Music Man Foundation awards $5.8 million to 20 music and arts organizations
The Los Angeles foundation announced on Nov. 5 two-year operating grants to eight Southern California nonprofits, about $1.7 million for arts advocacy and $2.34 million for arts and health. It said up to $3.5 million in new 2027 grants will open soon.
Where the Music Man Foundation's $5.8 million in grants went
Los Angeles. The Music Man Foundation of Los Angeles said on Nov. 5 that it has awarded more than $5.8 million to 20 organizations that use music and the arts in their communities. The grants fall into three groups: operating money for local nonprofits, advocacy for public arts funding, and work at the meeting point of the arts and health.
The foundation is named after the musical by Meredith Willson. His widow, Rosemary, started it in 1998 as The Meredith and Rosemary Willson Charitable Foundation, and it gives all profits from Willson's licensing royalties to organizations that use music for lasting change. It says it has awarded more than $32 million to 90 organizations over the past decade. The announcement also opens a national celebration of the 75th anniversary of Willson's song "It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas," with events in November and December.
Operating grants in Southern California
Eight Southern California nonprofits received Meredith Willson Awards, two-year grants totaling $1.85 million for organizations building new ways to bring music into everyday life. They are Arts for Healing and Justice Network, Choral Arts Initiative, Education Through Music Los Angeles, Heart of Los Angeles, the LA Phil, Riverside Arts Academy, Tonality and White Hall Arts Academy.
About $1.7 million went to advocacy: groups working to increase public funding for the arts and to promote policies that affirm their value. The recipients are Americans for the Arts, the Arts Education Partnership, CA for the Arts, Chorus America, Creative West, Music for All, OPERA America together with the League of American Orchestras, and the Arts Ed Collective of the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture.
Arts and health, and grants for 2027
The largest share, $2.34 million, went to organizations building the field of professionals who work across the arts and health. Johns Hopkins University received funding for its NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative; the Berklee Music and Health Institute at Berklee College of Music, for the Sound Health Alliance; the Jameel Arts & Health Lab at NYU Steinhardt, which hosts the annual Healing Arts Week held alongside the United Nations General Assembly; and the Center for Independent Documentary, for a documentary on music and pain.
The foundation also said applications will soon open for its 2027 Strengthening the Sector grants and its National Meredith Willson Awards, which together will provide up to $3.5 million in new funding to nonprofits. It did not give dates or terms in the announcement.
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