation and sent to The Mockingbird Foundation, c/o The Godards, 6948 Luther Circle, Moorpark, CA 93021. Every dollar counts and will support music education programs for children, and your donation is fully tax-deductible.
Phish is a rock band that started in 1983 and grew to become one of the highest-grossing concert acts before its farewell (a.k.a. “last” or “final”) show August 15, 2004. The band took an earlier (815 day) hiatus, and will end its breakup with shows March 6, 7, & 8 at Hampton Coliseum, in Hampton, VA. For more information about Phish, please visit the official http://www.phish.com and the fan-managed Phish.net.
An all-volunteer group of Phish fans today announced that it is awarding seven new grants, totaling $25,980, to support music education for children. This twelfth round of competitive grants from the Mockingbird Foundation will support diverse programs throughout the U.S., including:
- Cleveland School (Santa Barbara, CA) to bring Kid Pan Alley professionals to an underserved, primarily Latino/Hispanic elementary school to engage students in songwriting
- Concordia University (St. Paul, MN) for instruction, sheet music, and instruments hand-made by Hmong elders as part of a K-12 language and culture program for refugees
- Evergreen Elementary School (Fort Lewis, WA) for 3/4 of the budget of a Making Music Fit the Child program for special needs children of enlisted soldiers
- Kuumbwa Jazz Society (Santa Cruz, CA) for salaries and scholarships for a summer jazz camp at one of the first non-profit jazz organizations in the country
- Paris Middle School (Paris, KY) for a digital piano and related supplies to a national heritage program for urban fifth graders
- Vail Elementary School (Temecula, CA) for professional instruction costs to help restore an instrumental program axed through budget cuts
- Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls (New York, NY) for full scholarships to five girls from low-income households to attend the 2008 summer program
Each of these grants adds critical support for an important and innovative program in music education for children. Several fund new programs, and all target underserved students, cultures, communities, and/or musical genres. The Foundation has now made 175 grants in 36 states, totaling $557,914.40, and will continue announcing new grants for years to come.
The Mockingbird Foundation is the leading provider of historical information about the band Phish and its music. Since its inception in 1996, the Foundation has been operated entirely by volunteer fans of the band, without any salaries or paid staff. It fundraises for music education for children by celebrating the music of Phish through books, innovative recordings, creative donation premiums, and special events for the Phish fan community. Funds are distributed through a two-tiered application process that is one of the most competitive in the country.
The second edition of The Phish Companion (the Foundation’s 928-page authoritative encyclopedia) is available from major book outlets nationwide. Its double-disc tribute album Sharin’ in the Groove is available in CD format through Amazon, CDBaby.com, and Homegrown Music Network, as well as in digital format from iTunes, MSN Music, Rhapsody, Napster, BuyMusic, MusicMatch, Sony Connect, MusicIsHere, Liquid Digital Media, PassAlong, MusicNet, Puretracks, MusicNow, and LoudEye! For more information about Mockingbird, or to make a donation, please visit www.mbird.org.
Phish was a rock band that started in 1983 and performed its final show on August 15, 2004. For more information about Phish, please visit http://www.phish.com.
Charlie Dirksen, a founding Board member and officer of the Mockingbird Foundation, will be running 13.1 miles around San Francisco (including on the Golden Gate Bridge) on Sunday morning July 29 as part of The San Francisco Marathon events. Charlie is running in order to raise money to support music education for children programs. Your donation will help inspire Charlie in this effort, and a donation of ANY SIZE AT ALL is encouraged and welcomed. The Foundation is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) organization, so your donation not only is fully tax deductible, but also substantially and directly benefits music education programs due to the Foundation’s very low overhead.
Charlie will match up to the first $250 in donations. Charlie would also like to thank you personally for your donation. If you donate to the Foundation in recognition of Charlie’s run, please consider submitting your email address and your “snail mail” (postal) address along with your donation.
