The People's Music School in Chicago
by June Blazek
One of the main recipients of USTORM donations is The People's Music School in Chicago. It is the only tuition-free community music school of its kind in the United States. Bob Fiedler is the Executive Director at the school and he is very grateful to USTORM for their donations over the past couple years. These donations have allowed for more children to attend the school, which is not only beneficial for the individual students but also helps the school gain awareness in the community.
To support itself, the school relies on the generous support of the community through fund raising initiatives. They solicit foundations, corporations, and individuals to pay for students' music lessons when they can't afford it. Most of the lower income ethnic minority youth, and almost all the students, are 18 and under with the biggest demographic being 5-12.
Last year, the Sun Times had an article about The People's Music School that talked about the demand for the school and what they do. This article came out right after a USTORM benefit at Martyr's on Chicago's North Side. Cofounder Barry Brown approached the school about donating the proceeds from the benefit.
Bob said Barry called him up and it "seemed like serendipity" that USTORM did not have a designated beneficiary yet for the funds raised at the event, and within the same couple of days, Barry saw the article. Ever since, USTORM has had a flourishing relationship with The People's Music School and both Barry and Bob are excited about the continuing relationship between both organizations.
The People's Music School has an accordion budget based on their financial situation. Because the parents of the kids are asked to volunteer two hours a month at the school, it allows them to be largely a volunteer organization with little overhead. Therefore, an extremely high percentage of donations goes directly to the kids. It costs them approximately $1500 per year per student. They have open registration 2 or 3 times a year. When the time comes, they assess how many students they can admit. The more money they get, the more students can attend. USTORM has donated enough money to allow for at least seven to eight more children to attend the school.
Bob said they came to the school without any expectation other than caring about music education and understood "the power that music can have in a young person's life to make it better." Bob said, "When they came and actually saw what we were doing, they instantly found more money to give us and increased their donation and then subsequently came back a little later in the year."
USTORM will continue their relationship with the school and hopes to get more kids in as their funds continue to roll in. As Bob so eloquently points out, "For any of us who believe in the power of music to transform a young person's life, we're directly doing that for kids who otherwise woldn't have this opportunity to receive formal lessons and training - we couldn't do that without partners. I think it's a really wonderful thing that musiicans who 'get it' are putting their money where their mouth is and supporting the next generation."