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Chicago Music Exchange selling “premium instruments” to fund music education for disadvantaged kids
Every $5,000 raised from sales of instruments in The Gift of Music Collection will help provide at least 25 children with instruments
Image: Chicago Music Exchange / YouTube
Chicago Music Exchange has teamed up with The Gift Of Music Foundation to raise funds to provide musical instruments and music education to children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Most of the instruments donated to The Gift of Music Foundation are relatively affordable, and as such are passed on to kids who need them, often at public schools that don’t have the budget for a music programme. However, when the charity was recently donated a collection of high-value guitars, partnered with CME to ensure that these instruments could do the most good possible.
Tom Gibson of The Gift of Music Foundation said, “Our mission is to find the highest value for any instrument that’s donated, as it relates to those kids – they’re our entire focus.” He added, “It’s very rare that we get a collection of premium instruments. Sometimes we get a keyboard that’s been sitting around, lots of drum sets, old clarinets, maybe a rusty flute… this collection was a total game changer for us.”
Profits from sales of these premium, pre-loved instruments, dubbed the Gift of Music Collection Exchange will be donated to the foundation in order to fund student band instruments and supplemental rental programs where families that can’t afford full rentals get half-rentals, or gifted instruments.
Every $5,000 raised from sales will help provide at least 25 children with instruments, while also helping fund up to 50 school year-long music classes and putting up to 100 students in summer programs.
And it’s quite a collection, featuring everything from a Fender Custom Shop SRV Strat, to a 2014 NAMM Special Gibson Derek Trucks Signature SG, to an Ibanez Joe Satriani ‘Silver Surfer’ 20th Anniversary model.
You can watch the video below to find out more on the initiative and take a further look at the some of the guitars up for grabs:
You can also read more on the Chicago Music Exchange website here.