Phish Fans Celebrate Innovative Music Education
The Mockingbird Foundation has announced the inaugural recipients of the DeLucia Award for Innovation in Music Education, which recognizes individuals who have created and implemented innovative methods for the effective development of musical abilities, that make efficient use of available resources, that are replicable in other settings, and that are likely to inspire others to seek, provide, and support music education. Up to five DeLucia Award recipients are to be named each year, one of whom may be noted for special distinction by means of a monetary Prize in the amount of $1,000.
The 2006 DeLucia Prize is awarded to Dr. Will Schmid, former president of the Music Educator’s National Council (MENC) and Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, who created the World Music Drumming Curriculum for K-12 students. The program was launched in five Milwaukee middle schools in 1996, is now utilized in thousands of schools across North America, and has shown outstanding success at engaging students in hand-drumming traditions (particularly those of West Africa and the Caribbean) combined with singing, moving, and playing other instruments.
The Foundation also named three other winners of the 2006 DeLucia Award:
- Bob Turbanic, a teacher at Wheeling Park High School in Wheeling, WV, created the Bluegrass Music Club ten years ago as part of the International Bluegrass Music Association‘s Bluegrass in Schools effort. Turbanic’s creation teaches any interested student at Wheeling Park to play bluegrass music and then takes them to perform at bluegrass festivals and institutions nationwide. The program utilizes the enthusiasm of its own students to inspire other youth to perform bluegrass, and is widely recognized by both educators and musicians for its resounding success, including
having spurred similar programs in at least thirty states. - Christoph Geiseler leveraged his Bachelor’s thesis at Princeton to expand a participatory student group for jam-fans (Modern Improvisational Music Appreciation) into MIMA Music, an organization with a mission “to inspire students of all ages with a lifelong appreciation for music making.” The expanded organization employs the skills and manpower of Princeton students within the multi-faceted SpinJazz program. That program provides free after-school music lessons for 8-12 year old inner-city children who don’t have music education during school hours; gives motivational performances to high school and college students; hosts group jam sessions, drum sessions, and performances for all ages (including adults) at any location; and rewards its college volunteers with summer teaching fellowships abroad.
- Robert Skamai, band director at Lenape Elementary School, Pittsburgh, PA, teaches students
rhythms and notes first, without written music, much like a child learns to speak by first imitating sounds made by those around them. Skamai thereby inverts conventional processes in music education, which emphasize technical monotony as a route to soulful understanding. His approach instead leverages both conventional processes of acculturation and the natural proclivities of students, to generate a more thorough and widespread appreciation among students for the educational process in which they are engaged.
The Foundation welcomes nominations for future awards, and invites interest in participation on the DeLucia Awards Committee, which will select recipients for future years. The Awards will typically be announced in March, to mark both Music in our Schools Month and the anniversary of the Foundation
(begun in March 1996 and legally incorporated in March of 1997). The Mockingbird Foundation is the leading provider of historical information about the band Phish and its music. Since its inception in 1996, the Foundation has been operated entirely by volunteer fans of the band, without any salaries or paid staff. It fundraises for music education for children by celebrating the music of Phish through books, innovative recordings, creative donation premiums, and special events for the Phish fan community. Funds are distributed through a two-tiered application process that has provided over 150 grants, in 36 states, totaling over $500,000.
The second edition of The Phish Companion (the Foundation’s 928-page authoritative encyclopedia) is available from major book outlets nationwide. Its double-disc tribute album Sharin’ in the Groove is available in CD format through Amazon, CDBaby.com, and Homegrown Music Network, as well as in digital format from iTunes, MSN Music, Rhapsody, Napster, BuyMusic, MusicMatch, Sony Connect, MusicIsHere, Liquid Digital Media, PassAlong, MusicNet, Puretracks, MusicNow, and LoudEye! For more information about Mockingbird, or to make a donation, please visit www.mbird.org.
Phish was a rock band that started in 1983 and grew to become one of the highest-grossing concert acts before its farewell show August 15, 2004. For more information about Phish, please visit the official http://www.phish.com and the fan-managed Phish.net.
