The Community Foundation is pleased to report that $129,450 in spring Farny R. Wurlitzer Foundation Fund Grants benefited a total of 29 nonprofits and community organizations across the greater Chicagoland area for music education.

Congratulations to the spring 2019 grant recipients:

• Allied Health and Communicative Disorders, Northern IL University – $2,500 to bring evidence-based music programming to local residential facilities for adults, by training NIU students in a community-based service learning context.
• Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre (Cerqua Rivera Art Experience) – $5,000 to support the Inside/Out program
• Chicago Sinfonietta – $5,000 to support general operating costs
• Child’s Voice – $2,500 to support the Music, Voices, and Rhythms Program
• Community School of the Arts at Wheaton College – $5,000 to support the CODA program
• Cor Cantiamo – $2,000 to support the 2019-2020 concert season
• Ellwood House Association – $3,350 to support live musical performances on the museum grounds
• Experimental Sound Studio – $3,000 to support public workshops related to music, sound arts, and recording
•  Anima (Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus) – $6,000 to provide music education and performance opportunities for young people in a four county radius
• Glenwood Academy – $3,500 to support the purchase of new instruments or maintenance of existing instruments used in the music program.
• Holy Family Ministries – $5,000 to support the school’s music program
• Holy Trinity High School – $5,000 to support the school’s music programs
• IMSA Fund for Advancement of Education – $2,000 to support a STEM music program for elementary students
• Jazz In Progress – $2,400 to offer a performance colloquium for adults and seniors in assisted-living and rehabilitation facilities
• Just Make It Happen – DeKalb, Inc. – $7,500 to support the Artist in Resident performance program
• Kantorei (The Singing Boys of Rockford)- $2,500 to support a choral camp
• Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra – $6,000 to support music education and performance outreach programs for youth in the 2019-2020 concert season
• Lawrence Hall – $6,000 to support the Expressive Therapies Program
• Merit School of Music -$8,500 to support the Merit Music in Communities program
• Music of the Baroque – $7,500 to support Strong Voices Arts Learning program
• NIU-College of Visual and Performing Arts – $5,000 to support need based scholarships for families in DeKalb, Sycamore, and surrounding communities to participate in music programs
• Opportunity House, Inc. – $5,000 to expand a program for music therapy for individuals with Autism and intellectual disabilities
• Orion Ensemble – $4,000 to support an educational partnership program for two high schools, the Elgin Youth Symphony, and the Chicago Youth Symphony.
• People’s Music School – $5,000 to support tuition-free music education programs for children in Chicago
• Preservation of Egyptian Theatre, Inc. – $2,500 to support a free outdoor music series that takes place at the DeKalb Farmers Market throughout the summer.
• Special Gifts Theatre – $4,000 to support the Musical Theatre Program
• Charles Singers – $2,000 to provide a one day, choral workshop focused on the art of ensemble singing
• Suzuki-Orff School of Music – $5,000 to provide access to music education for Chicago Public School elementary students.
• Sycamore Music Boosters – $6,700 to purchase a King Sousaphone that would be used by the Sycamore High School Marching Band.

The Farny R. Wurlitzer Foundation Fund Grant is one of several grantmaking programs at the Community Foundation. Funding is possible through a donor advised fund established by the Farny R. Wurlitzer Foundation in 2012.

Grant applications are due by midnight on March 1 and September 1 of each year. Funding support is determined by criteria met and the amount requested. Preference to 501(c)3 organizations is given.

Donate to any fund at the Community Foundation, including the Farny R. Wurlitzer Foundation Fund at www.dekalbccf.org/donate or by mail to the DeKalb County Community Foundation, 475 DeKalb Avenue, Sycamore, IL 60178.

Pictured: A Farny R. Wurlitzer Foundation Fund grant to Just Make It Happen provided support for their Artist in Residence Spring Strings program. Pictured are guest artists Linc and Ann Smelser along with students from KinderCare in DeKalb who participated in one of the music enrichment programs. These programs are designed to collaborate with district, state, and national learning standards in music education for children and provide access to professional artistic models of performance and content. Photo courtesy of Just Make it Happen DeKalb.