$5K Donated to UNCF Music Scholarships for Black History Month
A group of fans of the rock group Phish is commemorating the birthday of Ella Fitzgerald by donating funds to a scholarship fund named for the legendary “First Lady of Song.” The Mockingbird Foundation, an all-volunteer organization founded in 1996, has announced a $5,000 one-time grant to the Ella Fitzgerald Foundation to support the United Negro College Fund’s (UNCF) Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Scholarship Program. That program provides scholarships to students who are majoring in music at one of UNCF’s 39 member colleges, maintaining a 2.5 or higher GPA, and have a verified financial need. Application guidelines for the scholarship can be found at www.uncf.org/scholarships.
“Phish fans couldn’t pay a better tribute to Ella Fitzgerald than to help cultivate the musical talent of students at UNCF’s member historically black colleges and universities,” said Michael L. Lomax, Ph.D., UNCF’s president and CEO. “The Mockingbird Foundation’s generous donation joins Miss Fitzgerald’s love of young people and music with the community spirit that has always been the hallmark of Phish and its fans. The fact that the members of Phish met at college underscores the importance of education no matter what the future holds in store.”
The announcement comes as the world celebrates Fitzgerald’s birthday on April 25, and also recognizes a range of connections between Phish and Fitzgerald.
<>”Phish grew to jamband kings from their jazz training,” said Ellis Godard, executive director of the Mockingbird Foundation. “Their repertoire included instrumental versions of songs originally performed by Ella, such as ‘Night and Day’ and ‘Lullaby of Birdland’, as well as ‘Caravan’ and other standards that Fitzgerald also often performed.”
Additionally, though more trivially, Phish drummer Jon Fishman named his daughter Ella, in honor of Fitzgerald.
About UNCF
As the nation’s oldest and most successful minority higher education assistance organization, the United Negro College Fund’s mission is to provide financial support to its 39 member institutions and increase minority degree attainment by reducing financial barriers to college. UNCF institutions and other historically black colleges and universities are highly effective, awarding 25 percent of African American baccalaureate degrees. UNCF administers nearly 450 programs, including scholarship, internship and fellowship programs, mentoring, summer enrichment, and curriculum and faculty development programs. Today, UNCF supports more than 65,000 students at over 900 colleges and universities across the country. Learn more about UNCF at www.uncf.org
About The Mockingbird Foundation
The Mockingbird Foundation is the leading provider of historical information about the band Phish and its music. Since its inception in 1996, the Foundation has been operated entirely by volunteer fans of the band, without any salaries or paid staff. It fundraises for music education for children by celebrating the music of Phish through books, innovative recordings, creative donation premiums, and special events for the Phish fan community. Mockingbird funds are distributed twice per year through a two-tiered application process that is one of the most competitive in the country, able to fund fewer than one percent (1%) of the initial inquiries received. The process has so far provided 150 grants, in 36 states, totalling $500,134.
The second edition of The Phish Companion (the Foundation’s 928-page authoritative encyclopedia) is available from major book outlets nationwide. The Foundation’s double-disc tribute album Sharin’ in the Groove is available in CD format through Amazon, CDBaby.com, and Homegrown Music Network, as well as in digital format from nugs.net/livedownloads.com, iTunes, MSN Music, Rhapsody, Napster, BuyMusic, MusicMatch, Sony Connect, MusicIsHere, Liquid Digital Media, PassAlong, MusicNet, Puretracks, MusicNow, and LoudEye! For more information about Mockingbird, or to make a donation, please visit www.mbird.org.
About Phish
Phish started in 1983, announced its impending breakup on May 25, 2004, and has not performed since its farewell show on August 15, 2004. For more information about Phish, please visit the official Phish.com and the fan-managed Phish.net.
The Mockingbird Foundation and The Mimi Fishman Foundation, both 100% volunteer non-profits with ties to the band Phish, are delivering grants that will fully fund the publication of a book from the National Braille Press entitled Who’s Afraid of Braille Music? Aimed at every teacher of braille, teacher of music, and parent who wants to help a blind child acquire music literacy, the book introduces the concepts of reading, writing, singing and playing braille music.
The Mockingbird Foundation revealed the partial funding of the instructional book with the announcement of their February round of grants. The Mimi Fishman Foundation has stepped up to complete the funding of the book, through sales of an online charity auction that will feature many artifacts from former Phish drummer, Jon Fishman.
“Since Phish broke up I’ve finally gotten around to going through all the piles of drum equipment I’ve accumulated over the years and setting aside the items I no longer need or will ever use again,” said Fishman. “There have been a lot of opinions about what I should do with them one way or another, but it’s always been clear to me the best thing I could do would be to auction it off through my mother’s foundation to help raise money for those she would have been happy to support.”
The charity auction features various pieces of Fishman’s drum kits used on tours as well as studio recordings – some dating back to the mid to late 80′s. This impressive list of items includes Jon’s first kick drum which was used during the recording of “Junta” as well as early tour dates, his complete road practice kit, as well as many other gems from his equipment while with Phish. Fishman signed all the items he donated.
“The Mockingbird Foundation is pleased to support a book that makes music education available to children who are blind,” said Ellis Godard, Executive Director of the Mockingbird Foundation. “The extra support from the Mimi Fishman Foundation makes the book fully funded by the Phish community, something we can all be proud of as Phish fans.”
To view and/or bid on the auction, please visit the Mimi Fishman Foundation Auction Page. The auction begins April 2.
“Jon (Fishman) and I have been talking about this auction for a while now. I am thrilled we were able to pull it together to help such wonderful causes”, said David Shulman, the Foundation’s Executive Director.
The Mimi Fishman Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established in 1999 by Miriam “Mimi” Fishman (the late mother of Phish drummer Jon Fishman) and David Shulman as a vehicle to raise funds for various charities, including The American Glaucoma Society, Colorado’s Boulder County Safehouse, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Evangelical Children’s Home, Healing the Children, The Solace House and The Delta Gamma Center for the Visually Impaired. With no paid employees, the Foundation operates solely by the help of unpaid volunteers. To date the Foundation has been responsible for the distribution of nearly $200,000 to the charities it supports.
The Mockingbird Foundation is the leading provider of historical information about the band Phish and its music. Since its inception in 1996, the Foundation has been operated entirely by volunteer fans of the band, without any salaries or paid staff. It fundraises for music education for children by celebrating the music of Phish through books, innovative recordings, creative donation premiums, and special events for the Phish fan community. Mockingbird funds are distributed twice per year through a two-tiered application process that is one of the most competitive in the country, able to fund fewer than one percent (1%) of the initial inquiries received. The process has so far provided 150 grants, in 36 states, totalling $500,134.
The second edition of The Phish Companion (the Foundation’s 928-page authoritative encyclopedia) is available from major book outlets nationwide. The Foundation’s double-disc tribute album Sharin’ in the Groove is available in CD format through Amazon, CDBaby.com, and Homegrown Music Network, as well as in digital format from nugs.net/livedownloads.com, iTunes, MSN Music, Rhapsody, Napster, BuyMusic, MusicMatch, Sony Connect, MusicIsHere, Liquid Digital Media, PassAlong, MusicNet, Puretracks, MusicNow, and LoudEye! For more information about Mockingbird, or to make a donation, please visit www.mbird.org.
Phish is a rock band that started in 1983 and has not performed since August 15, 2004, then deemed its final show. For more information about Phish, please visit the official Phish.com and the fan-managed Phish.net.
In connection with today’s celebration of the birthday of Louie Braille (1809-1852), The Mockingbird Foundation has announced a $3,500 award to the National Braille Press of Boston. The gift will partially sponsor a Spring 2006 braille production of the instruction book Who’s Afraid of Braille Music? Aimed at every teacher of braille, teacher of music, and parent who wants to help a blind child acquire music literacy, the book introduces the concepts of reading, writing, singing and playing braille music.
“The Braille System revolutionized print communication for the blind,” said Ellis Godard, Executive Director, The Mockingbird Foundation. “The Mockingbird Foundation is proud to support Louis Braille’s legacy through this grant to National Braille Press.”
The Foundation announced a total of 15 new grants, totaling $68,612, to support music education for children. The funds will provide a wide range of support (instruments, instruction, instructional space, support materials, and general operating funds) to a wide range of institutions (schools, churches, youth groups, and community centers). This round of Mockingbird grantees include the Foundation’s first in Arkansas, Hawai’i, and Montana, as well as four affected by recent hurricanes (two in Florida and two in Louisiana):
- Ball-Chatham Education Foundation (Chatham, IL)
- Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton & Franklin Counties (Pasco, WA)
- Boys & Girls Club of Boston‘s South Boston Club (South Boston, MA)
- Central High School (West Helena, AR)
- Deltona Lakes Elementary School (Ponce Inlet, FL)
- Fort Hays State University Western Kansas String Academy (Hays, KS)
- Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra (New Orleans, LA)
- Hilbarn Theatre (Foster City, CA)
- Learning Institute (Phoenix, AZ)
- National Braille Press (Boston, MA)
- Panaewa Hawaiian Homelands Community Association (Hilo, HI)
- Unsinkable Molly Brown Foundation (Odessa, FL)
- Urban Peak & The Spot (Denver, CO)
- Sunburst Community Service Foundation (Eureka, MT)
- Young Leadership Council (New Orleans, LA)
Mockingbird funds are distributed twice per year through a two-tiered application process that is one of the most competitive in the country, able to fund fewer than one percent (1%) of the initial inquiries received. The process has provided 130 grants so far, in 36 states, totaling over $495,134. The next round of grants will be announced by June 2006.
The National Braille Press is a nonprofit organization with two core missions: (1) to promote and nurture the braille literacy of blind children and youth across the U.S. and (2) to print and publish the reading material that blind people of all ages need to fully pursue their chosen endeavors in education, work, and life. “Who’s Afraid of Braille Music?” is published in print by Dancing Dots Software (Valley Forge, Pennsylvania), a leader in the field of computer-based braille music transcription. Under an agreement with Dancing Dots, the Press produces and sells a braille edition.
The Mockingbird Foundation is the leading provider of historical information about the band Phish and its music. Since its inception in 1996, the Foundation has been operated entirely by volunteer fans of the band, without any salaries or paid staff. It fundraises for music education for children by celebrating the music of Phish through books, innovative recordings, creative donation premiums, and special events for the Phish fan community.
The second edition of The Phish Companion (the Foundation’s 928-page authoritative encyclopedia) is available from major book outlets nationwide. The Foundation’s double-disc tribute album Sharin’ in the Groove is available in CD format through Amazon, CDBaby.com, and Homegrown Music Network, as well as in digital format from nugs.net/livedownloads.com, iTunes, MSN Music, Rhapsody, Napster, BuyMusic, MusicMatch, Sony Connect, MusicIsHere, Liquid Digital Media, PassAlong, MusicNet, Puretracks, MusicNow, and LoudEye! For more information about Mockingbird, or to make a donation, please visit www.mbird.org.
Phish is a rock band that started in 1983 and has not performed since August 15, 2004, then deemed its final show. For more information about Phish, please visit the official Phish.com and the fan-managed Phish.net.
The Mockingbird Foundation has announced a series of efforts to support disaster victims and help restore music education programs affected by hurricanes in the last eighteen months. The efforts include at least four different components, and constitute nearly $15,000 in contributions, including support for damaged music programs, adversely affected musicians, and hungry refugees, and includes direct financial contributions, financial support for direct aid, and indirect support through the LivePhish program.
The major thrust is in $6,000 from the Foundation’s Emergency Grants Fund, which provides nominal donations to music education programs affected by disasters. These contributions are not large enough to resolve the problems they target*, but aim to help bring attention to their recipients’ unique needs and to remind potential donors about the importance of music and education in the lives of underage disaster victims. Grants of $500 each will be issued to twelve (12) Florida beneficiaries affected by hurricanes Frances, Ivan, Jeanne, and Charlie in 2004: Gifford Middle School in Indian River; the Cultural Arts Center in Volusia; Hardee County Schools; The Guatemalan Maya Center Escuelita and the African American Art & Music Center in Palm Beach County; Pinewood Elementary School, Stuart Middle School, and South Fork High School Band in Martin County; and Punta Gorda Middle School, Port Charlotte Middle School, Port Charlotte High, and the Charlotte Local Education Foundation in Charlotte County. (The Mockingbird Foundation is actively seeking other music education programs adversely affected by those four hurricanes, particularly in Escambia, Navarre, Pensacola, Melbourne, and/or Polk County, FL, as well as music education programs affected by hurricane Katrina last month in Louisianna, Mississippi, and/or Alabama.)
The Foundation has also extended support to victims of Katrina directly, through a $5,000 grant to Conscious Alliance to support food acquisition and distribition. The Conscious Alliance organizes food drives nationally at concerts, music festivals, and sporting events to benefit local food pantries and impoverished Indian Reservations across the western United States. Conscious Alliance is dedicating their current efforts to providing relief to victims of Katrina, having delivered over 17,500 lbs of food to the Astrodome evacuees via the Houston Food Bank as well as food to the evacuees stranded in various hotels in the Houston area. The Foundation encourages fans to support Conscious Alliance, as well as similar groups such as Panic Fans For Food, who collected and donated 11,000 lbs of food for disaster relief and over $3,000.00 from fans on Fall Tour and at non show food drives held throughout the country.
The Foundation also announced $3,000 to several groups who are working to meet specific needs of musicians affected by Katrina, through $500 donations to Backbeat Fund, Katrina’s Piano Fund, Jazz Foundation, Preservation Hall’s New Orleans Musicians Hurricane Relief Fund, Tianna Hall’s NOAH Leans program (administered by the Musicians Benevolent Society of Houston), and New Orlean’s Musicians’ Clinic (founded by Page’s dad Dr. Jack McConnell). The Foundation recommends contributing to any of these groups, as well as supporting groups such as the National Education Association’s disaster relief to New Orleans.
The Foundation also is participating in New Orleans Relief, a release of Phish’s 4/26/96 performance at the 27th annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (“Jazzfest”), including guest appearances by Michael Ray, Colonel Bruce Hampton, and the Aquarium Rescue Unit. A portion of the proceeds from all LivePhish releases is donated to the Mockingbird Foundation. However, the Foundation has elected to donate back its proceeds from this release in support of the Tipitina’s Foundation drive to support musicians affected by Katrina, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation’s Raisin’ The Roof program that builds affordable housing for New Orleans musicians, and 2nd Line Parades.
(The 4/26/96 show took place just weeks before the Mockingbird Foundation was first conceived, and less than a year before the Foundation was incorporated. The mid-set 2001 was, at the time, a revelation in terms of set placement. The “YEM” vocal jam led into an a cappella introduction to “Wolfman’s Brother,” an early attempt to do something out of the ordinary with that song. And of course the general historical importance of Phish’s one and only appearance at Jazzfest, though in the Phish world that’s trumped by the general historical importance of Phish getting banned from a venue because of the perceived negative impacts of its unwieldy fanbase upon a host community. Red Rocks would follow in two months.)
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The Mockingbird Foundation is the leading provider of historical information about the band Phish and its music. Since its inception in 1996, the Foundation has been operated entirely by volunteer fans of the band, without any salaries or paid staff. It fundraises for music education for children by celebrating the music of Phish through books, innovative recordings, creative donation premiums, and special events for the Phish fan community. Funds are distributed through a two-tiered application process that is one of the most competitive in the country and that has so far resulted in over 120 grants, in 33 states, totaling nearly $420,000.
The second edition of The Phish Companion (the Foundation’s 928-page authoritative encyclopedia) is available from major book outlets nationwide. Its double-disc tribute album Sharin’ in the Groove is available in CD format through Amazon, CDBaby.com, and Homegrown Music Network, as well as in digital format from nugs.net/livedownloads.com, iTunes, MSN Music, Rhapsody, Napster, BuyMusic, MusicMatch, Sony Connect, MusicIsHere, Liquid Digital Media, PassAlong, MusicNet, Puretracks, MusicNow, and LoudEye! For more information about Mockingbird, or to make a donation, please visit www.mbird.org.
Phish was a rock band that started in 1983 and performed its last show on August 15, 2004. For more information about Phish, please visit http://www.phish.com.
